Guy Wants To Know If He’s a Jerk For Asking For A Laptop Back That His Girlfriend Regifted To Her Sister

Gift-giving etiquette can be really tricky: is it okay to return something? is it okay to pass a gift along if it’s not right for you?

That’s really at the crux of this AITA post from u/laptopthrowaay, who wanted to know if he was the a*hole “for asking for the laptop I gifted my girlfriend after she gave it to her sister?”

OP explains that his GF has been asking for a laptop for a long time.

My girlfriend have been talking about getting a laptop for a long time. I offered her mine because I don’t use it but she said it was old and slow.

OP got her one! She used it for a few days and passed it to her sister, who will start college this fall.

So for her birthday I got her a new one. She used it for literally two days and then gave it to her sister. When I inquired about the reason she said she didn’t like it and that her sister is going to need it more than her because she’s starting college this fall.

Despite this being the girlfriend’s property to do with as she likes, OP asked for it back. He did point out that they could’ve exchanged it, which is fair!

I told her if she wanted to give her sister a laptop she should’ve been the one to buy it. And that you can’t just give away a model that you did a lot of research about because you didn’t like it after trying it for 2 days. I reminded her that we could’ve traded it for a different model or sold it or whatever and got a new one. I told her I’ve been depriving myself from a lot of stuff for 8 months so I could buy the laptop for her so I asked for it back.

The GF said taking gifts back is rude, but OP points out that it also seemed like the immediate regift was rude too.

She told me that she can’t do that because in the US it’s rude to ask for gifts back, and since the laptop was a gift I can’t ask her for it back and same goes for her with her sister after she gifted it.

I think it’s more rude to pretend for months to want something just so you could give it to someone else shortly after you receive it unless there was a valid reason like the gift requiring money or maintenance or receiving similar gifts.

Here’s where Reddit landed: