25-year-old man offers food to friend, and she declines only to later text him saying she was upset he didn’t insist: ‘She said I should have known she didn't actually mean "no" and that a real friend would've insisted, ordered the food anyway'

Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor

Aug 1, 2026 7:15 AM EDT

Therapy talk is ruining us

Once upon a time, we all benefited from going to therapy. It was a perfect time when people were actually working on themselves and not trying to learn buzzwords to throw at other people's faces when they were frustrated about something. Therapy has now become a place to absolve oneself of responsibility and learn to direct it onto other people. Of course, we can all benefit from learning to distinguish what belongs to us from what doesn't, but that's about it; some things should definitely be our responsibility, and we should work towards assuming that responsibility. It seems as if this Redditor's friend didn't, and she is also trying to push her narrative onto him, at least in my opinion. What should we do when a friend pushes us (maybe unknowingly) into this entanglement? Is it always a deal-breaker? Or could it be that the person isn't able to manage things properly, only for the time being? Either way, situations like these push us to make a decision.

What the friend said is valid and reasonable; it's true that in times of distress, people might need extra help and attention, but that definitely shouldn't be an obligation to the one who's listening; that's the controversial part, and that's where I think the friend is making a mistake, it's ok to understand you're sad and you need more help than usual, but you can't make it everyone else's problem. Should her friend try to have a conversation about this, or should she just 'demote' her? Maybe she can try talking first and 'demote' her later if it doesn't work.

Add as a preferred
source on Google

via Leonid Privalov

The woman reacting to food
_{Subject is a model}
AITA for taking my friend's "no" at face value instead of insisting?

via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Anh Nguyễn

Food becoming a sensitive issue
_{Representation}
via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Last_Finance_2604
via Kajetan Sumila

The moody woman
_{Subject is a model}