Life is unpredictable and plans can change unexpectedly. This was the case for one husband, who received a late notification that his wife's flight was landing ahead of schedule.
Instead of rushing to the airport immediately, he decided to finish his video game before heading out to pick her up. As a result, he arrived 10 minutes late.
The husband took to Reddit: “My wife was due to fly in to one of the most popular airports in the world last night at around 9pm. Her landing time was 8.50pm, no checked luggage, so I told her I’d be there at 9pm.
“At about 8.05pm, she apparently started calling my phone but unfortunately I didn’t see/hear the calls until 8.15pm. This is because, like her, I keep my iPhone with the little ‘silent’ switch on at all times so that it just vibrates.
“I didn’t hear the vibration because I had my gaming headset on and was gaming/talking with friends. Keep in mind, I wasn’t expecting ANY calls from her until after she landed,’’ he wrote.
When he finally glanced at his phone by chance, he realised she had been trying to reach him. To his astonishment, she informed him that her plane had landed early (“imagine that, in this airport of all places!”).
“Urging him to leave immediately, she insisted on a prompt pick-up. Without thinking twice, he coolly replied, “Okay, I’ll see you soon,” before ending the call. And thus began the age-old dilemma: AITA (Am I The A**hole)?
It seems wifey definitely doesn’t like waiting around. He, on the other hand, believed it was perfectly acceptable to finish his online game before hitting the road.
With a delay of a mere 10 minutes, he finally left the house, oblivious to the impending traffic woes. Navigating the congested roads, he struggled to reach the airport’s pick-up point until approximately 9.05pm.
Ironically, that was close to the time they had initially agreed upon.
To shorten a rather lengthy story, after collecting his wife, she sprang a surprise -they also had to drop off her friend on their way home (which he had no objections to, as it was just a short detour).
All seemed well until they bid farewell to the friend.
Suddenly, his wife unleashed her frustration, emphasising how upset she was that he had “made her wait an extra 10 minutes” and arguing that there’s a “huge difference between waiting 30 minutes and waiting 40 minutes.”
“At first, I kinda laughed it off and tried not to be upset back at her but inside I was thinking, ‘uh, hello? I’m doing you a favour by driving to the airport and picking you up in the first place.
“Why are you getting upset over waiting 10 minutes longer than you wanted when people sometimes wait HOURS to be picked up at the airport?’
“Eventually, we had a little back and forth about it but I was just sick of arguing over something so small (to me) and I wanted to just agree to disagree (and my wife was also sick of talking to me if I wasn’t going to apologise) so I went to sleep,’’ he added.
Is he the A**hole? He ponders this question, contemplating whether the situation truly warrants an apology.
According to him, it doesn’t seem like an event that necessitates an apology (that’s his slice). After all, can someone simply land nearly an hour earlier than scheduled and demand that their driver, even if it’s their spouse, abruptly abandon everything they’re engaged in to rush and pick them up on the spot? It’s a valid point to consider, isn’t it?
Some readers disagreed: “Hang up the video game. You literally chose that over leaving on time. I don’t get the whole video game addiction. (Go ahead, downvote me)
“If I called my partner in a similar situation, I know 1 000% that he’d throw on a coat and leave. OP literally prioritised a video game over his wife,’’ commented one.
While another wrote: “I’m not sure why so many people are saying you are. Doesn’t matter if it video games or TV or eating: 10 minutes isn’t really that big a deal.
“Flight landed earlier than expected so you were already doing something else. If you were supposed to get her in 30 minutes and it was 2 hours that a massive problem.’’
But we all know the saying that goes, “Happy wife, happy life”. Lesson learned, perhaps.