It stinks when you make a joke and you make a situation MORE awkward or uncomfortable.

But, what are you gonna do, right?

Check out this story from Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole?” page and let us know if you think this guy was out of line for making a joke and trying to make things less awkward.

AITA for making an awkward situation less awkward by making a joke?

“Just a quick one, as it’s really caused more controversy between me (28m) and gf (28f) than it should imo..

We were at the cinema last night, it was absolutely packed, not a single empty seat in the place.

Around half way through the film, during a “lull” in the action (the film was quite quiet at this part, so any noise/conversation could have been clearly heard), a woman who was sitting around 6-7 seats down from us, got up, as she must have needed to go to the bathroom or grab some snacks or whatever.

She slowly made her way through the sea of legs in her way when unfortunately for her, she stumbled over someones legs and tripped, falling face first onto my lap (only for 1-2 seconds) and she then got herself to her feet, looking mortified and apologised to me.

At this point, everyone had glanced over due to the commotion, i could see that she was horrified and embarrassed, due to my general nature/demeanor, i decided id crack a joke to make her feel better/laugh at the situation, so i said “no worries, usually i have to pay for that kind of service.” – it worked, not only did she laugh, but a large majority of the cinema laughed.

Anyway, everything was cool, the film was decent and the plan was, for me and my gf to go to a restaurant afterwards, the film finished and my gf was giving me the cold shoulder, saying she didn’t feel well and wanted to go home, i asked what was wrong, she snapped “nothing, take us home, i dont feel well!”.

After chipping away at her on the drive home, it turns out, i had been an a**hole because i “embarrassed” her by making a joke that the whole cinema heard and put “unwanted” attention onto her.

I told her “you had no attention on you, i was the one who made the joke, i don’t see what the issue is here?” She had no response and hasn’t spoken to me since, now the atmosphere in the apartment is awkward as hell, but i’m resisting the urge to come up with another joke lol.

AITA here? Should i not have tried to lighten the mood in the cinema?”

Here’s what Reddit users had to say.

One person said this guy is an a**hole and this joke was totally inappropriate.

Another individual agreed and said they would have left immediately.

But this Reddit user had the opposite reaction and said this guy was NTA and that this was hilarious.