A man recently visited a popular online forum to discuss an incident involving his wife’s gaming account and his broken laptop. For the sake of his story, we’ll call him Jim.
Jim explained that his wife is a hardworking housewife who maintains the house and takes care of the children. As a result, he has a fair amount of household chores and yard work for a balanced workload.
She has full access to all of their accounts, except for his spending account. “I deposited the same amount into her spending account, but I can only deposit, not withdraw.” Jim went on to say that although he doesn’t work from home, he does have a home office. He uses it to catch up, plays with his toys, and plays video games.
Jim repeatedly told his wife to leave his office alone. She has room for hobbies and personal space. He cleans the room by taking out the trash, cleaning and washing the dishes, or cleaning up after playing with his children.
He even suggested that after he and his wife played video games, he should clean the room. Jim explained that he didn’t have a lock on the door, but she didn’t need to be in the office without it.
Jim noted that he lines up some of his collection of Lego minifigures on his laptop screen. “I like to imagine that Batman and Spider-Man are watching my work. I know it’s stupid, but I love it.”
This is where things get messy
For some reason, Jim’s wife decided to go clean the office. She needed to move his laptop and close it, but not all the way because his minifigures were in the way.
When he came home, she explained what had happened. The screen didn’t work at all. So he had to get out his old monitor and plug it in to see if there was any more damage.
It was just a screen. But after testing, replacing the screen would have cost Jim $250 for parts and labor. So he decided to replace the laptop, using the old one, with his old monitor for his kids.
The cost was only $600. So Jim withdrew $350 from his account and $250 of the money he deposited into her account bought a new computer. He explained that this does not affect their budget. Instead, it affects her side project and hobby budget.
Effects
“Well, now she’s mad at me because she has to cut back on her fun. For example, she loves to spend a spa day with her mom. I said that I was not responsible for the breakdown of my computer, and she was 100% to blame.
Jim then explained that she thought he should forgive her because it was an accident. “I said I wasn’t upset, but if she thought I should forgive her, I completely forgive her, but she still has to help me pay for a new laptop.
I didn’t just take her money. We talked about this first. She is still upset that I expect her to take responsibility. I did not make a dictatorial decision. We don’t work like that.” Here’s how the internet reacted.
Forgiving and making amends are two different things.
One of them stated: “Forgiveness and reparation are two different things.” Jim has forgiven his wife for causing harm. But she is still responsible for making amends. “You have forgiven a person, not a financial responsibility.”
It’s like a parent punishing a teenager
“It looks like the parent is punishing the teenager, not his wife,” suggested one of them. Another added: “I totally agree with people saying that she should pay for part of his new computer since she broke the old one.
However, it must also have a say in how and when this happens. Jim decided not to deposit money into her account, even after she said she didn’t agree with his request. This is very similar to how a parent takes part of the allowance.
Did he discuss other options? For example, she could pay him smaller payments out of her expenses. She is his wife, not some random stranger. I would even willingly do this for a close friend, especially if I could afford to replace him.
This means that I can allocate money for its repair. I would do this to my wife if we could afford to replace him. She did something by accident. Life happens.”
It’s perfectly reasonable
Several people in the thread agreed that the wife was spying and trespassing on his office, where he had repeatedly asked her to stay away.
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One of them added: “Your decision to take money from her entertainment money is perfectly reasonable. The money has to come from somewhere. They don’t have to come from the family budget, and they don’t have to come from your entertainment money. They must come from the person who committed the offense and money for your wife’s entertainment. The “break it, buy it” principle.
What do you think? Isn’t Jim right in expecting his wife to help pay for his laptop because she’s responsible for it breaking down? We hope you enjoyed this discussion on Reddit. This article is inspired by the Internet and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Wealthy Nickel.
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