SINGAPORE: A woman expressed her frustration on social media after she found out that her boyfriend had been lending his jacket to a female colleague for months.
In a recent post shared on Reddit’s ‘Singapore Raw’ forum, the woman shared that her boyfriend had been at his company for three years. The female colleague, on the other hand, only joined the company around seven months ago.
She clarified that she never had any qualms about their work relationship up until this very issue.
She also explained that she found about it after her boyfriend posted a group photo on his Instagram story, tagging some of his colleagues, including this girl. “Out of curiosity, I checked her profile and saw that she has a highlight for her work life,” she explained.
“I was scrolling through her highlights and noticed she’s been wearing my boyfriend’s jacket in the office and not just once, but on multiple occasions over the past few months.”
The woman said that ‘if it was just once, then she wouldn’t have thought so much about it.’ However, since it occurred multiple times, it made her uncomfortable. It made her think, “Like… why can’t she bring her own jacket? It feels a little too intimate, like a subtle way of ‘claiming’ him in the office.”
Moreover, when she brought it up to her boyfriend, he brushed off her concerns, saying, “It’s just a jacket,” and told her she was overreacting.
“I don’t think I am? It might seem small but in workplace, it can appear to be suggestive. I’ve seen it happen before – when another colleague started wearing someone else’s jacket, people started whispering and sure enough, they ended up together,” she continued.
She then asked forum members if she ‘was reading too much into it or if this crossed into flirtatious territory.’
“I will never do something that makes my partner uncomfortable.”
Many Singaporean Redditors quickly took to the comments section to reassure the woman that she was not overreacting and that her boyfriend was gaslighting her.
“I wouldn’t even wear someone else’s jacket, let alone another man’s jacket. You are right to feel what you feel, don’t let him gaslight you. You are the GF. Your feelings should be more important than a colleague’s,” one said.
“Oh nah, that’s unacceptable to me as well. Reading it just makes me feel uncomfortable already. I agree with you that it’s quite an intimate thing and normally people wouldn’t be borrowing personal items like that. There has to be some level of attraction going on,” another chimed in.
“Just POV as a guy, I will never do something that makes my partner uncomfortable or give another person mix signals. I won’t even lend my female friends and I mean even my lesbian friends, my jacket. So think twice before you take another step with this loser of a guy.,” a third commented.
Others urged the woman to be upfront with her boyfriend and tell him straight up that this is making her uncomfortable. Some even suggested that if he refuses to respect her feelings over something so simple, she might as well walk away now rather than wait for more red flags to pile up.
“Talk it out like adults, do not bury any disagreements. If it doesn’t work out, it’s time to change a new partner. The ocean is huge out there,” one added.
Still, there were a few Redditors who agreed with her boyfriend and assured her that this is not a big deal for some guys.
“I have a female colleague that’s just straight up using my jacket already. Honestly it’s nothing in my case, I got like 3 jackets from uniqlo and I barely use any of it somehow. I’m glad that someone could make use of it otherwise it’s just rotting in the office locker,” one shared.
What do you think? Is the woman making a big deal out of nothing, or does she have a valid reason to be upset about her boyfriend constantly lending his jacket to a female colleague?
Read also: ‘Inflation and shrinkflation in Singapore are getting out of hand’ — Singaporean laments
Featured image by freepik (for illustration purposes only)