We might expect fairness in a relationship, but we're not always going to get it. Technically, a relationship can end at any time and for any reason.
But some of the reasons people come up with to end it with someone are really out there.
Curious, Redditor milfstarbright asked:
"What is the weirdest reason someone stopped dating you?"
Unhygienic Audacity
"I wanted him to wear a clean shirt to my family’s largish Easter gathering. There were other factors, but that was the incident that turned him against me."
"We were together for three years. I am still trying to get over the heartbreak and general what-the-f**k-ness of it all."
- Clear_Profile_2292
"Is it really a loss if he didn’t have basic hygiene and decency to wear a clean shirt at a gathering?"
- IcySetting2024
"That's what my brain says but my heart doesn’t want to listen. I miss him so much. But yeah, you are 100% right."
- Clear_Profile_2292
The Center of Attention, Even in Dreams
"It happened the first time she stayed over at my place and also the first time we were intimate. She broke up with me the next day, because I turned my back to her during the night."
"Who sleeps in one position all night?"
- Giant-beer3033
"YTA. Why didn't you sleep facing her, validating her presence in the night?! You should be ashamed of yourself, man."
- minisculeduck
Stay True to Yourself
"He said I was too weird. I was 15."
"Sucks for you, Roydon. I got way hotter and way weirder."
- Hoppinginpuddles
Background Check
"I told him that I do a basic check of my dates' names in the provincial crime database; it just searches for public files. I was a 24-year-old girl, living alone in the middle of a big city, so I always checked out the guys before getting into their cars."
"This came up naturally, and the guy flipped out about how I was a narc and how I can't be trusted."
"Weirdly, his name pulled up nothing. Not even a parking ticket."
- Velmabutgoth
Talk About Cold-Hearted
"Her mom found out I was a childhood cancer survivor and convinced her I’d be dead by 40."
"I was just diagnosed with terminal cancer at 50, so she wasn’t wrong, but it still seemed a bit harsh at the time."
- tfack
"Jesus. I’m sorry on both counts."
- Gullible_Marsupial79
Smarter-Than-Thou
"He wanted to be with someone he could talk to about things that interest him, like quantum physics."
"He literally worked in I.T. and only watched one documentary about physics, but I guess that gave him superior intelligence."
- Chicklet5
All the Attention, All the Time
"This was in high school, summer between 11th and 12th grade."
"I had a girl that I'd been dating for a couple of months tell me, mid-date, that she didn't like that I got more attention than her when we walked into a party where we both knew people, so she broke up with me."
- Because_I_Cannot
Maybe Don't Marry That One
"I was out on a date with a woman who told me that she enjoyed smoking drugs and playing Beyblades with her roommates."
"I told her that's not my jam and I wouldn't be down for that environment. In response she got up and left, saying that I was too judgemental. She told me that I 'shouldn't knock it until I try it.'"
"I was going to text her later and tell her that this was a deal breaker anyways, but it was strange to be seen as the a-hole in that one."
- milfstarbright
Peer Pressure Is the Worst
"In high school, I knew a guy who broke up with a girl he adored because his friends started calling him a chubby chaser. Frankly, I thought she was adorable (and maybe 30lbs overweight at the most) but, more importantly, she made him happier than I'd ever seen him."
"I felt as bad for him as I did for her when he broke up with her."
"He said she told him, 'I thought you were better than this. I'm disappointed in you,' when he told her they should stop seeing each other."
"They were apart and he was miserable for about six months. Another guy kept asking her out but she wasn't interested. She was obviously still hung up on my friend. One of our mutual friends told her, 'I swear, the nanosecond you go out with another guy your jackass ex will come running back with his tail between his legs.'"
"They were wrong. It took two dates before my friend begged her to take him back."
"They are very happy now, though."
- whitneywestmoreland
Breaking Up Because of Other People
"We were different religions."
"She went to Jesuit camp over the summer and came back and said everyone convinced me to dump you because you're Greek (Greek-American) and I'm a Christian."
"Needless to say, I was dumbfounded that no one there realized that your heritage/nationality wasn't a religion as I was also a Christian."
- tboots1230
The Epitome of Trolling
"I bought her a talking troll doll. Remember the troll doll fad in the 90s? She hated them but I had no idea."
"I saw one that spoke some trendy phrase she used a lot and bought it for her."
"She broke up with me later that week and said she hates troll dolls and just can't see me the same way."
"That's all right, her dad and I are still good friends 30 years later."
- Evidence-Timeline
What Kind of Priorities Are These?
"I was an EMT. We went to see Twilight New Moon. A guy a few rows ahead had a seizure. I had them stop the movie and call an Ambulance while I got the guy out of the aisle, so he wouldn't hurt himself against something."
"They refunded everyone and canceled the show."
"Never heard from my date again."
- GodzillaDrinks
Kindness Goes a Long Way
"I was 'too nice.'"
"I briefly dated a guy and he said it was a turn-off that I was super friendly with staff at restaurants or grocery stores, or that I gladly held doors open for others, or smiled when I pass people on the street, that kind of thing."
"Apparently, he wanted someone who valued themselves more and that being nice like that is advertising I’m a doormat."
"Bullet dodged."
- ZombieParadigm
Get Her a Watch for Christmas
"I had a girlfriend tell me she hated the fact that I was so punctual, because she was constantly late for things it made her feel like a jerk."
"But it didn't make her stop being late."
"I realized things weren't going to last."
- shaidyn
The World May Never Know
"As far as I know all the times I've been dumped have been for legit reasons."
"However, there is one that stands out from the rest of that long and distinguished list."
"At my high school, we had these speakers overhead for announcements and such, but they would also play these really loud beeping tones whenever the bell rang."
"We're walking down the hall one day right after school let out and she decides that she's going to dump me. It just so happened that we were standing right underneath one of these speakers at the time."
"'I just don't think we should be together anymore because...' BONG! BONG! BONG!"
"Off goes the final warning bell for bus riders, and she trots away with her face in her hands, deeply moved by whatever it was that she had just said."
"It's been 27 years (nearly to the day, actually) and I still have no idea how that sentence was supposed to end. I never asked her about it because, being 15 at the time, I just played it off like I didn't care and didn't want to look bad by going back and asking her why."
"So I've just kind of accepted that it's one of those unsolved mysteries that I'll just never know the answer to. At this point not knowing is almost more fun... I got a cool story to tell on Reddit out of the deal, anyway."
- Plantayne
As weird as some of the stories that we've heard have been, some of these are especially strange reasons to break up with someone. An EMT saving someone's life? A person being too nice? "Bong bong bong"?
Talk about strange.