u/Emotional-Ocelot-309

Last night, my girlfriend and I went out to eat at a popular dive bar. This bar is popular for both its amazing fried chicken and their thriving raccoon population. Because my girlfriend recently shattered her foot, she hasn’t been able to get out much, and I thought this would be the perfect date to cheer her up.

One side of the establishment has enormous bay windows through which you can watch the raccoons enjoy table scraps as you eat. As this is a dive bar, there are no reservations. You can’t choose where you sit. Thus, seating next to the window is highly coveted.

In all the years I’ve been going there, I’ve had the privilege of sitting up next to the window maybe twice. You can usually expect some people to peer over your shoulder or snap a quick photo of the raccoons while you’re eating, but most people are respectful about it.

Keyword: most.

Last night, the bar was overrun with children. It’s also late summer, which means the baby raccoons are out in full swing. The two of us were seated right next to the window (with my back parallel to the window and hers facing the corner). At first, we had a great time cooing at the little raccoons tearing into their early evening snacks. Then the children came.

Our table was flanked by three families, all with children under the age of 10. The first few times a kid got all up in my space, I cut their parents some slack: children get excited about baby animals, and they’re still learning boundaries, their parents just want a peaceful night out, etc. Thankfully, two of the families corrected their kids and steered them away from our space. The largest family of the bunch, however, did not.

I shit you not, before we even got our food, these kids started banging on the window with their fists. The kind of banging that would scare fish at an aquarium. Right next to my ear, naturally. I’m thinking that a kid big enough to be in third grade should know better, and his little brother should, too, but they pay me no mind. It’s like I’m an NPC, vaguely in their way while they embark on their quest to frighten as many unassuming animals as possible. Their parents are watching, disinterested, but they don’t intervene.

My girlfriend, being the sweetheart that she is, sees my uncomfortable face and asks if I want to switch spots. She reasons she’s more comfortable with kids being in her space than I am. Once the last kid has returned to his table, we switch places. To everyone watching us switch, it's obvious she's in a cast. I make sure to put her crutches on her side of the table. I think to myself: surely, they won't get all up in her space when that would risk knocking over her crutches. Surely, their parents wouldn't allow it.

When I glance over at the family a few minutes later, the middle child is staring at us. Entitled Dad is holding the pouty preschooler on his lap. The oldest boy is knee-deep in his fried chicken. I mistakenly thought that the worst was over.

No. No, it was not.

We're hardly fifteen minutes into our dinner when I look behind my girlfriend and notice the older two boys standing directly behind her. They're fiddling with her crutches, peeking through them, touching the handlebars and screws. My jaw dropped. I made direct eye contact with their mother, who seemed to be staring straight through me, and then with the young parents sitting behind my girlfriend, who seemed just as shocked as I was (their toddler was more well-behaved).

My girlfriend turned to the kids. "Hey, can you please not touch those? These are medical aids, and I need them to walk. My foot is broken."

They gave her a blank stare. They didn't react with shame. They didn't even stop touching them. The younger one went, "Oh, crutches?" as he pulled on the rubber handle, and the older one said nothing.

My girlfriend said, gently but firmly, "Yes, they are crutches, and I need them. Can you please stop touching them?"

They stared for a couple more seconds before wandering back to their seats. I glanced over at the family a few minutes later and saw Entitled Mom GLARING at us like she wanted to shoot lasers out of her eyes. My girlfriend turned around to confirm, and Mom glared at her too. At that point, the mood was ruined.

We left shortly after that, but they made sure to leave faster. Not a single apology, or even an ounce of guilt. Just pure, unbridled entitlement.

So my wife’s current car is running on is coming apart at the seams. I maintain it for her because ‘she doesn’t know anything about cars.’ Her words. The last year I have been desperately trying to keep it together for her. The most recent issue it had was its engine was burning through three quarts of oil in a month. I have been setting money aside so we could get her a new car when this one inevitably dies. This last week I was approached with a deal that was too good to pass up.

From someone I really trust they offered to sell me their Honda CRV, 2018, with 45k miles on it for $10k to help me out. This car is basically a more reliable equivalent to my wife’s current car. Same features, same size, same gas mileage.

At $10k we could reasonably pay that off in less than year through financing.

I took to my mechanic and was told it was in stellar shape. Even the primary issues had been resolved.

But when I talked to my wife about having her come look at it, she called me an ass for taking her choice of a new car away.

But am I really? This opportunity fell into my lap and I just seized it. And her current car freaks me out having her drive it over 80 miles a day.

Edit: just to clarify. We have not officially bought the car. No papers have been signed, no money has exchanged hands.

A buddy of mine knew I had been fretting about my wife’s car and had they had a good opportunity to help me out and was being generous and gave me a call one morning and I went and looked at the car at lunch. They let me take to my mechanic to verify how good this deal was. It was good so we talked more specifics. I told him I couldn’t make a call without my wife seeing it, but I was very interested. I told my wife about it when she got home from work that day.

Edit 2: To clarify because it keeps coming up. The plan was to basically drive her car until the wheels on her car fell off or we got enough of a down payment to get her a decent new car. New to us. She has not expressed much about what she wants her next car to be. She has off handling mentioned features she wants, which other than the size this car has. (She wanted a slightly larger SUV). But she not expressed any desire on price or if it’s new or used. She has a very ‘we will figure it out when we need too’ attitude about her car.

She has also acknowledged that I’m right on paper but is upset because she is feeling pressured.

Update: we had a good talk about it tonight. The pressure she is feeling is the unusual situation I have with my friend. I have known them forever, and this is not the first time we have done a deal like this, but it was the first time my wife was involved.

Apparently she was worried if she didn’t accept it would damage my friendship. It won’t. It’s admittedly a pretty bizarre scenario admittedly that has been forged from years of reliability and trust between us. It basically comes down to my friend helps me out of legit binds over the years and I make it a priority to pay them back for their generosity as soon as possible. For example years ago I was in a medical debt bind (it was a cluster that had an insane interest rate) and they helped me out of it and I paid them back within two years.

She’s going to check the car out on Saturday and we are going to decide after that. I’m dropping it with her for now but if she is conflicted about it I think I might take the advice I got on here and frame it as a temporary stand in we can pay off quick that can replace her current car that she can use until we get enough saved up to get her whatever car she wants in a few years.

Hello everyone.
Today I went to a bakery to buy 3 items. I waited for 10 minutes. A woman with a baby in a stroller came from behind me and went in front of me to order. The worker prompted the woman to order, but I started ordering instead. The woman said something along the lines of "Oh, you're next?". The worker said that she asked the woman because she had a baby with he r. I was in a hurry. I was also frustrated because she got in front of me without even saying anything, just cut right in front of me and tried to order. I would have absolutely given my place in line for her if she had asked "Sorry, I have a baby, can I go in front?". That wouldn't be a problem. I feel bad now, but I am sick and tired of people cutting in front of me. If they ask, then sure I will give up my place in line no problem.
She then made a comment after the worker said gave her priority. She said something like "Disgraceful, unbelieveable". I said "Sorry, I am in a hurry".
I took 2-5 minutes of her time. I feel bad because she had a baby, but why does she have to cut in line without asking anything?
Do women with babies in strollers automatically have permission and everyone has to yield to them without even asking for permission?
Please, tell me if I am in the wrong.

I spent a weekday afternoon at the local park/playground rollerskating with our 9-year-old. I had brought skates, helmets, protective gear, water bottles, etc. About an hour in, I realized he was getting too warm in jeans and could have used shorts.

At that point we were already in the middle of rollerskating. He really didn’t want to stop and go home, because we would have had to take off a lot of gear, walk to the car, drive home, get the shorts, drive back, and gear up again. The drive itself is only about five minutes each way, but it would have interrupted the whole thing. He also didn’t want to stay alone in the park while I went.

So I called my wife, who was at home, and asked if she could find his shorts and maybe, only if she wanted to, walk toward us with them so I could run downhill and meet her halfway. It park is about a 10-15-minute uphill walk from our house. She said yes, and said said she could just take a walk all the way up.

A few minutes later she called back and said, “You know what, I was being too nice before. I offered way too much. I’m not going to walk up there. I’ll put the shorts in the driveway and you can come get them.”

I said, “Okay, no problem,” and did not push it (I know when to not). In the end we did not go get the shorts. We just rolled up his jeans, which worked fine.

Later that evening, when we came home, my wife was still angry. She said she felt insulted that I had asked her to bring the shorts when I was the one with the car and the drive was so short. She said that if the roles were reversed, I would never have agreed to walk up there. She didn't want to hear anything about why I had asked, but demanded that I acknowledged and agreed with the feeling of being insulted.

I think it was completely fine she didn’t want to do it. But I did not agree that it was insulting to ask. From my point of view, I made a low-pressure practical request, she could have said no. When she changed her mind later I accepted it without arguing.

When I wouldn't agree that the request was insulting, she said, “Don’t ever ask me anything again that you wouldn’t do yourself.”

I don’t think it is true I would refuse the favor if roles were reversed. Depending on the situation being the same I would have absolutely done it, and on such a sunny day I would just turned it into a run.

I also don't think anybody should make a rule about not asking questions.

For context, my wife is generally not the one who spends several hours doing activities like this at the park. If she takes him, she is usually watching rather than participating, and she would normally stay for a shorter time. She prefers to stay at home. So I don’t think this was about her being jealous that I was at the park while she was home.

AITA for asking her in the first place?

EDIT: The part about reversed roles had come out completely wrong, opposite of my intent, now fixed. I have said no to her occasionally in the past but I would have done this

My son has braces, he’s had power chains for about the past six months. Nearly every time in between appointments, he has a power chain snap and we have to go in for a fix. Is this normal? What is he doing wrong?

Has anyone had weird Google map suggestions pop up? I know it pulls from recent searches and your calendar and stuff on your phone, which I find kind of invasive but oh well. Anyway, recently I’ve had it suggest things that are at the same address but not it.
Two examples- I had a dentist appointment a couple weeks ago. For about a week after, every time I got in the car I had “Paul Barnes 12 minutes away” as a suggestion. I kept going who is that? Then I looked it up and it’s a dentist at the practice, not even the one I see. Normally I would have “Westside Dental” as the suggestion. Today I had “TagWorks” as the suggestion. Again, wtf is that? I look it up, it’s the make your own tags kiosk inside the PetSmart. My dogs have a grooming appointment today. I also have the shopping center my son has a haircut appointment later today as a suggestion. Not the barber shop, just the plaza.
What is this?

Occasionally my dog will have a mushy poop. I go to pick it up with a poop bag on my hand and it will get all over the grass. Sometimes I pull the grass up because I don’t want to leave poopy grass but other times the grass doesn’t come up and I’m kind of like, wiping it off as best as I can.
What is the proper dog etiquette in that kind of situation?