"AITA for exposing my husband's Abercrombie & Fitch job?"
I think this is funny but I'm being called an A-hole. Parties are me (40F) my husband (41M) and our son Marc (18M). And visiting friends. Marc is an all 'round good kid. Decent student, popular, and he is also strikingly handsome.
He's a college freshman but he also models some which he has done for about three years. It's legit, he has an agency. Ok not Ford or Wilhelmina but what I'd call a legit "medium tier" agency, and he has done a fair bit of work and made some very decent money, which is helpful all around and we are grateful for that.
A couple of days ago he visited bringing in a proof sheet (is that the term?) for a new magazine ad he is in for a fragrance. It was pretty...racy. Lets just say there was "an absence of being fully dressed" and some rather provocative posing with another model. Frankly I was fine with it, he's an adult, and we're talking GREAT exposure in a national magazine (not a huge one, but still).
My husband, however, was not impressed. He acted like this was positively scandalous, and somewhat admonished Marc for even doing the photo shoot. We happened to have friends (another couple) visiting, Marc was embarrassed at the scolding. I basically called my husband a hypocrite. I said "Yeah nothing like when we met and you were working at Abercrombie & Fitch."
Backstory for those not old enough: In the early 2000's A&F hired buff young guys as "brand ambassadors" in their stores, their ENTIRE JOB was to stand around shirtless as greeters at the store doors. That was it. My Hub did that for two years when he was 18-19.
His ENTIRE WORK UNIFORM was a pair of A&F jeans and flip flops. Oh, and A&F underwear if it happened to show. Hub did that for almost two years although apparently now thinks he's above it, and doesn't want anyone to know.
After the scolding I of course was OBLIGATED to explain to our visiting friends how his early career was to stand around half naked and look hot. Oh, and occasionally spray some cologne. Hopefully his spritzer finger didn't get too tired, poor baby. Hubs called me some unpleasant words. So, AITA for calling him out? He embarrassed my son, I felt he deserved it.
NOTE: For those of you accusing me of stealing from my son (where the heck did that come from) we have never taken one penny from Marc. ALL of his money went into his own account.
It was helpful because he was able to do things like buy himself a much much better car than we would have been able to, buy phones and electronics and such, buy more of the clothes he wanted, and use money for college. We even kept paying him an allowance. No thieves here.
There was no full nudity in the cologne ad. How could there be? Yes, mostly undressed but nothing NSFW. Nothing wildly salacious, more like "implied." I would say "suggestive." It was racy but nothing you wouldn't see in any copy of Cosmo or GQ or such.
Husband has actually joked many times about his days at A&F. I guess he just wasn't in the mood for it. He didn't scold Marc TOO hard, it was more like "Maybe one day you'll get a job where you can keep your clothes on," which prompted my A&F remark, since that was precisely what he was doing.
Here's what people had to say to OP:
Your_Daddy_1972 said:
NTA. He WAS a hypocrite. You just pointed it out. Normally I'd say don't do that in front of company, but he did to your son, so it's fair game as far as I'm concerned.
BlondDee1970 said:
NTA. Lol. I used to love those models! Good for you for not shaming your son and reminding dad where he got his looks!
GirlDad2023_ said:
I think this is hilarious! You were absolutely right for calling him out, he definitely deserved it. NTA.
SmokedStone said:
NTA. hypocrisy is wrong. It's that simple. your son is also an adult and can do as he pleases.
TheBufman said:
NTA - that’s hilarious, he’s being such a hypocrite. Probably jealous, the big baby.
SurpriseEcstatic1761 said:
NTA. We have all done things we cringe at now. Your son may one day cringe at this photo shoot. I think it was fun to share hubs' cringe.
ConflictGullible392 said:
NTA. It’s funny and your husband was being an ahole to your son. Yes he was being hypocritical.