Man Forcing Girlfriend To Do More Housework as He Wants To 'Relax' Dragged

A groveling boyfriend has been forced to apologize for expecting his girlfriend to do more chores than him since he pays for 60 percent of their rent.

The boyfriend posted on Reddit, as user u/lsmold on March 23 using the AITA (Am I The A******?) thread to discuss whether he was right to expect her to do more chores as she pays slightly less rent.

This follows a YouGov U.K. survey in 2022 which asked heterosexual couples (1,520 adults) how they split the housework, and the results showed that 66 percent of women said most of the cleaning was down to them.

The survey also found that 63 percent of women said they did most of the cooking, and 61 percent said they did the grocery shopping.

The Redditer explains in the post that he works "for a very prominent company and gets paid a lot better" than his girlfriend, who does "most of the cleaning."

The girlfriend cleans the bathroom, kitchen, sweeps, mops, vacuums and folds the laundry. The poster added that he occasionally helps with laundry and the dishes. The girlfriend began asking him to do more around their home and started leaving "cleaning tasks" for him, but they constantly went undone.

The post reads: "Since then, she keeps bringing up how I need to do more of the housework, but I feel like because I contribute more to the rent, she should be responsible for keeping the apartment clean."

The poster wrote that he is "tired from working," so doesn't want to do cleaning when he gets home and all he wants to do is "to relax" instead. The girlfriend works the "same amount of hours" as him, but her job is "much less demanding."

Since sharing the Reddit post, u/lsmold has been inundated with comments from people criticizing his attitude towards his girlfriend and the cleaning. The negative backlash gave him a "reality check" that showed him that he had "made a mistake."

"There's nothing I can do to make up for the past 8 months, and I was an idiot to think that my financial contribution was great enough to warrant not doing any chores," the update reads.

"It shouldn't have come down to strangers on the internet telling me I'm an a****** to realize this but thank you all for the wakeup call so much. I am never going to dismiss her, or all the hard work she puts into this relationship and our life together again."

Communicating problems in a relationship is something that counselor Marquita Johnson champions with her clients. Johnson, who has specialized in relationships for the last 14 years and works as a dating coach, adds that partners shouldn't have expectations of each other without discussing them first.

"It is dangerous to assume that a partner should or should not be doing something without having a conversation regarding the topic," she told Newsweek.

"Maybe there are some societal messages surrounding who should be responsible for the household chores. Take action and seek our ways to support one another and see alternatives to the way you have approached the problem.

"Remember, being in a relationship is teamwork and both of you are on the same team. Collaboration over competition is key, we are not competing with our teammate."

Johnson also says that people struggling with housework can try to make it more fun by listening to music, creating a game out of it, and rewards for once the tasks are done.

The Reddit post stirred up plenty of emotion online, with over 10,000 votes and 2,800 comments so far. One comment on the post reads: "She works the same amount of hours as you, and does basically all the cleaning? Does she do the cooking too? She is looking for help."

Another person offered their opinion with this comment: "Her making less salary does not make her your indentured servant."

Newsweek reached out to u/lsmold for comment through direct message. We could not verify the details of the case.

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