The "Am I the Asshole?" group on Reddit gives us all the juiciest dilemmas people are having so we strangers can step in as the "third party" and offer insights about the situation. Today's kind of had my jaw on the floor, so let's begin.
A mom wants to know if she is an asshole for allowing her 22-year-old son — who is a picky eater — to bring fast food to a wedding reception. Now, before you form your opinion, let's go over all the details.
The wedding in question was for the mom's cousin. At the reception, there was a nice buffet. User u/Houstonstan2618 says it "was really good for wedding food" and they had "a nice soup, salad, tenderloin, BBQ beef, pasta, a few other selections."
Her picky eater son, however, did not like the food. So, she allowed him to leave to get fast food. Now, this is where things get a little...weird (IMO). Apparently, "word spread" that her son was getting fast food, and other wedding attendees wanted him to bring them back some.
The family were all seated at a table near the dance floor, and u/Houstonstan2618 admitted people "could probably smell it there but nobody in our immediate family had a chance problem (even the bride and groom)."
However, she later found out that the venue and the family of the bride were appalled and she doesn't understand why. "It was a great party but he wanted something different and other people did too," she concluded on Reddit.
People were enraged in the comments, stating that the mom was enabling her son's unwarranted behavior.
"You're the asshole. At most, he should have slipped out, eaten, and returned quietly. Letting it be known and eating at the reception is a VERY asshole move. You were rude, disrespectful, and trashy. Apologize and teach your son better. Also, he's 22. Ummm, enable much?"
"22 years old and at a buffet your adult 'child' couldn't find anything they could eat? You enabled this behavior...."
Many people would have actually been OK with the scenario if the 22-year-old would have secretly snuck away and ate the fast food in his car or somewhere else.
"When I was around 17, I was in my cousin’s wedding that had a potluck for the reception. The family members who brought food were the ones whose house you don’t really eat at (sanitation reasons). My mom stepped away during the reception and came back with McDonald’s for us. We then ate it in the car where no one could see us because that is the polite thing to do if you cannot or will not eat the food at someone’s wedding."
"One thing to eat it in your car so no one knows...But he BROUGHT IT BACK AND BROUGHT FOOD FOR OTHERS!!!! And ate it next to the dance floor. I'm honestly astonished."
"He couldn’t even go quietly. There was enough of a fuss that other guests got wind of it and made requests. Now bride and groom are left with the message that people would rather eat crap than the meals they provided at great expense."
"I went to a wedding on Saturday. The food wasn't great and were really small portions. I gave my plate to my hubby so I was still hungry. Did I order fast food? No. I waited until we left and got some food on the way home."
"I’ve been to weddings with bad, bad, bad, bad, bad food. Both myself and my husband sat through 10 hours being in the wedding party (were really close friends with the groom) and were starving. We literally lived two minutes away from the wedding venue and didn’t even think of going home to eat. Both you and your son are the asshole!"
It was also unbelievable to so many people that the 22-year-old couldn't find one thing to eat to tide him over.
"Since it was a buffet, I'm sure there was at least bread and butter that he could have eaten. In this situation, at least be aware enough about how rude it is and eat the fast food in the car before coming in or wait and stop on the way home. Not going to starve and pass out from not eating for a few hours."
And a few people made a good point that the bride and groom could have gotten charged for outside food being brought into the venue.
"The bride and groom could have been fined by the venue. At my own venue, bringing your own food with the exception of the cake was strictly against the rules of the contract. If you needed to accommodate a guest's diet or food allergy, that had to be taken to management so they could prepare something specifically for them if need be. And this was pretty common when we went venue hunting."
Overall, the consensus is that user u/Houstonstan2618 is the asshole — which I think we can all agree is obvious.
"The venue and family of the bride were appalled because he brought fast food into the reception for multiple people to eat. You embarrassed the venue because you all showed publicly you did not like their food, and you angered the bride’s family because they most likely paid a good amount of money for the food you publicly replaced. If you were invited to a dinner party, would you leave halfway through to get fast food and bring it back to eat at the dinner table?"
Wedding etiquette is something that's been talked about for a while and, in today's society, is ever-changing. If you want to hear some tips people have when it comes to proper wedding behavior, you can read more here. But also, let us know what you think about this Reddit situation in the comments.
