The key to a successful friendship is to not sweat the small stuff.

Of course, what different people consider “small” varies widely.

One fateful night, when a house guest accidentally spills wine on her friend’s pillow, she may as well have started World War 3.

When the two sides can’t agree on a resolution, the stain in their friendship starts to look just as big as the one on the fabric.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for replacing my friend’s throw pillow with a thrifted identical version?

So my (24F) friend “Wendy” (23F) just got a new apartment.

She’s the first of our friend group to get an apartment, so everyone is really excited and Wendy wants it to be the main place we all go to hang out.

Wendy threw a party this past Friday, just a small get together with our friend group and some of Wendy’s cousins.

After a few hours, we were all pretty drunk, including me.

Then came the incident…

I accidentally spilled my wine on one of her throw pillows.

I tried to wash it out, but no luck.

Of course, I offered to replace the pillow and Wendy sent me the link to where she bought it.

She couldn’t believe the price tag.

It was SEVENTY DOLLARS for a tiny little carrot pillow.

I told her I would definitely replace it, but I would probably have to wait for a few weeks for my next check because that eats into my gas money.

She seemed a little angry and I felt bad.

Then, in a twist of fate, she stumbled upon a cheaper alternative.

Yesterday, my other friends wanted to go thrifting for their Halloween costumes.

I already got mine, but wanted to tag along.

I thought it was my lucky day because at one of the thrift stores was the exact pillow!

Like the very same one with the tag from the store and everything.

The thrift store was selling it for twelve dollars, so I got it because it was cheaper and now Wendy would be able to have her complete living room quicker than we thought.

Wendy was happy at first…

Fast forward a couple hours and we all go over to Wendy’s to show her the Halloween haul and I present her with the pillow.

First she was happy, but then she was like “How are you gonna get to work?”

But it didn’t last.

I explained that I found it at a thrift store and she threw it at me and acted all grossed out.

Now I’m confused because we all go thrifting all the time, including Wendy.

The two friend argue back and forth.

But Wendy was like, “I don’t buy soft furnishings at the thrift store.”

I offered to wash it and bring it back, but she said no and still demanded that I buy the one from the actual store.

I said no, I would wash the thrifted pillow for her, but I’m not buying a pillow for seventy dollars.

She said it was my fault for spilling wine in the first place and said I was “too clumsy to live.”

She’s done trying to be nice.

Then I said for someone who wants to host parties, you’re being a big brat about a little spill.

We left it at that, but I left a few minutes later because I could tell Wendy was really annoyed at me.

The incident is having a bigger impact on the friend group than she expected.

Now the friend group is taking sides and one of my friend’s girlfriend told me that now there’s a group chat that doesn’t have me or Wendy in it called “The Pillow Crisis of 2024” where everyone is arguing who is in the right.

The situation still doesn’t feel resolved.

I did wash the pillow and gave it to my friend to give it to Wendy, but apparently she refused to put it on her couch and it now resides in the floor pillow pile.

So, AITA?

If this house guest had a time machine, she sure would want to use it right about now!

Reddit appears quite divided on the issue.

This commenter sympathizes with the spiller, and agrees that $70 for a pillow is a bit absurd.

This redditor has some mixed feelings on the matter. They find the issue a bit of a grey area.

The friend made a good faith effort to replace the pillow. That should be what counts here.

This user, on the other hand, sees Wendy’s point and thinks the friend should have put more effort into making it up to Wendy.

Who could have known that such a small spill could turn into such a big rift.

Bad blood stains deep.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.