AITA for telling my friend that most women would not marry him & mocking his minimum-wage job?

A Redditor, who is 5’4″, found himself in a heated confrontation with his taller friend Ian during a gathering. After Ian made a hurtful joke about the Redditor’s height and relationship status, the Redditor retaliated by mocking Ian’s minimum-wage job as a waiter and suggesting that most women wouldn’t consider him marriage material.

This sparked a significant argument among the group, leading the Redditor to leave. Now, he’s questioning whether his reaction was justified or if he crossed the line. Read the original story below for a deeper look into this conflict.

‘ AITA for telling my friend that most women would not marry him & mocking his minimum-wage job?’

I am a short guy, around 5’4 to 5’5. In my thirties. My friend Ian is around 6’1. I’d met him some time back at an event & although he’s really good-looking, he works as a waiter at a restaurant. On the other hand I make quite a lot to put it mildly.

Ian has a girlfriend, Julia. We were hanging out at his place yesterday along with some of his other friends. I am a teetotaler & absolutely loathe alcohol, but the others were getting drunk and began to make “jokes.” One of the jokes was about how short I was, and am still single.

Ian said “Dude, I am not surprised that you are still single, you are really short and most women would pass on you immediately.” The others laughed, including Julia.

I was momentarily startled, but then snapped “At least I don’t struggle to make ends meet and work a minimum-wage job.” I added “Most women won’t consider *you* marriage material, by the way.”

Ian got extremely mad & began to argue with me, and so did the others. We had a huge verbal sparring. I asked them to f**k off & in the end left the place.. AITA?

Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:

Alternative-Gur-6208 −  Esh. You both sound like you shouldn’t be friends. 

Low-Inevitable-7 −  ESH — the ‘although he’s good looking, he’s a waiter’ says it all

Peony-Pony −  ESH You both were unkind.

No-Pooping −  ESH. You all s**k. 

AlfredoDG133 −  Obviously you’re an a**hole. But beyond that, your insult kinda rings h**low when you’re single and he’s not. Really bad look lol.. ETA: ESH.

PhoenixRisingToday −  ESH. but mostly Ian. He can dish it out but he can’t take it. While your response wasn’t the most mature, he definitely had it coming.

Remember that drinking alcohol drops inhibitions, so the drunk Ian showed you who he really is. Might be time to reevaluate that “friendship”. And of course you know he’s wrong – plenty of guys who are not tall have fantastic long-lasting relationships and marriages.

Adventurous_Byte −  ESH. Your friend for commenting on your height, and you for doing the same on their financial situation.
Bear in mind that you probably won’t get any taller, but they could get into a better financial situation at some point in the future…

SushiGuacDNA −  NTA. You murdered him. But m**der is legal in self defense, so I say he’s the a**hole for taking shots at you, and you are not the a**hole for taking shots back at him.

Plumbus-aficianado −  ESH – friend is apparently defined differently in your circle.

calgrump −  You’re an a**hole because you clearly have a holier-than-thou view on service workers, but Ian is also an a**hole. ESH.