Supporting each other's dreams and careers should be a part of every healthy relationship, shouldn’t it? After all, if you're in a relationship with someone, you should like that person enough to support them. Well, apparently this is not always the case.
In this story, a woman changed her profession from a nurse to a marine biologist. But her husband clearly didn't like that, and ever since the change, he's belittled her job title when introducing her. And, well, that caused quite a rift in their relationship.
More info: Reddit
While it seems sensible that people in a relationship should support each other, in reality, it's not always the case
Image credits: yanalya / Freepik (not the actual photo)
A woman who once worked as a nurse now works as a marine biologist – a job she actually likes
Image credits: Benjamin Recinos / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
But her husband doesn't seem to like her new profession, as he constantly introduces her as a mere aquarium worker instead of a professional
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
This caused the woman to feel underappreciated, so she called him out, but he said she was just overreacting
Image credits: TropicalOctopuss
So, she came online to ask whether she was actually a jerk for not liking the way he belittled her
Back in the day, the OP studied nursing and later worked in this profession. But she wasn’t happy with her job.
There are numerous reasons why people tend not to like their jobs. Maybe they're bored of the repetitive tasks, or maybe they feel burnt out or underappreciated. Perhaps they’re underpaid or have simply lost their passion for the job.
While the author didn't directly explain the reason why she struggled in her previous job, the point was that she didn’t enjoy it enough to stay at it. So, she decided to go back to school. This allowed her to get a job she feels fulfilled by - working as a marine biologist.
To be more specific, she started working in a turtle rehabilitation center. Typically, at these kinds of centers, specialists monitor and nurse back to health injured turtles before finally releasing them back into the ocean.
Yet, the main issue with her new job wasn’t the job itself, but the way her husband introduced it to other people. Apparently, he constantly dubs her as a tour guide in a local aquarium. While there’s no shame in being a tour guide, the woman worked too hard in school for her job title to be diminished so much.
The man justifies that this way is just easier to explain to people what she does. He also thinks it’s funny. What infuriates his wife about it is that he knows how much she worked in school. A typical marine biology program takes around 4 years to finish, and she did it while working as a nurse. And still, the husband has no problem belittling it all.
What is interesting is that when the OP used to nurse, her husband never had this issue. But now, when he introduces her as a mere aquarium worker, people look at her with pity – she used to be a nurse!
Image credits: Kindel Media / Pexels (not the actual photo)
So, no wonder she started correcting him whenever he misspoke. Now he is mad – apparently, he feels like her corrections make him look like a fool.
Since she couldn’t stand him belittling her title, one day she refused to go to an event with him. The only condition that would have made her agree to go was that he would agree to introduce her properly. But this didn’t seem fair to him – in his eyes, his wife was simply overreacting. So, she didn’t go.
At the event, people wondered where the OP was, which made her husband uncomfortable. But, well, that’s his price to pay for not wanting to introduce his wife properly, isn’t it?
Folks in the comments would agree with this kind of sentiment. They kept talking about the things we've already mentioned – the belittlement and so on. It seemed weird to them that he intentionally was undermining her success.
The reasons a person might try to undermine their partner can be various. For instance, they might feel threatened by their success. Or perhaps jealous and insecure about their career and stuff. In this story, it isn’t entirely clear why this was happening. Either way, it isn’t something that should happen in a healthy relationship.
Some netizens even suggested to the OP that she should start introducing him improperly too. For example, as her roommate instead of her husband – something smaller than he actually is. It may not be the healthiest technique, but might be an effective one.
So, we can only hope that ever since the post was written, the couple has been able to work it out and now they’re enjoying a relationship where they both appreciate each other’s careers.
People online agreed that she wasn’t wrong and told her that she deserved better than him
