Everyone needs to vent once in awhile, but in today’s story, one man explains that his girlfriend complains a lot.

She often does it while he’s trying to eat dinner.

He really wants to eat without listening to her complain, but she doesn’t seem to be willing to stop complaining – so he kicked her out.

Check out the details.

AITAH for locking my girlfriend out of the basement so I could eat in peace?

I am 39 and male. My girlfriend is 41.

We have lived together for a bit over a year in my house.

During the time that I have lived with my girlfriend, I’ve become very used to the fact that she really seems to de-stress by complaining.

Much of this complaining is about other people in her life, such as her mother and her former co-workers, but much of this complaining is about me and how I’m not meeting her expectations in one way or another.

I’m generally fine listening to her rant and will make all the appropriate motions to show that I’m listening, but a few months back, her complaining increased significantly in frequency.

He wants to eat in peace.

Again, I’m happy to listen to her, but one time that I do not want to listen to complaining is when I’m eating.

Breakfast time isn’t an issue because she’s still asleep when I eat it, and lunch time is fine because I work 6 days a week and am out for lunch, but I would really love nothing more than to just have a quiet dinner.

It’s especially irritating because she gets upset when I don’t answer her fast enough, even when I’m chewing.

She’ll start saying “Hello? Hello? Hello? Are you even listening?” as I try to swallow the food quickly and answer her.

He thinks she intentionally complains while he’s eating.

I expressed this to her a few months back.

I put it as nicely as possible, with the excuse that I don’t do well with talking during meal time.

If anything it has had the opposite effect.

I’m convinced that she’s actually timing her complaints to begin when I start eating dinner now.

While I’m making my dinner she’ll be quiet, and when I sit down waiting for it to cool she’ll be quiet.

But once the fork reaches my mouth, she’ll immediately start complaining.

His girlfriend complained as soon as he started eating…again!

Last Saturday, I told her that I couldn’t deal with her complaining during dinner time anymore, and that if she did it again I would start eating elsewhere.

She responded “Yeah OK fine.”

Then she sat down at the table and stared at me.

When I took my first bite, she said, “Oh by the way, today you kicked one of my shoes when you were putting yours on. It made me feel like you only care about your own things and not mine.”

I stood up and went down to the basement to eat, locking the door behind me.

His girlfriend wants him to eat at the table with her.

I’ve taken to doing this for every day since, and she’ll bang on the door at times.

At other times she has demanded I give her a key, as I have the only copy.

Today she was literally crying and begging me to eat dinner at the table, but I said no.

Now she’s threatening to take the door off its hinges while I’m at work (so I know I have to lock it from the outside before going tomorrow).

Am I in the wrong here?

I wonder how she manages to eat anything with all of the talking she’s doing.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted…

This reader thinks his girlfriend sounds “miserable.”

Another reader doesn’t think he should live with his girlfriend.

Here’s a suggestion to break up.

Another person also suggests breaking up.

This person thinks he deserves better.

Maybe his girlfriend needs a therapist she can complain to.

Or a new boyfriend.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.