'He bought me a beautiful pendant... unfortunately I'm allergic to nickel': 30+ People share the most unromantic gestures they've ever experienced

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Jan 28, 2023 3:00 PM EST

Creating memorable romantic gestures is a skill that not everyone has, according to the people who shared these hilariously bad romantic missteps. 

The OP asked r/AskWomen to tell the story of the "worst well-intended romantic gesture a SO ever did for you," with the added bonus of sharing their reaction. People shared a lot of really terrible presents, along with some situations that just seemed like mistakes. 

I'm infuriated for the woman who shared the story of her friend being proposed to with a ring that turned her finger green. She goes on to say that the fiance insists that she's just not washing her hands properly, and that's what's causing the green skin tone. Some people just aren't meant to be together, and you can definitely tell by the quality and thought that goes into these presents. When the gift is so far removed from what the person actually wants, it opens your eyes to how wrong the relationship actually is. 

After you check out these unfortunate gestures gone wrong, read about these people who had super embarrassing moments, and still decided to share them with the world. 

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  • 01
    Organism - "He knows I love Harry Potter, so for our first Valentine's Day... he picked out (on purpose) the ugliest, scrawniest individual flowers... When he gave them to me, he said he thought they seemed 'very evil and creepy"."
    via Kwang Mathurosemontri on Unsplash.com
  • 02
    Font - r/AskWomen Posted by u/MrWFL 10 What's the worst well-inentend romantic gesture a SO ever did for you? Bonus question : how did you react? Edit: sorry for the typo in the question, was supposed to be well-intended.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 03
    Font - BritneyShameless S3 We we're out walking our dog and strolled past some flowers. He picked one and tried to place it behind my ear... The problem was he was also holding a bag of dog poop that was hitting against my face while he tried.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 04
    Font - wasntme100 Mine bought me an expensive 3 month supply of a diet plan which consists of shakes, pills and patches. I was so pissed I didn't even open it. Who gives someone a diet plan for Christmas????
    via r/AskWomen
  • 05
    Font - 01 porcupines Nicecream ( He gave me milk + honey by Rupi Kaur and underlined the parts that applied to our relationship. Including the parts about how fud up and unhealthy it was and how we knew we needed to break up. For my birthday. He was confused when my reaction was just a lot of crying. Edit: Im a little late but for clarification, he wasn't breaking up with me. He thought he was just being like sensitive and sweet? Like he underlined mainly the love parts but also stuff from the h
    via r/AskWomen
  • 06
    Font - madisonpreggers My husband is such a goof but sweet but not what I'd call romantic. He's very practical so instead of giving me Valentine's Day presents or flowers every year, he gets the oil changed in my car and leaves a note with a Valentine's theme (sometimes it's a card if it's february) that says "oil is changed...love you" First few years I was like seriously...now I swoon since I don't have to deal with the oil change place. Edit: I just told him a comment about him being practica
    via r/AskWomen
  • 07
    Font - Jilltro For my birthday one year all I wanted was to go to the melting pot (I had never been, now I know it's not that great, but anyway) and he decided it would be better to make fondu himself at our place. Sounds nice, but he misread the recipe and used wayyyy too much nutmeg. It was absolutely disgusting, but I tried to be polite. The worst part was he got so defensive when I tried to suggest the recipe wasn't quite right. We ended up fighting and he insisted it tasted great and I was
    via r/AskWomen
  • 08
    Font - jaaackrabbit My first boyfriend gave me a wooden box with a padlock on it for Christmas one year, handed me the key and told me not to open it until I got home. I opened it and inside was a little jar of his blood, and a little jar of his tears. I was 17 and mortified. Also couldn't fathom how he got enough tears to fill a small jar, so I asked him. Turns out he'd plucked all his nose hairs and eyelashes to gather them.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 09
    Font - CuriousGPeach I have a huge collection of cookie cutters because I love to bake. I kept them immaculately organized in small boxes, bags, etc, in the drawers of my kitchen island. Some had small pieces because they were things like snowflakes you cut multiple ways, some had tiny individual letters for stamping messages. I also really have a lot of other kitchen things because I love to cook. He texted me at the start of an 8 hour barista shift that he was reorganizing our kitchen as a sur
    via r/AskWomen
  • 10
    Font - And then I got home and he had dumped all my cookie cutters into two HUGE reuseable grocery bags, threw out any boxes or bags that were keeping sets and pieces together, so everything was loose and now impossible to find small bits, it was a HUGE disaster. I still think he threw out some actual cutters because almost two years later I still can't find some pieces. I cried for hours because I have been so careful over the years with my collection and in one afternoon it all went to h◆. Som
    via r/AskWomen
  • 11
    Font - HumbleBell My ex boyfriend surprised me and took me ice skating at Rockefeller Center for Christmas once. It was a really sweet idea, but he had said we were going to a show so I was not dressed warmly at all. I was wearing a dress, tights, and a lighter but formal jacket, with no hat, gloves, or scarf. I was so cold after we had been on the ice for about twenty minutes that my lips turned blue and we had to leave. The thought behind it was really cute, but it would have gone so much bett
    via r/AskWomen
  • 12
    Font - Hatcheling In the beginning of our relationship, he went on a trip to Rome with his family. He brought back some shoes for me, a 6'1 woman. He was so excited when he handed over those (pretty nice) size 6 slippers. It was hard to break to him that I loved them, and I loved the gesture - but I am a giant and a size 10,5.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 13
    Font - 0-1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21. I love lilacs. My date tried to drive up to a bush of them on my side of the car while rolling down my window and all of the branches just crashed through my open window scratching me all over my face and arm. I looked messed up, he felt so bad...I laughed in the WTF was that kind of way. Oh, I also didn't know that's what he was doing so to me it was really WTF. S
    via r/AskWomen
  • 14
    Font - teenytinyducks A lot of these remind me of a story my friend told me about her first Christmas as an engaged couple living together. She wanted a new winter coat for Christmas, like that's all she wanted. They were out shopping and she found one she liked on sale and told him to get it and wrap it and be done with it. He was like.. no I don't want you to see me buying it, that ruins the fun, plus I bet I can find a better deal. Christmas comes and she opens her gift. It's a coat! Except..
    via r/AskWomen
  • 15
    Font - [deleted] My husband did something similar. I like those oversized sweaters from Aritzia, so he decided to get me one for Christmas. When I opened it up, it was the exact one I already have...probably just an oversight, he's not that observant sometimes. Except then he pipes up "I know you already have this one, so you can just return it and get whatever one you really want." Thaaaaaaanks.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 16
    Font - evebert My ex got my initials tattooed over his heart. He surprised me with it - I pretended to be flattered. We broke up a year later. I wonder if he still has that tattoo.....
    via r/AskWomen
  • 17
    Font - Llama1Drama S My boyfriend is an auto mechanic and he orders from snap on a lot. He was super excited because he ordered me something from snap on for me. Hyped it up so much, I was excited, it took a few months to arrive. It was 6 pairs of pink thick work socks. I started laughing because I thought it was hilarious and sweet. I was expecting like a flashlight or some cool tool for my car. Just some socks he thought I would like. I love socks but I dont like pink and they are too thick fo
    via r/AskWomen
  • 18
    Font - blah_fkin_blah My husband got me some pajamas for our first Christmas as a married couple from Victoria's Secret. One of the pajama sets had a shirt that said "single all the way" I was like eerrrmmm?
    via r/AskWomen
  • 19
    Font - [deleted] Last year for Christmas he made me one of those cute signs that has a quote, the date of our marriage with a frame under it and the dates of our three children's births with frames underneath for their infant photos. Cute idea, but he over estimated the space he would need and this f is HUGE. Like 3 ft tall and almost as wide. I have nowhere to actually hang it and if I'm being honest, it's kind of ugly. He put a lot of work into it which makes me feel bad.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 20
    Font - [deleted] He went clothes shopping. He said, 'I want to get you some shorts, because I know you need them.' I said, 'please don't, because I can't always find good shorts that easily, and I want to pick them.' He decided to do the grand gesture of buying me bright yellow arse cheek shorts. I don't wear yellow, and I prefer my a cheeks covered.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 21
    Font - StaubEll Reminds me of some guy that came on FFA asking how to buy his girlfriend shorts. He said he'd bought her like 4 different pairs that didn't work and it's hard to know what she'd like because she never wears shorts, only dresses and skirts. I asked like "Well dude, why do you keep buying her shorts?" and he was v offended.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 22
    Font - PandorasTrunk to He bought me a beautiful pendant for our first anniversary. Unfortunately, he did not know that I'm allergic to nickel (it had just never come up) and didn't know to check on the materials used. I had the chain on for an hour when suddenly I broke out in a really bad rash. Fortunately, I had a different chain I could use to still wear the charm.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 23
    Font - sweetrhymepurereason Oh man, you just reminded me of a super infuriating situation. I have a friend who was recently proposed to. She is super allergic to the ring, it's not even the type of metal or stone she said she liked when he asked her, and he refuses to believe her! He says her skin is green and rashy because she "doesn't wash her hands enough."
    via r/AskWomen
  • 24
    Font - [deleted] He knows I love Harry Potter, so for our first Valentine's Day together several years ago he picked out (on purpose) the ugliest, scrawniest individual flowers from the shop and had the florist put them in a bouquet. When he gave them to me, he said he thought they seemed "very evil and creepy". I sometimes wonder what that poor florist was thinking when she wrapped them, and also that my fiancé clearly needs to reread the books. Funniest and ugliest s I've ever seen though
    via r/AskWomen
  • 25
    Font - FixEverythingInPost Well, he technically never became a SO but a guy I briefly dated "serenaded" me by singing, and playing on the guitar, "Miss you" by Blink 182. Plus some John Mayer song I can't remember (no, not Your body is a wonderland -thank god-) I mega-cringed. It was our first date and OTT. Kissed him to make him shut up..
    via r/AskWomen
  • 26
    Font - [deleted] My first boyfriend did not take it well when I told him we had some relationship issues, namely his codependency, and he began to cry sitting on his bed. He pulled me into his lap, cradled me like a baby, and cried while he rocked back and forth and sang I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. I'd never known confusion and fear like that before or since.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 27
    Font - [deleted] Wasn't my SO, but a guy who was interested in me (who knew I was happily dating someone else) sent me a bouquet of flowers when I was having a bad day. The flowers were honestly beautiful and my SO and I got kind of a chuckle about it, but man, that was inappropriate.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 28
    Font - TVsFrankismy Dad Q A guy sent me a dozen roses (!) once after we went out one night. Problem was, I didn't know it was a date. He was a friend and asked if I wanted to "hang out". He thought it was a date, I thought it was just friends hanging out. Sooo awkward when I got those flowers and realized he was on a completely different page. Guys: if you want to date a girl who is your friend, you really need to specify that. Asking to "hang out" will just make her think you're going out as fr
    via r/AskWomen
  • 29
    Font - 18 missjeri Omg something similar happened to me. A guy at work that was interested in me found out my birthday was coming up and got me a personalized Tiffany's bracelet (completely inappropriate price range, and I'd known him for like a month). Bracelet was honestly gorgeous but it made me super uncomfortable to receive such an expensive gift like that.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 30
    Font - liand22 My ex talked a good game about all the romantic gestures he'd done for HIS ex. Wrote her poetry, surprised her with little gifts, weekend trips, etc. So, I got pumped for my birthday with him. No gift, no card, because "he didn't know what to get me". We did go out to Panera, though. Then for Christmas, he gave me a coffeemaker, except I already had a better one. Then Valentine's, a toaster to match the coffeemaker. I wised up then and returned it for some clothing I wanted. Never
    via r/AskWomen
  • 31
    Font - captainozvious My now husband originally wanted to design a horrendous-looking engagement ring with multiple stones of different colors. He thought that since I like color, I would like a colorful ring; but my taste in jewelry is actually very simple and minimalistic. When he showed my friends the design, they thankfully talked him out of it. They told me about this later. 10 years later, we all still let him take the credit for the simple solitaire ring he ended up getting me.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 32
    Font - cuddellie Proposed It was literally a dark and stormy night, wind howling around us, bitter rain pelting our faces... we were visiting Chicago and had gone up to the hotel rooftop to check out the view, but there was tall, frosted glass lining the whole perimeter, and my short ass couldn't see a thing. My sweet guy gets down on bended knee, screams the big question over the howling wind, and I was so cold and flustered I basically said "yeah yeah sure, whatever buddy, anything that'll get
    via r/AskWomen
  • 33
    Font - Sa10ngala Took me to flower shop to get me bouquet of flowers in a heavy vase I had to carry to his apartment where he said I should leave it. I was very uncomfortable about the whole thing and did tell him I didn't like how he went about it. It was just so weird. Whenever I got flowers from other guys they brought them to me and let me keep them lol
    via r/AskWomen
  • 34
    Font - [deleted] My grandad passed away on my mum's birthday. My now-ex thought the ideal way to cheer me up was to book me a trip to Paris the following year, to commemorate the one year anniversary of his passing. I can see the good intention behind it, but I really just wanted to be with my family. Especially seeing as it was also my mum's birthday.
    via r/AskWomen
  • 35
    Font - [deleted] It's not the worst, but it's funny. I came home late from work and he had a "romantic" dinner laid out. I was extremely surprised because, well, he's not the cook in our relationship (for good reason lol). He also just used whatever was lying around in the fridge/house. He had attempted to cook lamb (I personally don't care for it - I bought it to cook for him, not me). It was just one single sad lonely piece of lamb medallion on each of our plates with all the juices dripping o
    via r/AskWomen
  • 36
    Font - whatanugget. So he wasn't my SO, but a guy who asked me to junior prom. He shows up to my house with our mutual friend, and a sign with a bouquet of flowers right? Except the sign is written in Hindi - which I speak, but can't read or write. After blankly staring, I recognized two of the characters and they ere "p-- m?". It occurred to me that holy s that probably says prom :0. I say yes and whatnot, but as soon as he leaves, my mom goes "he spelled it wrong". lol she's such a hater Edit:
    via r/AskWomen

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