A Reddit user has garnered praise after sharing his breakup story, which involved cancelling a $600 (approximately £500) couple’s spa package to his former partner’s dismay.
The man, who goes by the handle u/snagleradio78, shared his experience earlier this week in the sub-Reddit r/pettyrevenge.
He wrote that his ex-girlfriend broke up with him over the phone after a year of dating, admitting that “in hindsight, she was awful but I was blind to it”. He later discovered that her “informal” way of breaking up with him was because she was already seeing another man a week after their split.
“I didn’t confront her about it, because I realise that things just don’t work out sometimes,” he said. “It was just the way she went about it that irked me.”
Remembering that he had purchased them a couple’s massage spa package as a gift for Christmas, the man realised he did not have the gift certificate with him because he had given it to his ex.
However, he “decided to go to the spa and make up a story of how I lost the certificate”, using the receipt for the purchase and showing the spa his credit card charge.
The spa reissued him a gift card and cancelled the other, he explained. All this took place more than a year ago, with the man “frankly forgetting about it” – until he received a call from his ex-girlfriend for the first time since she broke up with him.
“She’s screaming at me over the phone that the gift certificate is no good and the spa place accused her of ‘stealing’ and what a piece of s*** I was for reporting it to be such,” he said, but clarified that he hadn’t reported it as stolen despite what the person his ex-girlfriend spoke to at the spa told her.
“I just politely explained I didn’t think she was deserving of it and if she really wanted to, she could just have [her new boyfriend] Mark pay for a new one,” he concluded. “I then hung up. Gonna make an appointment to use that card with my new girlfriend soon.”
The post has since gained more than a thousand comments, with some people sharing their own breakup stories.
One person described how she bought two tickets to see the Rolling Stones for her ex-boyfriend’s birthday, after he hinted heavily that he wanted to see them. However, he “suddenly and conveniently broke up with me a couple of days later”.
The concert was due to take place several days after the breakup, and the Reddit user said she “knew that he was planning to go with whoever he broke up with me for”.
But she knew she could void his tickets by having them reprinted for herself. She did just that and took her brother to the concert.
“When we left the venue, I turned on my phone and noticed I had seven missed calls, over a dozen texts and a very long and scream-cry-filled voicemail,” she said. “He had showed up to the venue all ready to impress his new girl with an expensive concert. Oops!”
She ended her post with: “F*** you, Howard.”
One person commented: “That’s f***ing gross. OP’s [original poster] girlfriend and Howard sound like disgusting people. How are you going to break up with someone and expect an experiential gift they gave you when you were together to still be in play?
“Those gifts were plans made between the two of you. If there is no more ‘the two of you’ then consider those plans gone.”