Communication is really important in marriage. That involves both talking and listening.

Otherwise, you can have issues like what we encounter in this story where one man feels like no matter what he decides to do he does the wrong thing.

He dropped his wife and kids off at the bus that will take them to summer camp.

He tried to pick a convenient place to park, but his wife was really upset at where he parked and thought he should’ve chosen any other available spot.

Keep reading to see why they didn’t see eye to eye about this situation.

AITA for parking near someone my wife knew during camp drop-off and making her mad?

This morning I dropped off my wife and our kids at summer camp.

The parking lot had plenty of open spots, but I parked next to another parent who was unloading.

I left extra space, probably two or three feet more than usual. I wasn’t blocking or crowding anyone.

As we were driving in, my wife said, “Oh, that’s [redacted], I know her,” when she saw the parent ahead of us.

I didn’t know who it was, but since she recognized her, I figured it was totally fine to park nearby. Honestly, I thought she might even prefer it since it was someone she knew.

That’s not the only reason he chose to park there.

I also parked close because I was trying to stay near the van they’re all traveling in to make unloading easier.

In the past, she’s gotten annoyed when I park too far away so I thought I was doing the helpful thing.

As soon as I parked, she got irritated and said something like, “All these open spots and you park right next to her?!”

I said something along the lines of “If I had parked farther away, you would’ve gotten mad at me for parking too far!”

That made her even more upset. She said, “Don’t get out of the car” so I couldn’t help her unload all the bags.

He did what she said even though he knows it made him look bad.

So I stayed put while she got out and unloaded everything herself in front of other parents.

It made me look like the guy who just sits there while his wife does all the work.

Later she said she didn’t understand why I would park next to someone who was unloading their car.

That wasn’t what I meant at all. I felt like I couldn’t win either way and was just trying to make things easier.

AITA?

Was he wrong for parking where he did, or did his wife overreact? I feel like this is a situation where communication needs to be clearer.

He assumed his wife wanted to park near someone she knew.

He didn’t know she didn’t like this other lady.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person feels very strongly about not parking next to someone else who is unloading.

She may have thought he was parked too close to the other car.

It could be that his wife wanted to avoid chit chat.

OP left out some key information that he revealed in the comments. With this added information, this person thinks it’s obvious why the wife is really upset.

Another person rephrases the whole story based on the new information about why the wife is a chaperone.

This guy is lucky his wife doesn’t leave him.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.