Emily Duprie
Living with another person, whether it’s a roommate or a partner, can go one of two ways. The better way, and usually less problematic, is the “What’s mine is yours” take. For example, I buy the groceries this month, you get them next month, we both share all the food. Another example could be taking turns cleaning when needed, or splitting the rent and sharing the entire space. As long as you’re both holding up your end of the deal, this is the way.
The other way, and usually much more stressful, is holding each other accountable for every purchase, use, and mishap. Examples of this could include labeling your food, appliances, and supplies. Even going as far to make up a territorial-like system, like, “don’t put your stuff in this area since it’s considered my half.” To go about living in this fashion tends to cause unnecessary scuffles, tension, and resentment.
As we know, Reddit can get a little bit messy, and a story that surfaced on the subReddit “Am I The A-hole?” had us scratching our heads on who was in the right. The post explains that a couple, living in a two-bedroom house (owned by the husband, but paid off) was following the practices of the first, and better, way of co-existence. So, you can imagine the wife’s surprise when one day her hubby decided he wanted something of a “rent fee” from his wife since she was using the extra bedroom as her home office for her WFH (work from home) job.
Read the story below along with some of the top comments and let us know what you think!
Now this woman is wondering if she’s wrong for being upset that her husband is demanding a profit for “allowing” her to use a bedroom as a home office.
OP asked “AITA for refusing to pay my husband for using a room in the house for my WFH job?”
She began by explaining she had been using one of the two rooms in their home for her WFH job.
I (F32) began working from home 2 months ago. My husband bought the house we live in before we got together. He calls it his property which’s fine by me. The house is small, has only 2 rooms , one of which used to be empty til I started using it as an office for my wfh job.
Her husband then sat her down and demanded the unexpected…
All was going fine with my job til he sat me down last night saying he’s expecting 30% “profit” from whatever I get from my job since he “provides” the office for my work. I was completely caught off guard by this. I asked if he was serious and he went on about it being his home and how he could be using this room for his own purpose since it’s “his property”. I said no and called him unreasonable which led to a blowup. I yelled at him saying he won’t get a penny and he pitched a fit and accused me of “taking full advantage” even though there’s no mortgage to be paid. I do all chores in the house as well as share pay the bills in half.
The debacle split the family down the middle.
He got his family involved in this and they’re split. His mom thinks I’m being difficult and that 30% is not a huge amount and that this room is providing “stability” for my wfh and so my husband should get some sort of benefits.
So OP asked,
AITA for putting my foot down and refusing to pay a penny?
It’s certainly not very husband-like to charge your wife for a space in your collective home, especially when the use of the space was no issue beforehand. This situation rested uneasy with Redditors in the comments, and a lot of them had a mouthful for OP’s husband’s tenant-like behavior.
Commenters voted OP as “Not The A-hole.” Read their perspectives of the situation below:
