As someone possessing the grace of a three-legged rhinoceros on dull ice skates, I’ve broken my fair share of fragile items.
Fragile glass? Keep it out of my wingspan. Expensive china? Lock it up around me.
And keeping with the theme of this user’s story, I even once knocked over a glass full of red wine and spilled it all over a pristine white wall.
While that issue was solved with a paint roller and some elbow grease, this user’s broken glass was not so easily resolved.
When his girlfriend knocked over an expensive wine glass gifted to him by his Mother, OP went to Reddit to see if he was wrong for asking her to reimburse him for the broken glass.
See what you think!
AITA For Asking My Girlfriend To Pay For The Wine Glass She Broke?
A few days ago, my girlfriend Trish was cleaning the kitchen windows.
In the midst of her cleaning, she accidentally knocked over a dish from the drying rack and that dish landed on and shattered an expensive wine glass of mine.
I say mine because it was given to me by my mother as a Christmas gift last year. The glass retails for around $120.
When OP brought up the topic of reimbursement, things started going downhill.
When she told me she had broken the glass by accident, we had a discussion (some may call itan argument…) that lasted three days about how it would get replaced, and who would pay.
After all of this talking, she finally (she says) gave in and gave me 40% of the cost to replace the glass.
I had initially asked that she replace the glass in full, but after discussion realized if we are partners, it would be logical to use the 60/40 calculation we use for everything else.
Background: Trish and I have been living together for about a year. When we first decided to move in together, we decided to split all expenses 60%/40%.
This is because of our combined income distribution (I make 60% of our gross monthly earnings, she makes 40%).
But soon enough, Trish wasn’t feeling too hot about her 40%.
After the initial agreement, Trish has now said she does not feel good about the agreement and wants me to give the money back to her.
Her reasoning is that (A) it was a complete accident, and (B) she would never want to buy any wine glasses that expensive ever again.
My argument is that if we are to live together, we are going to be sharing costs, and inevitably things are going to break and need replacing/repairing.
I liked this wine glass (again which was a gift from my mother) and would like to replace it so that we have a matching set once more.
OP said that with his knowledge of Trish’s finances, he knows she would be able to pay him back.
More background: I know for a fact that Trish is financially able to reimburse me the 40%, and would suffer no undue hardship from the loss of those funds.
On the other hand, I am also fully able to replace the glass without it affecting my financial stability.
AITA for asking Trish to reimburse 40% of the wine glass she broke by accident?
Seems kind of scummy of her to go back on paying for the glass, but OP is definitely overreacting considering she made an honest mistake that she clearly felt bad for.
Reddit had many questions for OP, the first being why he would leave such an expensive glass where it could easily be broken.
But this user said his girlfriend shouldn’t have needed to be asked to replace the glass in the first place.
This commenter had a different view, saying he would never hound his wife about accidentally breaking something.
This user agreed, saying accidents happen, and they don’t need to cause a fight.
Finally, this user said if their parnter pressured them into paying for something they accidentally broke, they might push back the same way OP’s girlfriend did!
If one wine glass is enough to cause three days of fighting, OP might want to focus less on his possessions and more on his relationship.
If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.