SpongeBob SquarePants can entertain children and secure a long-term romantic partner if people are open to thinking outside the box (or pineapple).
In a Reddit forum, a woman shamed her best friend’s fiancé for a proposal that incorporated SpongeBob SquarePants to seal the deal. She felt the proposal was cringeworthy and uncomfortable to witness as an audience.
The woman began by explaining she went to her friend’s house for a birthday dinner and was shocked when her friend’s boyfriend popped the question in between the meal.
Proposals that occur on the birthday can be special but she found the SpongeBob SquarePants reference off-putting for the occasion. When the fiancé started playing the harmonica and breaking into a “terrible” rendition of the song Gary Come Home from the cartoon, it crossed a line for her.
Her post added: “After he finishes singing, he goes over to my friend, gets down on one knee, and proposes. She said yes and we all congratulated her but for the rest of dinner, I was having severe second-hand embarrassment.”
“Later, she and I were cleaning up and she asked what I thought of his proposal, I told her it was weird especially since she’s never watched/liked SpongeBob. They haven’t really talked about marriage before so she was completely surprised and I told her that makes it even weirder.
“She got offended when I said this and accused me of not being happy for her. I pointed out she seemed embarrassed too during his charade. We didn’t speak the rest of the night and I don’t get why she was so upset. A proposal should be romantic, not whatever the f**k that was.”
Reddit users were more critical of the poster than of the fiancé. A romantic gesture is a subjective experience and the man only has to worry about the opinion of his lady — the rest of the crowd can take a back seat.
One person wrote: “Are you the proposal police? It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks of the proposal but your friend! Romantic gestures for one person are different for others. Different strokes for different folks! Apologize to your friends for being negative and move on.”
While another added: “What you feel is romantic could well be someone else’s version of horrific. It wasn’t your place to feel secondhand embarrassment. It wasn’t your place to tell your friend it was weird. If she was happy, you should have been happy for her, but instead, you’ve made her upset. There was no need for you to do that.”
A third said: “Okay the entire proposal does sound cringe. But your friend was obviously happy and you should have been happy for her too. Sure she did ask you your opinion on it, but calling it a charade was needlessly harsh and just rude.”
It’s easier to cast judgment than sing your heart out. The man put himself in a vulnerable spot and won the love of his life.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/1184bfz/aita_for_telling_my_friend_her_fianc%C3%A9s_proposal/