Growing up often means trading free time for paychecks and responsibility.

One newly employed teenager thought he was doing the right thing by working full time to support an apartment with his girlfriend.

But when his longer work hours left less time for texting and late-night chats, the relationship suddenly hit some unexpected turbulence.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITA for getting a job?

I recently turned 18 and decided to be financially independent, which led me to the infamously dreaded job search.

After a few months and several MLMs later, I landed a great-paying real job as a caretaker, 40 hours a week.

At first my girlfriend, a nineteen-year-old college student, was excited and started looking for an apartment for us.

I decided to take more hours at work so I could move out sooner due to my Entitled Mother while juggling my classes.

But soon he notices something is up with his girlfriend.

I’ve only been working for three weeks and noticed my girlfriend had started acting cold towards me.

I was very confused but decided not to push her.

(She has told me multiple times not to ask her questions when she’s like that because it will just make her more upset.)

But one day, everything came to a head.

Well tonight when I tried to go to sleep she started blowing up my phone.

I of course answered despite my shift starting in six hours.

Me: Hey babe.

Her: Is that really all I get? After the **** you’re doing?

He’s confused and tries to get answers, but his girlfriend continues to be outwardly hostile.

Me: What? What are you talking about?

Her: *huffs* You act like you really don’t know. You don’t talk to me or answer my text anymore!

Me: *genuinely confused* You text me during work hours. I don’t have my phone on me unless I’m on break and I always answer back. What are you talking about?

Her: Well I guess it’s nothing if you can’t see it.

Me: What does that mean?

His girlfriend is making this into something it’s not.

Her: I doubt you would even notice if I was suddenly gone.

Me: Are you saying I don’t care?

Her: I didn’t say that. Don’t assume, I just doubt you do.

Me: *sarcastically* Wow, thanks for clearing that up.

Her: Ugh! You are such an jerk! You care more about work than you do about me!

He reminds her his motivation for doing all this.

Me: I’m working so we can get an apartment, like you wanted. And we agreed that if I worked full time you would continue school full time and we would switch after you graduated. I can’t just take less hours if I’m gonna support both of us.

Her: *defensive* Why are you blaming me!?

Me: I’m not! Why are you getting mad at me? You were fine with this before and this just came out of nowhere.

Her: Well if you think this is my fault I should just leave.

Me: I never said this was your fault. In fact I’m happy to have a job! I actually enjoy my clients and coworkers, even if you leave me I would still keep my job. Look I love you but I can’t just be around whenever. We’re adults and if you want an apartment then one of us has to work.

Her: You know what, I’m going to bed. You’ll know my choice in the morning.

*hangs up*

Torn up about it, he seeks outside advice.

I was pretty heated after the call and told my family what happened.

Most of them agreed with my girlfriend and said I was in the wrong.

My uncle was the only one who defended me.

So Reddit, AITA?

One person was trying to build a future, the other was just trying to build a useless argument.

What did Reddit think?

This isn’t what a supportive relationship looks like.

Maybe this is a sign he’s outgrown the relationship altogether.

As far as this user is concerned, he’s doing everything right.

There may be a bit of a maturity gap here.

Trying to build a future takes work — literally.

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.