His Wife’s Family Wanted Him to Sleep on the Couch, So He Went To A Hotel Instead. – ‘They are now insisting I come back and stay on the couch for the rest of our visit.’
by Matthew Gilligan
I guess I can understand some strict ground rules if you’re visiting a significant other’s family and you’re not married, but after you’ve tied the knot?
Come on!
But, as the saying goes, my house, my rules.
So was this guy a jerk for how he handled the situation at his wife’s family’s house?
Read on to get all the details.
AITA for moving to a hotel because my wife’s family insisted I sleep on the couch?
“My wife and I got married last summer. Her family lives across the country from us, so up until this point I had never actually visited them, but I had met them a handful of times and we’ve always gotten along fine.
They invited us to come visit and stay with them for a few days and we took them up on the offer. We flew in yesterday, and everything went well – her dad and I watched football while she caught up with her mom and sisters, and then we had a really nice dinner.
Things took a turn for the worse.
But things went south at the end of the night when it was made clear that they didn’t want me sharing a bed with my wife while in their home, and that they expected me to sleep on the couch.
He couldn’t believe it!
I honestly thought they were joking at first, but they insisted we sleep separately. I had a problem with the implication that I shouldn’t be allowed to sleep next to my wife, and I also have a bad back and the couch did not look the least bit comfortable (they don’t have a guest room).
So he took off.
After arguing back and forth for a bit, I decided to leave and book a hotel. I told my wife she didn’t have to come with me, she chose to stay and I said I’d come back the next day. I went off to a Marriott about 10m away and got a good night’s sleep, trying to not let the whole situation bother me.
This morning, I called my wife asking when I should come by. She told me her parents want me to apologize for leaving the way I did. I told her that I’m willing to apologize to keep the peace, but they need to acknowledge that it wasn’t appropriate to insist I can’t share a bed with my own wife. She said she’d talk to them and call me back.
But things didn’t get any better.
About 10 minutes later, I hear back from her, and she tells me that not only will they not apologize for it, they are now insisting I need to come back and stay on the couch for the rest of our visit, and if I don’t agree to this, I’m not welcome back in the house. I’m pretty livid at this point – I told her that there’s absolutely no chance that I will do that, and I am no longer willing to offer any sort of apology.
My wife’s sisters are now bothering me saying this is just the way their parents are, that my wife is very upset, and that I need to just give in and stay on the couch for the rest of the trip before this turns into some sort of family feud.
From my perspective, I don’t care what they think and I’m willing to treat the rest of this trip as a solo vacation, go sightseeing and meet my wife back at the airport at the end of the week.
AITA?”
Check out what folks had to say.
This reader said he’s NTA and his in-laws are pretty awful hosts.
Another person has an idea about how to handle this.
One individual said he needs to call out his wife.
This Reddit user said this doesn’t look good.
I have a feeling that this story isn’t over yet.
More family drama to come!
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.