There is nothing more uncomfortable than watching a couple fight in public. There is also nothing more astounding than watching someone treat the supposed love of their life like absolute dirt in public. Yet it happens all the time.
We checked in with Reddit to hear about some of the worst horror stories they'd witnessed of a significant other treating their partner like garbage. Content has been edited for clarity.
He Knew What Was Best For Her
“The other day, I was standing in line to get food when I notice the couple in front of me. Right away, I knew he would be a complete tool. It was 8 pm and he had sunglasses on inside, lowering his head to peer over them at people. He was in full Ed Hardy gear and was gripping the shoulder of the girl next to him aggressively.
She was chatting away excitedly about the food she was going to order, he rolled his eyes at her and didn’t listen to a word she had to say. She seemed nice enough, bubbly and friendly, and had a banging body. Thin, naturally tanned, toned, with a massive chest.
They approach the counter and she brightens up as she orders her meal, fries with cheese and gravy. The guy next to her makes a noise of disgust and says loudly, ‘I can’t believe you’re eating this trash, you’re going to end up like her,’ he nods behind them. To me. I narrowed my eyes at him as she goes on to say she’ll have a Coke.
The guy holds up his hand to her face, and goes, ‘She’ll have a water.’ Now, he could just be looking out for her well-being, but people should always be allowed to make their own decisions, a significant other does not get to make it for them.
I was livid at this point. Not only had he insulted me, but he’d also completely shut down his own girlfriend.”
Controlling And Perverted
“I was at a LAN party that my friend was hosting and there was about 10 of us there. One of our friends brought his girlfriend, but wouldn’t let her play with us. We kept feeling awful, so I just ended up giving her my controller and letting her play. He goes crazy, smacks the controller out of her hand, and tells her to stop bothering us. She tears up and tries to leave, but he talks her into staying (I have no idea why he wanted her there to just sit around and do nothing).
Later on, he tried to pull down her top and feel her up in front of all of us. I ended up driving her home and she broke up with him. We didn’t talk to him for like four months after that.”
Putting A Stop To Everything
“The girlfriend or wife was beating the guy. The guy seemed nice enough, but the woman was criticizing everything he did. He was going to order an appetizer and he asked his girl if she would like the chips. She said, ‘Do you want me to get fat?’ and punched him in the arm. He told the server nevermind, and that was that until she got angry about something else and bloodied his nose.
I flagged down the cop giving people parking tickets outside, and he came in. He nearly arrested the guy until several patrons and the server told him he was making a mistake, and that it was the woman who had hit the guy. When he accepted this as the truth, he let the guy go and told the woman to settle down.
Since the cop wouldn’t do anything, I told her we were refusing her service, and she wouldn’t be welcome in the pub again. I also gave the guy a free to go order of chips.”
Going Public With Very Private Information Or The Wrong Information!
“I won tickets to a water park through a radio show recently, and we went with 4 other couples, as well as the DJs. The show had hired a limo for the day, which naturally was stocked with drinks.
We hadn’t even gotten onto the highway before the first drink was opened. Halfway there – it was about 1.5 hours to get there – the guy next to my wife as completely wasted and was talking to us about how he and his girlfriend liked to watch adults films and try the things they saw.
His girlfriend, who was right next to him, was looking at us horrified, shaking her head, and going ‘Who were you with? That’s not us!’
He just kept talking and ignored her.”
Never Hit A Woman In Front Of This Man
“I was on my way to my dad’s house and stopped at a traffic light when the SUV in front of me began rocking back and forth. I saw a fist fly from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat. I exited my vehicle and approached the driver’s side. In the driver’s seat was a crying woman, who had a huge welt on her face. There was a young kid in the back seat.
‘Ma’am, are you Okay? Would you like me to call the police?’
Through her tears and crying, she said, ‘No, I’m OK.’
Her significant other yelled at me to mind my own business, so I did. I went back to my car, just in time for the light to turn green. We were both in the right-turn-only lane, so we both turned right.
I gave the SUV some distance and followed (we were going the same direction anyhow). In the middle of a 55 MPH zone, the SUV suddenly came to a complete stop. Apparently, the SO had yanked the keys out of the ignition. The car started back up and sped off (I was still behind).
They pulled into a gas station at the next major intersection, I pulled in and parked at the gas pumps, whereas they had parked against the building. SO jumps out of the passenger side, runs over to the driver’s side, and literally rips this poor woman out of the car. He then proceeds to shove her up against the building and choke her. Mind you, this is daytime and there are 15+ other cars at this very busy gas station.
So I pulled my vehicle up and parked it directly behind the SUV, cop style, at an angle, making it impossible for them to leave. At this point, I was on the phone with 9-1-1, and the sergeant I had been patched to informed me several squad cars were on the way.
The man then approached me and threatened to kick my butt, etc; I responded by retrieving a weapon from the glove box, exiting the vehicle, and telling the guy to get on the ground, and put his hands behind his head.
He complied.
The police arrived on-scene about 60 seconds after I held him and took him into custody. I testified against him in court several weeks later and he was sentenced to two years in state jail for aggravated assault.
Moral of the story? Don’t hit a woman. Ever. Especially not in front of me.”
He REALLY Didn’t Like Makeup
“Unfortunately, my dad was often awfu to my mother.
Whenever she spoke, he would put her down. If she wanted to go out, she had to call him and ask for permission. Once, when I was about 4, we went to a party. The room was very warm and my mother looked flushed, with red cheeks. He thought she was wearing makeup (which she wasn’t allowed to) and in front of all the guests, told her to ‘wipe that freaking trash from her face.’ He dragged her to the bathroom and scrubbed her face. He kept pointing to the completely white rag and insisting it was pink from the ‘crud on her face.’ Those were bad memories.”
It’s A Never Ending Cycle For Some People
“A few years ago, I was at a house party. There were about 30 people outside, some carelessly drinking while standing in the middle of the street. A loud argument between a couple caught my attention and I looked in their direction just in time to witness the guy break a bottle over the girl’s shoulder.
Everyone went silent. The guy, looking around nervously, took it upon himself to opine, ‘What’s the problem? We break bottles on each other all the time.’ I didn’t know whether to laugh or get involved. Moments later, a few Tapout clad bros took it upon themselves to chase off the guy with threats of a severe beating. To make the whole ordeal worse, I went back outside later to have a smoke and there was the girl, still soaked in brew, making out with the dude. I left in disgust.”
She Couldn’t Stop Herself From Getting Involved
“I was at a country music festival with my younger sister. This guy behind us appeared to be really hammered and was calling his very petite girlfriend every nasty name you could think of. She just kept saying, ‘Okay, whatever,’ trying to get him to just chill out. I looked back several times and gave him the look and it clearly wasn’t working.
Things escalated after about 30 minutes and I look back and he’s pulling his arm back like he’s going to hit her. I turn around and really loudly said, ‘HEY, cool it!’ He called me a nasty name and told me to mind my own freaking business. At this point, every male within 50 feet was quickly walking over to make sure I didn’t get the daylight beaten out of me.
He left and I offered his girlfriend my phone to call someone to come pick her up.
Probably not the smartest decision I’ve ever made in regards to my own safety, but you better believe I wasn’t going to watch this huge redneck beat up his tiny girlfriend.”
“That Ain’t My Baby!”
“Two teenagers were getting off the bus with their three-year-old daughter. The guy kept calling the girl a ‘messed up [witch]’ and kept raising his hands at her like he was going to slap her while she was holding the little girl. She kept begging him to visit his daughter, and he kept shaking his head and walked away. ‘That ain’t my baby!’
The mother (still holding the little girl) followed him and he nearly pushed them both into traffic (they were arguing on the curb) but the mother caught her balance. He crossed the street, she followed and he tried to push her into traffic again.”
He Loved The Dog More Than He Loved Her
“I was at a party in college when this girl comes to screeching halt out front. She jumped out and ran up to her boyfriend. She was clearly upset and on the verge of tears. She told her boyfriend that she left the gate open and his dog escaped from the yard. The boyfriend went berserk. He started unleashing a verbal barrage and its creativity was only matched by its brutality. One memorable quote, ‘You guzzling witch, anything that happens to that dog will be paid back to you ten times.’
Apparently, the dog was found waiting in the yard for them when they got home. The little guy probably just wanted to go exploring for a bit.”
He Couldn’t Win For Losing With Her
“I had a friend/housemate who’s girlfriend treated him like dirt. He tried to break it off a few times, but she ‘wouldn’t let him.’ I was never clear on how that worked, but it probably involved their close families and mutual friends (I was neither).
We were at a party at his house and things were going well. She was being chatty and flirty with other guys as she often did, but he was just having a good time, talking to lots of people. At some point, they disappeared from the party, and we could hear shouting from his room. We didn’t know whether to intervene or not but they’re both just shouting through a semi-closed door, so we kind of let them go. Basically, he was calling her out on her nonsense, she was going for petty insults. Then she saw there are people outside the door and immediately bursts into ‘tears.’
Now, he’s a dude yelling at a crying woman. He realized what’s going on and smashed something of his against the wall. All attention is now on that situation. The ladies take the girl away downstairs, I try to talk my friend down. When I come downstairs, she’s spreading a sob story, alluding that he might have hit her, etc. Basically trying to make him look like a monster for finally standing up to her.
I realize this doesn’t seem like much, but it came at the head of years of this stuff and I couldn’t believe how a person could do that to someone they ‘cared’ about.
Two of us (one lady and myself) took her and her friend/flatmate outside and I hailed a cab. We put them in it, I give the cabbie a twenty and told him to take them home. She smiled and thanked me for being so caring. I leaned in through the open window and whispered that she is dead to me and if she ever set foot in my house again, I’m calling the cops. The shocked face she made as the cabbie drove off wasn’t satisfying at the time, but now that they’ve been broken up for years, it’s a very fond memory.
My friend and I skipped out on the rest of party and the accusing glances and went for a long walk.”
She Constantly Justifies His Bad Behavior
“I wasn’t here, but this happened to one of my roommates. She just joined a sorority this past semester of school and was taking her on-again-off-again boyfriend to the spring formal. It was her birthday weekend and she was really excited to have a nice and fun event to go to with him as they had been having problems prior to this and things were just getting back to normal.
She has an incredibly fit and athletic body and was wearing a really tight-fitting dress, so other guys at the formal were checking her out. Her boyfriend saw this and snapped on her for it within ten minutes of being there. He started yelling at her in front of all of her new sisters and friends for being ‘easy’ and about how he can’t trust her, even though she did nothing to facilitate the ‘being looked at wrong.’ He brought up all of her close guy friends whom she hung out with but didn’t actually do anything with when they were broken up. Not to mention, the last time they broke up, he didn’t actually tell her. She found out when she went over to see him, and his roommates told her he was at a party trying to get with some random girls.
She left that formal sobbing within the first half hour of being there, and her idiot boyfriend stayed all night to partake in the free sorority drinks with his buddies. She took him back three days later.
The crazy thing is that she has literally the best self-esteem of any girl I know. Her reasoning is that he’s good to her in private, and they just can’t be out in public together. WHAT. WHAT? WHAT!
She is incredibly confident, almost to a fault sometimes. She’s just also incredibly naive and I don’t think she realizes this is not how relationships are supposed to work. It’s a really upsetting thing to watch, honestly, because this guy SUCKS.
Also, he eats my food. Like, I will make myself a delicious dinner, and save the leftovers, and the next time I check the tupperware, there is only rice left where there was once rice and chicken. But that’s beside the point… I just really hate him.”
His Job Puts Him Right In The Abusers’ Path
“Twice in three weeks, I’ve had to call the cops due to guys beating on their girlfriends outside the bar where I work. In both cases, the couples were very young (20-22ish) and it was obviously not the first time it had happened. It makes me so depressed to hear the repeated, ‘But he really is a nice guy,’ while the police interrogate the dude.
There was no escalating wasted argument leading up to any of these cases (I have seen my fair share of those and generally try to sort things myself), and the couples were not especially trashed. In one of the cases, a girl ended up talking to some guys on the back patio while having a smoke. Her boyfriend walked out to her, had a calm conversation, they left through the front entrance together, then he threw her into the wall on the outside. Luckily, a guy ran up and grabbed him, screaming, ‘ARE YOU BEATING ON A GIRL?’ before he got in the second kick to her side. The saddest part was seeing her not managing to walk away even though she had the chance.”
A Trying Time, Unhelpful Words
“I was in line to check in for a flight and there was a couple behind me with a child in a stroller who couldn’t be much more than about a year old. The child’s skin was tinted yellow, obviously jaundice. Another person in line made a comment about how well-behaved the child was (the line was taking a really long time). The mom said that they were flying to some hospital to do an organ transplant.
A few minutes later, I overheard the couple talking quietly amongst themselves, and the man started speaking to her in pretty harsh tones. Something about how she always talks too much, and by the way she forgot to pack something they needed, and she was so freaking stupid. I caught a glimpse of her face as I glanced behind me, and it was painfully obvious that she was completely miserable in that relationship…but was toughing it out for her sick kid.”
Defending A Stranger’s Honor Left Him Floored
“I was visiting family up in Ohio when I walked out of a store and saw an arguing couple on the walkway. At this point, she was crying and he was calling her every degrading name in the book. My blood was already boiling because anybody who has the audacity to do that in public is most likely worse in private. But it was just one of those things you had to walk away from… but that’s when he hit her. I heard a loud slap as he told her to shut the eff up and stop crying.
After that, my sight went red. I’m sorry, but at no point is it okay to hit somebody who is not a threat to you or to those with the inability to defend themselves, especially if it is somebody significantly smaller than you. Without hesitation, I dropped my stuff, bee-lined to them and the second our eyes met, I decked him in the face. He lost his balance for a second and I took that opportunity to grab him by his clothes and throw him over the railing behind us. He flipped over it and hit the ground hard and he just started sounding pathetic after that.
The girl freaked out but didn’t fight me or yell at me or do anything to defend him, so I can be thankful for that. Hopefully, that was enough of a realization for her. After the initial rush, I told him something along the lines of never touching a girl again. That, unfortunately, was when I met his older brother. I guess he was in a car or something but at this point, I was walking away and he intercepted me. This guy had an easy 60-80 lbs. on me and he used it well, pushing me off my feet with one shove. I got back up and I started doing what I could, but eventually, he nailed me in the neck and I almost blacked out; opening my eyes to see him sitting on top of me with my arms pinned to my sides. I wasn’t very pretty by the end of it, but the cops were called at some point, so he eventually got off and bolted. Good times.”