Help our staff decide if they were in the wrong in these real-life morality situations.
Evan asks: Am I the a**hole for deleting my friend’s video game?
A few months ago, my roommate (21 years old, let’s call him Carl) asked if he could download the game Dark Souls on my PlayStation. I was confused as to why (since he has his own expensive gaming device) but obliged since he offered to pay half of the $60 game.
However, what I didn’t realize was that Carl would become OBSESSED with this game. He played it nonstop. The PlayStation is in our living room (I keep it there to watch TV) so that meant he was playing 24/7 in the only common space of our apartment. To Carl’s defense, he never argued when I asked him to get off the game, but until that moment, he would play it nonstop. And he’d beaten it four times!
I couldn’t take it anymore and gave Carl a choice. If he wanted to keep the game, he would have to prove to me why it mattered. I told him he had to create a PowerPoint and convince me that the game was good enough to be on my console. Carl did his assignment, but I felt it lacked effort, which I emphasized was important. In the end I decided I wasn’t convinced and got rid of the game. I kind of feel like an ass for even making him present the PowerPoint but I’m not sure. I can tell Carl has been kind of sad lately and he did technically do his assignment (it was seriously low effort though), but it is my console so I should choose what goes on it. What do yall think?
Is Evan the a**hole? APN votes: No, by vote of 4-2.
Why not: I think Evan is not the a**hole but I do not think he is innocent either. I would say he is 35% that a**hole, while “Carl” is 65%.
Adam asks: Am I the a**hole for not telling someone she was being cheated on?
Recently, my best friend lost the spark in his relationship and ended it. However, he also told me that he had started seeing someone else before the formal breakup. This made me question whether or not I should tell the ex-girlfriend. On the one hand, she was a lovely person who wanted nothing but the best for my friend. At the same time, I didn’t want to lose my friend.
A week after the breakup, the ex-girlfriend messaged and asked me to keep an eye on my friend as she feared for his well-being. He’d apparently told her that he felt like a bad person. But I also knew he was running around with the new girl. Yet again, I refrained from telling her. I still don’t know if this was the right call and I haven’t been able to consult anyone because he asked me to keep this a secret. She deserves to know the truth, but should I be the one to tell her? Is it too soon for her to know?
Is Adam the a**hole? APN vote: No, by unanimous 6-0 vote.
Why not: During APN’s interrogation of Adam, it was revealed that the ex-girlfriend eventually found out about the new girlfriend by monitoring Adam’s bestfriend’s playlists.
Yasmine asks: Am I the a**hole for spritzing fart spray on my neighbor’s door?
I (19F now, but 17 at the time) used to live in an apartment complex with my mom (38F, 36 at the time). We had a neighbor who made our lives miserable from the day we moved in, and until we moved out two years later. Here’s how:
- 1. She repeatedly called the cops and the property manager on us for absolutely nothing. One example: On Thanksgiving Day, she called the cops for a nonexistent “dispute.” It was just our family gathered together. The cops asked us a few questions and left.
- 2. She threatened to try to get me expelled from school because she “knew the superintendent,” Her reasoning: My friend had parked in the parking lot only to use the bathroom upstairs.
- 3. When I had a medical emergency and needed an ambulance, she harassed my mom and the EMTs, trying to demand details about what was happening, simply because she was nosy.
- 4. She always parked in the only handicap spot, even though she had no sticker, nor had any medical ailments requiring her to park there. And she once screamed at a woman who actually needed the spot who had politely asked her to move. (And mind you, there were always plenty of open spaces she could’ve used.)
- 5. She threatened to “make sure we get kicked out and remain homeless.”
TLDR, she was a nightmare for two years.
So when it finally came time for us to move out, my mom and I decided to be a little bit petty. We bought fart spray off Amazon and sprayed it on her front door before we left.
I am not entirely sure if it was too far, but I think it was deserved, so I want a second opinion.
Is Yasmine the a**hole? APN vote: No, by unanimous 6-0 vote.
Chris asks: Am I the a**hole for breaking up with a friend because she followed Erika Kirk on Instagram?
After Charlie Kirk’s death, my friend said she’d started following his widow Erika Kirk on Instagram. She said she felt bad that a wife lost her husband. I said I was alarmed that she was following a far-right figure on social media, which wasn’t justified by the fact that she felt bad about Kirk’s murder. She told me that I was being “emotionally unintelligent” and unsympathetic and that if I couldn’t see then we couldn’t be friends. We haven’t spoken since, and I’ve blocked her on social media.
Is Chris the a**hole? APN vote: No, by unanimous 6-0 vote.
Why not: I do not think Chris is the ahole because, sometimes, the right choice is to choose the “selflish” option in order to respect your own personal values. If her beliefs strongly disagree with yours, I think it is fair to want to remove her from your life.
apnmag.com 