Everyone enjoys receiving home-baked goods from time to time — or, at least, we thought that everyone liked receiving home-baked goods.
One man has been receiving quite the backlash after sharing how he had shamed his wife for baking the local school bus drivers some cookies and for trying to pass on the “belief” of giving gifts to their kids.
For most people, the act of gift giving can be the best way to express their feelings.
However, one man who uses the Reddit username Murky-Highway9740 finds his wife’s gift giving to be horrifically embarrassing.
Eventually, he could contain himself no longer and took to the internet to ask, “[Am I the asshole] for telling my wife it’s embarrassing she gave our daughter’s bus driver cookies?”
He went on to explain that his wife is quite shy, hence why she likes giving gifts.
“My wife is very shy but enjoys giving and is all gung ho about showing appreciation to workers she assume aren’t appreciated or recognized. She tries to pass these beliefs onto our kids,” he started by explaining.
“Because she’s too silent to show her appreciation she does it through gifts, usually baked goods. I’ve been embarrassed about it in the past.”
Goodness knows why this embarrasses him?
When his wife decided to bake some cookies for the local bus drivers, he snapped.
“Our oldest rode the school bus for the first time. My wife was waiting at the stop with our daughter and had her hand the bus driver a bag of homemade cookies. Then when she picked her up from the stop in the afternoon, she gave a bag to the afternoon driver. I asked why she did that when she could easily have just said thank you and left it at that,” he wrote.
When his wife explained that the drivers work hard and don’t often get the recognition they deserve, our heartless protagonist argued:
“I reminded her that this has embarrassed me in the past and I think her behaviors are too extreme. I wouldn’t want gifts from someone I don’t know. She ignored how I felt. I contacted some people in my life to see if I was just the crazy one here and most of my friends and my mom agree, my wife’s way of showing thanks just makes everyone uncomfortable.”
Surprisingly, few people were on the side of the cookie hater…
People were baffled that anyone would be so “embarrassed” or uncomfortable about having a lovely, caring wife. With some of the highest rated replies being:
“You’re embarrassed by your wife giving out cookies as a thank you? That’s a weird thing to get embarrassed about, having a thoughtful, considerate, kind wife. [You’re the asshole].”
“YTA. Even if I wouldn’t eat a bag a cookies from a stranger (I would btw, I just know some people wouldn’t) I would appreciate the gesture and realize they had gone out of their way to make me feel good. You’re shaming your wife for having found a way to express herself despite her shyness. You’re embarrassed by someone showing kindness. Wow.”
And one person even went so far as to paraphrase a beloved childhood character who would probably have some strong thoughts on the matter, writing:
“Y is for YTA, that’s good enough for me! Y is for YTA, that’s good enough for me! Y is for YTA, that’s good enough for me! COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE!”
The husband did try to defend his controversial position, by explaining “the bus driver is getting paid” so doesn’t need cookies.
In response to someone asking what it was specifically that made him feel “embarrassed” about her actions, he wrote:
“She has surprised my sister and mom with gifts for no reason and they’ve gotten the impression it’s for her to flaunt herself or she thinks they can’t afford things. overall I think random gift giving is just awkward. The bus driver is getting paid to do what he does. He doesn’t need my wife’s pity presents. She needs to stop acting like all lower class workers feel neglected.”
Would you be happy to receive cookies from someone, or would you be insulted like this guy?
I do not really know how someone could receive a gift like that and immediately think that the gift-giver was just trying to show off. All I can say is, it must have been a real hoot in this guy’s house at Christmas.
Let us know what you think about the cookie police in the comments!
