AITA for throwing my girlfriends water bottle in the bin?
A Redditor shared a story about their frustration with their girlfriend’s old water bottle, which she hadn’t washed in years, leading to a mold problem. Despite multiple attempts to replace it for health reasons, the girlfriend refused, so the Redditor decided to throw it out, sparking a big conflict. Read the full story below to see the fallout from this decision.
‘ AITA for throwing my girlfriends water bottle in the bin?’
Gonna preface this by saying, what the actual f**k. My girlfriend (F26) has had the same ’emotional support water bottle’ for approximately 3 years. She takes it with her everywhere. And only drinks water out of that bottle. I (M25) found out a month ago that doesn’t wash it. Just refills it once it runs out.
So I washed it, and holy s**t. There was mould growing inside. I tried my best to clean it, but I couldn’t get it all out no matter how much I tried. I told her about the mould and that I think she needs to get a replacement water bottle. She said no. That it was her decision.
I kept bringing it up and she kept saying no. So I went out and bought four different waters. One identical one and three that are really similar. Gave them to her and tried to explain that drinking out of a mouldy water bottle is going to affect her health. She relented and started taking the identical one to work.
But she said she wanted to keep the original, just to have.. I backed off. Well, yesterday I found the water bottle I bought with the lid still sealed and the original bottle half full. I chucked it right then and there. I threw it in the bin and told her what I did.
I said she can’t keep drinking out of that and putting her health at risk. She is pissed. Extremely pissed. Her friends are all pissed at me too, but her parents and siblings are all on my side.. AITA? (I know I’m prob a bit of an AH but like I feel really justified about it)
Here’s the feedback from the Reddit community:
Wombat_Sprinkle − INFO Why is she so attached to this water bottle? Does she have mental health issues?
baloo1970 − ESH. Not your call mate. I totally agree with you that it is unhealthy and should be tossed. But, it wasn’t yours to throw away. You could ask her to do it, you can plead with her to do it. Hell, you can even tell her it goes or you go. But, throwing away something that was obviously important to her was an a**hole move.
Ketokitchenwizard − So, like… do you kiss her after she drinks out of it?
[Reddit User] − NTA for throwing it out for her sake, but I guess the larger question here is why does she feel she needs a mouldy water bottle so much? What’s going on with her?
ChaosInTheSkies − NTA, and I’m with you on “What the actual f**k?” It was moldy and unsafe, even keeping something moldy around is bad let alone drinking out of it.
ConstructionNo9678 − NTA but also this woman needs therapy immediately. I don’t know what’s going on in her life, but no mental illness justifies literally drinking mold for the last 3 years. If she truly can’t let go of a water bottle that is making her sick, then there is something much worse going on here.
Tell her enabling friends to f**k off, and see if you get get a family member or 3 to back up your side and get her in to see a PCP for some tests as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has lingering health effects from this.
To everyone in the comments acting like she’s an adult and can make her own decisions, did you know that drinking mold can give you respiratory infections like bronchitis? Also, if she’s drinking mold and not brushing her teeth every time she drinks from her water bottle, *OP is also being exposed to the mold.*
[Reddit User] − Dude get yourself a girlfriend. Not a project.
Leach1999 − Some people in this comment section need to do a little more research before commenting, the whole “Its only localised to her” argument is completely invalid. Mould is not something to have around food or water containers under any circumstances, mould is a fungal collection and as such the way it spreads is mainly through spores, tiny, microscopic spores that can cause serious health issues if consumed or breathed in.
this problem is more than just “my girlfriend has a dirty water bottle that might hurt her and now she’s sad” this is more a “my girlfriend tried to insist we have a biological health hazard in our house and is pissed that I don’t want to put my own health at risk for her ’emotional support bottle'”
NTA but seriously, get your girlfriend some professional help, not necessarily a psychiatrist but certainly a therapist to deal with whatever she’s clearly not dealing with
mjanderson1247 − NTA, sounds like the mold was already getting to her
Do you think the Redditor overstepped by throwing away the water bottle, or was it reasonable to prioritize health concerns? How would you handle this situation if it involved a sentimental item? Share your thoughts below!
NTA. You not only saved her from some serious health problems, you saved yourself and others. Mold spreads by spores. She gets them in her mouth, kisses you, you get the spores in you. Same with her and others. She needs therapy for why she couldn’t let go of a moldy water bottle, and a good check up with the doctor knowing about the mold. She may already be affected. sometimes you just gotta take the bull by the horns!
YTA for throwing it away. She obviously has some kind of connection to the water bottle. There could be a mental health issue, like OCD, where she feels bad things will happen if she doesn’t have it. Maybe the bottle was given to her by someone important to her.
Obviously OP has tried to talk rationally to the gf with no success. As a therapist, I can say she may need some therapy. Taking control and throwing away her property wasn’t ok. It is only going to cause resentment. Although we’ll intentioned, still the AH.
There’s more to this. You should talk to her, not lecture her and tell her what to do, but ask her what’s so special about this particular bottle. She might have an answer that makes sense to her, and then you could suggest that she clean it more often.
Since you threw it away that kind of takes away that option though.
There’s a reason why, you just never bothered finding out what it was. You need to stop bossing people around, talking to them works far better. Btw- lecturing doesn’t count as talking to them.