‘If that’s the hardest thing you’ve ever been through…’ They Ruined Game Night By Telling A Devastating Truth About Their Family. Were They Wrong?
by Matthew Gilligan
Game night is supposed to be fun, right?
The answer to that question is YES, but apparently, a guy named Matt didn’t get the memo and turned this evening upside down.
And the person who wrote this story on Reddit’s AITA page wants to know if they were out of line.
They were hosting game night at their house.
AITA for ruining game night by telling the truth?
“A few nights ago, I hosted a game night for a small group of friends (we had all been quarantining and following the proper guidelines in my county).
It was only going to be 5 of us (including me), but one of my friends texted me last minute that she was going to bring a coworker from work (Matt). Fine with me.
The night seemed to be going just fine.
We started playing a card game where you answer questions about yourself; based on the level (Level 1, 2, 3), the question could be extremely surface level (ex. what’s your favorite color?) to something deeper (ex. what characteristic of yourself do you not like about yourself?). Everyone was enjoying themselves, and I was happy with the way things were going.
And then things took a turn.
Cue a question I drew: “What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to go through?”
Some backstory: My sister passed away a few years ago when I was still in high school. I was pulled out of class and flew immediately to her college and watched her pass away in the ICU. Needless to say, this is probably the hardest thing I’ve been through. 3 of my friends in the group knew about this, the other 2 and Matt did not.
They decided they didn’t want to ruin the night.
And then Matt opened his big mouth.
I didn’t want to bring the mood down, so I answered that the hardest thing I’d been through was transitioning going to a college in a different state where I knew no one.
We were all ready to move on, but Matt immediately piped up and said, “Wow, if that’s the hardest thing you’ve ever been through, you live an extremely privileged life.”
Everyone got quiet. Now, if he had said it jokingly, I probably would have let it go and moved on.
However, the way he said it was in a very condescending and patronizing tone, and I will admit, it rubbed me the wrong way.
So they decided to put this guy in his place.
Instead of letting it go, I said “well, the hardest thing I’ve ever been through is seeing my sister pass away in the ICU and having to watch her being lowered into her grave when I was 17. I just didn’t want to bring the mood down.”
But not everyone was happy with them…
If things were quiet before, they were silent now.
Matt mumbled an apology but game night ended shortly after. After my friends all left, my friend who had brought Matt texted me and told me I was a jerk for making Matt look bad, and I could have just let his statement go.
I do feel bad about what I said and being the cause of game night ending so soon, but I also feel like I was just making a justified statement.
AITA?”
Here’s how folks reacted on Reddit.
One person said this is all Matt’s fault.
This Reddit user said Matt caused this because he decided to be a jerk.
Another individual said this sounds familiar…
This reader laid out their case…
And this person wasn’t too impressed with the game they played.
Well, that game night went off the rails!
I don’t think they’ll be getting together again anytime soon!
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