This is a repost. The original was posted in /r/AITA_WIBTA_PUBLIC, r/WhatShouldIDo, r/TwoHotTakes and r/CleaningTips by User Icy-Tomatillo-9979. I'm not the original poster.

Status: Concluded.

Mood: How is OOP still alive

Original

February 26, 2025

Long story short, my (M32) girlfriend (F31) and I just moved into an apartment together a few months ago and I’ve been slacking on the cleaning. She hasn’t really said anything but I’ve noticed her saying things under her breath or making some comment during dinner. I’m not a myoginist, I know men gotta clean and stuff too I just never really did much of it. I mean I cleaned, of course, just not like my neat freak girlfriend.

Anyways, I decided to clean the house before she got home from the gym, but I hadn’t finished by the time she got home. Mind you, when she came home and saw what I was doing she was really really happy, I got a big smooch and promise of some fun times after her shower, so naturally I wanted to hurry up and get it done. She hopped in the shower but I hadn’t finished the bathroom yet. Our bathroom is kinda big, so I figured I could sneak in while she was showering (not to be a creep, the shower curtain is dark you can’t even see through it) to get the cleaning done.

I do have a tendency to get distracted, so while I was bringing in the stuff to quickly clean the floor I left my phone playing the podcast I was listening to in the other room. Not thinking I just quickly mixed together some bleach and vinegar to get it cleaned fast. I know what you’re thinking and yes I’m an idiot, I figured the vinegar would speed up the process but I didn’t even think about how bad it smelled. Well after I mixed it I quickly went out to grab my phone and turn the podcast off when I hear my girlfriend scream. I run back to the bathroom but the steam was literally burning my eyes she had the shower so hot and she comes out, fully naked mind you, yelling at me calling me an idiot everything. She dumped the cleaning stuff down the drain and closed the bathroom door literally freaking out at me. Again, she’s butt naked and we’re in the living room at this point with WINDOWS pointed at the courtyard!

Long story short she’s on our patio crying and told me she’s not mad at me but she needs time to “heal” and said I should probably drive around for a bit. So now I’m sitting in my car wondering what the hell I did to upset her so badly. AITAH?

Consensus: Asshole.

Notable Comments:

My guy you made chlorine gas and left her in the room with it. While you left. After you’ve sucked at cleaning. For months.

And then got mad she was mad. You suck. highheelcyanide

chemical weaponized incompetence lesliecarbone

Doesn’t clean, gets “distracted” easily, uses a lethal weapon on his gf when she’s in a most vulnerable state

YTA barely covers this VFTM

I’m fairly certain this is a war crime.

YTA Q_the_RU

no but you don't understand - she was naked when she was trying to save her own life! people on the street might have seen her boobs when she was trying to save her own life! see-you-every-day

Comments by OOP:

Thankfully we don’t have any pets. I’m reading all the comments now and realizing how stupid I am. You’re also right about letting her be especially after the gym, I’ll knock next time and maybe never try to take a shortcut cleaning again

Oh my god I literally didn’t know. Should I go back home? Or call a doctor or something I feel terrible

This is real I promise but I saw all the other comments too and I had no idea it was a deadly gas that could be made I thought it was ammonia and bleach not vinegar. I don’t know why I thought it was ammonia and bleach but now I feel really dumb not doing that instead. I tried calling her to see if she’s okay but she hasn’t called back yet. It’s been like an hour I’m gonna go home and see how she is.

I thought vinegar and bleach was the good combo and ammonia and bleach was the bad one but I got it backwards

I’m gonna call the doctor tomorrow my girlfriend is still all teary eyed I guess I got away before it really got to me. And you were all right that’s why she ran out naked

I didn’t know that until now I feel terrible. I thought bleach and vinegar were the okay ones and ammonia and bleach was the bad one but now I know. She’s still teary eyed but I think she’s going to be okay she’s still rinsing her eyes out though so we haven’t talked. I’m definitely apologizing.

Update

February 26, 2025, same day in r/cleaningtips

I need a cleaner that can get grime out. I live in an apartment with my girlfriend that’s nice but the bathroom gets gross quickly. I need something that can get grime out quickly and easily like bleach but that won’t hurt our eyes.

Notable Comments:

DO NOT MIX BLEACH WITH ANYTHING!!!!!!! Much_Mud_9971

I actually just learned that the hard way lol which is why I’m looking for alternatives. It’s good to know that bleach can’t be mixed with anything at all, thank you! Can you mix vinegar and ammonia? Is it just the bleach that causes issues? [OOP]

Are you trolling JFC. All you need is a water to white vinegar ratio for cleaning. Vinegar and bleach creates a toxic gas BeWonderfulBeDope

Yea I just figured that out unfortunately for my gf. The people from AITA told me to mix ammonia and bleach not vinegar so I wanted to see what you guys said [OOP]

So instead of chlorine gas you want to make mustard gas? You keen on reenacting war crimes from the first world war? punchuwluff

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Update 2

February 27, 2025, a couple hours later

Hi everyone, you may remember me as the dummy from yesterday who accidentally chlorine gassed my girlfriend. I just wanted to give an update for anyone who was interested.

I ended up taking my girlfriend to the ER, she actually was okay but the doctor was concerned about chemical burns. She wasn’t mad at me at all, she just thinks I’m an idiot (she’s correct). She wasn’t crying because she was upset she was crying because the gas was burning her eyes and that’s why she told me to drive around, because she was worried it got in my lungs.

I apologized profusely and she accepted my apology immediately, but as I read through the comments I realize that she deserves more than an apology and also I need to treat her a lot better. I need to clean more (WITH STOREBOUGHT SUPPLIES, I WONT BE MIXING ANYTHING) without being asked. I need to respect her privacy when she’s back from the gym, and most important I need to stop being so selfish.

My girlfriend is an amazing person who deserves the world and since she’s staying with my stupid ass I’m going to give it to her. Thanks to all you of you who helped, I realize how stupid this whole thing was in retrospect but I do appreciate all the comments (even the kind of mean ones!)

I'm not the original poster.