📝 AITAH for not helping my boyfriend more?

By NoDinner1205 • Score: 1 • April 11, 2025 10:21 PM


AITAH

My boyfriend (M,36) and I (F,36) have been together 10 years, both of us are previously divorced with 2 kids and have been able to blend our families pretty well. Our relationship has it's ups and downs like any other but one constant bump has been a side business that he has as a hobby.

He scours Goodwills, yard sales, Facebook marketplace and resells items like comic books, anime figures, games, things like that. This is his hobby that he does as his escape from stress at work, kids, whatever. Over the years I have hated this business because I see him spending money on items that either never resells, or takes forever to resell, they junk up our home and vehicle with clutter and take up weekends where he sets up at toy shows, and small conventions which may or may not be worth the money to actually set up.

Despite me being annoyed with all this I generally keep my opinions to myself and I never tell him that he needs to stop. I have shipped things for him, I regularly meet people who want to buy items from him when he's at work and unable to meet them himself and I clean/help price and take pictures of items whenever he asks. I do this because I love him and I do love that he has this distraction and he likes it. But we consistently argue over the fact that I only help because I feel obligated to help because he's my boyfriend and not because I genuinely want to help. No I don't want to spend my only day off with my boyfriend putting price tags on plushies and sitting in his cold storage shed but I do it anyway, but he believes that if I really loved him then I should be happy to help him with whatever he needs, I should be smiling as I help him check off his to do list because it makes him happy.

I don't understand because at the end of the day I still do it! Every time he asks I help, am I thrilled while doing it? No, but I don't complain and I don't protest. I do it because I consider it part of my job as his girlfriend but he gets so mad that I see it that way and it's been a constant struggle for almost our entire relationship which aside from that is pretty darn great.

I'm just tired of being told how he has to do so much of it alone and he feels like he can't ask me for help but like ..this is his hobby, this is his escape. It's not fun for me. AITAH?

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