Women Are Sharing The Moment They Realized Their Partner Didn’t See Them As An Equal

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“I had an ex who fit TLC’s definition of a ‘scrub,’ but at the time, I thought he was just down on his luck. I financially supported him because I loved him and believed he would eventually get a stable job. We were both in our early 20s and renting a bedroom in a three-bedroom house with four other people living there. Five years went by, and he still had no job. Then he got an incredible opportunity to join a tech training program that even paid him a stipend. One day, he asked if I wanted to go to the store with him because he needed button-up shirts for the program. Since he didn’t ask if I had the money, I assumed he planned to use his stipend. At checkout, the cashier said, ‘Your total is $80.’ He looked at me. I looked back, confused, and said, ‘What?’ He responded, ‘Your card.'”

“I didn’t have $80, but I was too embarrassed to say anything, so I pulled out my emergency credit card and paid. That was the moment it hit me: He didn’t see me as a partner — I was his personal ATM. 

Soon after that, he got kicked out of the program. When his mom asked what he planned to do next, he said he would wait until the following year to reapply and depend on me to keep supporting him. That’s when I finally left.”

—Anonymous