Visiting In-Law’s Accidentally Eat Out Of Dog’s Bowl, Leading To Intense Couple Clash Over Whether To Tell Them Or Not

What would you do if you're in such a position?

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• February 27, 2024

Our narrator and his girlfriend had been happily cohabitating for a year and a half with their loved furball, Marley.

Marley was pretty destructive, with a penchant for pulverizing his dog bowls. Keeping up with the endless replacements was becoming an extreme sport. So, one day, when the couple was too tired to dash off for the next replacement, they repurposed a ramen bowl to tide him over for the time being.

It seemed like a bright idea at the time. The bowl was stashed away in a far corner, and no one was ever likely to ransack the entire kitchen and end up with that particular bowl, right? Well, how wrong they were.

One fateful weekend, OP’s girlfriend’s parents decided to visit for the weekend. Unfortunately, they had to rush off the night before due to a health emergency. They did leave instructions for the in-laws to feel right at home.

The unsuspecting in-laws, left to their own devices, helped themselves to a generous serving of soup from the seemingly innocuous ramen bowls—one of which was Marley’s.

OP and their girlfriend arrived home just in time to catch the end of this culinary disaster. This was the moment of truth—to break to news or let blissful ignorance prevail?

OP didn’t see the point. The soup was already 90% finished, and they seemed fine so far; they didn’t want to trigger any unnecessary panic.

Well, their girlfriend stubbornly protested and spilled the beans. The next couple of hours was a series of gagging, vomiting, and complaints about food poisoning—which didn’t stop until the moment they left.

OP still believed the entire thing could’ve been avoided if they'd just kept the dog situation under wraps. Was he wrong for feeling this way?

The story in detail

A bit of background

OP and their girlfriend came back to find their in-laws eating out of a bowl they had used to feed their dog

OP’s girlfriend wanted to tell her parents, however, OP insisted she leave them to their ignorance. Well, they later found out, and it wasn’t funny

When the in-laws left, OP and their girlfriend got into an altercation. OP was pissed that she went ahead to ruin their meal and make them feel sick

We gathered some reactions from the Reddit community.

“Can't help but feel their reactions are a bit ridiculous, and no, NTA for wanting to avoid the over-the-top dramatics.”

“NTA. There are people eating out of garbage piles elsewhere in world, this is hardly barf worthy.“

“I think the parents got sick by the power of suggestion. I wouldn't have told them either.”

“NTA. Your gf couldn't stop herself from saying something, the parent's were way over the top.”

“We let our dog lick plates before they go in the dishwasher.”

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with pets using dishes if you carefully wash them. Expecially if you run them through the dishwasher.”

Some Redditors argued that the in-law's reaction is a tad over-the-top. Dogs lick the faces and hands of their humans every day.

Some pet parents even admitted to letting their dogs lick dirty plates before putting them in the dishwasher.

However, everyone is different, and people should be able to choose if they want to eat out of a dog bowl or not—no one likes such a surprise, especially if it’s someone else’s dog.

In addition, it’s understandable that OP wanted to keep it a secret to avoid unnecessary drama. Too bad their partner spilled the beans.

Jesse