In a recent “Am I the Asshole” Reddit thread, user u/Meowow912 asked people if she was a jerk for how she handled a situation at a coffee shop. Let’s get into it!
So, u/Meowow912 was in a long line to get coffee, and she happened to be behind a man who kept muttering things under his breath. “I noticed every time someone in front of him ordered a coffee with some sort of plant milk, he would mutter louder,” she said in the thread.
When it was the man’s turn to order, she said he “looked around and loudly said, ‘I want a regular drip coffee with real milk, not this froufrou b.s. everyone drinks these days.'”
It was so obscene that apparently, the barista rolled her eyes. When u/Meowow912 ordered after him, he was still nearby. “I ordered a latte with oat milk. I was kind of waiting for him to say something, but I wasn’t officially instigating because I always get oat milk,” she explained.
“The guy looks at me and says, ‘You know that’s not milk, right?’ It won’t kill you to drink regular milk, right? It’s good for you.’ Now, here’s where I might be the asshole. I said, ‘Yeah, it won’t kill me, but I don’t want to Hershey squirt all the way home. I don’t want to shit myself from now until there is nothing left in my stomach. So, if you don’t mind, I will take my oat milk latte and not shit myself, thanks.'”
“… The guy threw his coffee away and left. The barista was in shock.”
But now u/Meowow912 said she feels bad because her husband said it was a bit uncalled for. “But my husband also laughed so hard when I told him. I get so annoyed when people decide they have some out-of-pocket thing to say to me.” She then asked Reddit users if she was an asshole for how she handled the situation.
User u/BeeYehWoo said she’s not an asshole. “Well, he did ask, and you let him know in no uncertain terms that there are horrible stomach and intestinal symptoms that follow. Some people need to hear it and be disgusted in order for them to leave others alone and shut their mouths. What is his problem anyway? You each get your coffee the way you each like it, and that’s that. What do I give a shit if you drink oat milk? As long as you don’t force me to drink it, I don’t care.”
And so does u/empressbunny. “Dude totally deserved that for being a busybody. My husband was surprised that I never had a cappuccino until I was 40+. Me: I’m lactose intolerant, remember? Him: Good point. I’m pleased with all the offerings we have now, just like you.”
However, user u/tropicaldiver thinks she is MOSTLY not an asshole, but still believes she went a little too far. “Yes, the guy very much had it coming. Who cares what you have or don’t have in your coffee? And your response was hilarious! But, for any other customers, not so much.”
As a general consensus, though, you’ll find that nearly everyone in the comments does not believe she is an asshole. Most are applauding her like user u/mustng66 who said, “He started it and you finished it. Besides, it is always fun to call out a bigoted person. I remember in the ’80s when the Milk Council had all those ads that milk did a body good. They had to cancel them because they didn’t do the lactose intolerant any damn good.”
OK, it’s your turn to chime in! What do you think of this story, and how would you handle things if you were in this situation? Let us know in the comments!