AITAH for screaming in a train station and calling my friend pendejo afterwards?
I (25F) was coming home late at night and was on a phone call while waiting at the train station. By coincidence, my roommate, let’s call him Daniel, was also there taking his train. We've lived together for almost a year and have had our usual roommate ups and downs (mostly about cleaning), but nothing major.
I didn’t notice him, but he saw me and came up to say hi. The problem is that I get startled easily, and when I suddenly saw someone approaching me, I instinctively let out a loud scream. I’ve reacted this way before when startled by loud noises or sudden movements—it’s just how my body reacts, not something I do on purpose.
The moment I realized it was him, I laughed out of relief and playfully called him a pendejo (Spanish for "idiot") while lightly slapping his arm. We had a very short exchange before he mentioned he was on a call with his girlfriend, so we ended up sitting separately on the train.
Then, while we were still on the train, he suddenly called me and started berating me for my reaction, saying I embarrassed him in front of other people. He told me my reaction wasn’t normal and that I had made him look bad. I tried to tell him to wait until we got home to talk about it, but he shut me down and kept going. It was an 8min long monologue, in which he made it seemed as if I intentionally made him look bad in public. I did apologise for calling him a pendejo, and that I did not think that he would have gotten insulted by it. We are both spanish speakers and we have been friends for years now.
That day I decided to stay at another friend's house because I did not want to have a conversation while crying or being overly emotional as I might say something I could regret.
Eventually, he told me he won’t say hi to me again when he sees me on the street. I told him that’s his choice. But honestly, I feel upset about how he treated me. I get that he might have felt embarrassed, but I do not think it is acceptable to have treated me the way he did.
So, AITA for how I reacted?
Posted Mar 12, 2025, 7:52 PM UTC