Some people just never learn, even when it comes to food safety.

One wife had enough of her husband’s stubbornness, especially when he ended up sick after ignoring her warnings.

Should she have kept quiet, or was she right to say, “I told you so?”

Let’s see how this cautionary tale unfolded.

AITA for telling my husband it serves him right when he got food poisoning after not listening to me?

So I’ve (37F) always been a little neurotic about food safety.

Some of it comes from having worked in restaurants most of my life, but me and my sister also frequently got sick from my grandmother’s cooking when we were kids.

My husband (36M) tends to handwave my “obsession” with food safety. It wasn’t a big issue until he started learning to cook in earnest about 3-4 years ago.

He’s no careless buffoon, but when my suggestions are more conservative than Reddit’s consensus, he’ll get cranky about it.

(Ex: if I suggest that he temp something that is almost certainly cooked through, he’ll roll his eyes and do it begrudgingly.)

Why mess with that?!

Two weeks ago, as we’re unpacking groceries, one of the condiments looks off to me; it’s too dark, the oil looks separated, and I strongly suspect it’s spoiled.

He’s the one who buys/eats it, so instead of throwing it away, I point it out to him: “Hey, this looks weird and I don’t think you should eat it. Take a photo, ask for a refund, and throw it away.”

He inspects it and agrees that it looks weird but still puts it in the pantry.

Over the next few days, as I notice he hasn’t thrown it away, I bring it up a few more times to no avail and eventually drop it.

He’s just asking for trouble.

A few days ago, he texts me to say he has to stop working early (he works from home) because he threw up twice.

He’s hardly ever sick, so I’m like what the?

Later, when I get an explanation: HE ATE THE DAMN SAUCE and puked it up less than 3 hours afterwards.

I’m annoyed, but he looks miserable, so I crush my annoyance down to the size of a pebble, make him a glass of electrolytes, and set him up on the couch with a wastebasket and Darkest Dungeon 2.

What a wife.

Additional context for my annoyance: I have a doctor’s appointment the next day, and he agreed to come with me weeks ago; I’m nervous about the appointment and don’t have anyone else to ask on short notice.

The timing stinks, tbh.

Fortunately, the acute phase is over quickly; he’s back to 90% (his estimate) the next day and comes with me to the doctor.

I’ve been pretty accommodating up to then, but as he’s making himself food, I can’t contain it anymore.

“I wasn’t going to say ‘I told you so’ while you were sick, but since you’re feeling better: I TOLD you that sauce was off, I TOLD you to throw it away, and look what happened. Hope you learned a lesson.”

Serves him right?

An argument follows.

His points: he checked the expiration date (fine); he smelled it first (fine); him getting sick was a fluke, everything worked out, and I’m being an AH for acting like I knew it would get him sick.

My point: I WAS RIGHT.

Now we’re at a stalemate; if y’all think I was the AH for kicking him while he was still 10% down, then I promise to apologize.

Otherwise, I’m sticking to my guns.

Oof. Talk about a lesson learned the hard way.

It’s clear this situation struck a chord with many Redditors.

This person says the wife isn’t a jerk.

But this person says everyone is in the wrong here.

And this person says the wife was pretty rude.

And there you have it.

Nothing says “I told you so” quite like a spoiled sauce and a stubborn husband.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.