Back in my less FDS, more pickme days, I had gone on a canoeing trip with some friends and my boyfriend at the time. We rented the stuff from a super nice dude who does canoe rentals on the side.

We made lots of stops at banks along the river, and sometimes took the lifejackets off while chilling on land. One of the friends had left their lifejacket on a sandback, so while we were given 4, we only came back with 3.

The rental guy was very understanding, and said it was fine, that he would go back and look for it when he went down the river himself. We didn't know if he ever found it.

So, the next year, I scheduled another canoe trip with just me and my boyfriend, as the friends weren't available. I took advantage of this chance, and told my then boyfriend I planned on paying the man for the life jacket (hinting that he could help too). This is something like how it went:

He asked, "Are you sure that's even necessary though? Like, if he wanted money for it, he would have called and told us".

I told him, "It might not be, but I feel guilty. Like, the guy was really nice, and I want to make it right."

He replied, "I mean if you say so, I'm sure he'll appreciate it".

And that was pretty much that.

So, we're there, getting ready to get on the river, and it's time to pay the man. When EACH paid our shares for the canoe rental (50/50 ofc 🤡), I gave the dude an extra $25 in an envelope for the life jacket.

I told him, "I feel bad about our group losing one of your life jackets last year, and wanted to try and make up for it, at least a little."

Boyfriend jumps in right then, literally gets partly in front of me, and corrects me to, "WE just wanted to make up for it", putting emphasis on the we. He was taking credit for the envelope, as if he had put any money in it himself.

I was such a pickme, and he had me so manipulated by this point in the relationship, that I completely let it slide and said nothing. When I mentioned something to him later, he convinced me that it was rude to say "I" instead of "we".

NOW I realize that this is just as bad as men paying with cards their girlfriends give them. Their ego gets all the support, while HER account takes all the loss.

I fucking cringe at myself for letting him do that. Luckily, that relationship is now done and over with, after I realized how LV he really was.

I'll still be using the canoe rental guy's services in the future though. If the chance ever comes up again, (he mentions us paying him for the lifejackets or something), I'll absolutely be setting the story straight.

Lesson learned: NEVER pay for something while letting a man take credit for paying. If they want to feel good about paying, they need to ACTUALLY PAY. Don't make my mistakes and stay silent about it. Lessons learned.

Any of you ever have something similar happen? Share your pathetic, cheap man stories.