'My lab partner kept making fun of me for being short. I called him short and he got mad. AITA?' UPDATED 2X
"AITA? My lab partner kept making fun of me for being short (F20) so I called him (22) short and he got mad."
I am a 5'1 female and my lab partner constantly makes fun of me for being short. For example, I came back from the bathroom and he said "I thought you fell in the toilet because you’re so tiny." He also said that ”my hair is so big it makes my head and me look even more tiny.”
I am not insecure about my height nor does making fun of it offend me, but it's annoying and ironic because he's short too (looks 5'5/6). And yes I know it might be because he's interested in me, but I don't find him attractive so the teasing isn't "cute", it's just very very annoying.
Last lab I had enough of it and basically told him to shut up because he's "like 5'5". He said he's not 5'5 and he's 5'9. I know I am very short but he is definitely not over 5'7. We started arguing about it so I told him I'll bring a measuring tape next class and we'll find out the truth.
I started to feel a bit bad after because I know men are very insecure about their height. However him obviously lying about his height and constantly making fun of me makes me in the mood to be petty. Will bringing the measuring tape make me TA?
EDIT: I accidentally put “f22” in my title for my lab partner. To correct I am female 20 and my lab partner that makes fun of me is male 22. More explanation as to what he says.
The internet had lots of thoughts.
thatguyfromthisplace wrote:
The mature thing to do would've been to tell him earlier to stop the height jokes because they stopped being funny. And then for him to stop...
But, NTA, he has to be able to take what he dishes out himself.
OP responded:
I’ve tried telling him to stop but he doesn’t listen and thinks he’s funny.
Ordinary-Telephone-2 wrote:
Haha I had a guy worked with once who INSISTED he was 5'8", I literally said we're the exact same height, and I'm 5'3" dude had the audacity to say someone had LIED TO ME because I was obviously 5'7" or so. NTA don't let their fragile masculinity bother you. Measure that boy.
OP responded:
This is absolutely hilarious. This guy said the same thing that I must be 5’5…so now I’m suddenly not short anymore huh lmao. The audacity of these men to lie by a whole 4 inches thinking people won’t notice is just embarrassing.
squirrelsareevil2479 wrote:
NTA. Bring in the measuring tape and a big, black sharpie. Don't say a word to him. Go to the doorframe and mark 4', 5' and 6 '. Between the 5 and 6 foot marks, place the inches. Remember how parents used to measure kids heights against the wall for doorframe and leave marks for little Susie is so tall on October 31st and Ben is so tall the same date.
Don't say another word to him, just leave the measuring marks so he has to look at them every day as he passes by the chart. Keep direct eye contact with him whenever he walks by it.
OnlymyOP wrote:
NTA. The average height for a female in the US is 5'5'' and for a male is 5'9'' . Your lab partner has a huge inferiority complex over his (lack of) height which he's projecting onto you. Take that measuring tape, he's having his fun by humiliating you, it's time to turn that table and have a little fun yourself.
Later that day, OP shared a small update.
I am planning to bring this 10ft measuring tape, cut it at 7ft, and taping it to the wall next to us before he gets there. Can’t wait. I will update how it goes by Tuesday night (my class is Tuesday morning).
Five days later, OP jumped on with a bigger update.
Update: I got to class late because of traffic, so I didn’t have time to tape it up. Also there is no actual wall beside me so nowhere I could really tape it. But I still measured him. I whipped my tape measure out and they started laughing at first because everyone knew what was about to go down.
Before I measured him He asked me what the margin of error is and said “that thing is 2/3 inches off”, we both knew he lied at this point lol. But I insisted to measure him and at first he didn’t want to get measured. I told him to take his shoes off he said he didn’t want to, I said I’m subtracting an inch from the measurement then.
He was five foot seven with the shoes on, so without them he’s actually a little less. Even after I clearly measured him he kept denying it saying it’s wrong, that I measured him wrong and the tape measure is incorrect. He then looked up “how tall is sixty seven inches“ because he kept saying that must not be five seven.
I couldn’t believe he kept denying it even though i clearly just measured him. His friend (in the lab group across from us), is about the same height as him and also lied about his height last time. So he was embarrassed too because they both were obviously lying. I made a joke about how the top two inches must be invisible and he wasn’t too happy.
Our lab TA (6’2) came over and asked what the measuring tape was for, I told him it was to measure his height pointing to my lab partner. I said he lied and the TA started laughing too. Next week I’m thinking of just taping the measuring tape at the door before class so they’re always reminded of it when they walk in. There's really nothing more I can do. We both know he lied even if he doesn’t admit it.
The internet did not hold back.
SnakeJG wrote:
I'm 5'11" (used to be 5'11.5" but age comes for all of us). The number of times I heard a guy shorter than me claim to be 6' is ridiculous. It's like, I'm not 6' so I damn well know you're not either.
i_arent wrote:
I'm 6'1”, 6'2 with shoes on. Whenever guys ask me my height and I tell them I often get people saying "no, you're much taller than that because I'm 6'1 (or some other height) and you're much taller than me". I think many of them have told the lie for so long they believe it. Always seems so weird to me to lie about your height as it's so easily verifiable but that might be because I'm vertically gifted.
41flavorsandthensome wrote:
"And yes I know it might be because he's interested in me."
STOP
Stop normalizing "he's mean to you because he likes you." Millions of men manage to be sweet and kind to the people they like. Leave the toxic ones by the curb. I love OP for following through. Hopefully her lab partner learned about throwing stones from his glass house.
skoltroll wrote:
"Why do you keeping adding inches to EVERYTHING?"
Say that and watch him stfu.
stacecom wrote:
I think the ages in this post are inflated by about 8 years.