Every time we grocery shop together, my husband Jason suddenly gets a \u201cvery important work call\u201d the second we hit checkout.\n
\u201cOh, babe, I gotta take this,\u201d he says, walking off like clockwork, leaving me alone with a full cart and a hefty total.\n
Last time? $347.92.\n
Cashiers even started giving me the look \u2014 you know, the \u201cgirl, I see what he\u2019s doing\u201d kind of look.\n
At first, I let it slide. But after months of this disappearing act?\n
I was DONE.\n
So, I came up with a brilliant plan to STOP THIS once and for all.\n
The night before our next shopping trip, while Jason was fast asleep, I grabbed his phone.\n
Now, before you judge, no, I didn\u2019t snoop through his messages. I wasn\u2019t trying to invade his privacy\u2014I was trying to expose his little scheme.\n
As we approached checkout, right on cue, Jason pulled out his phone, tapped it, and held it to his ear.\n
\u201cOh, babe, I gotta take this. Super important. You got this?\u201d He started walking away.\n
But then\u2026 silence. No ringing. No vibrating.\n
Jason froze mid-step. He pulled his phone away, stared at it, and tried again. Nothing. He tapped at his screen, his face twisting in confusion.\n
I smiled sweetly. \u201cEverything okay, honey?\u201d\n
\u201cUh, yeah. Just\u2026 weird. My phone\u2019s not working.\u201d\n
\u201cOh no! That\u2019s terrible! But since there\u2019s no call, you can stay and help me pay, right?\u201d I tilted my head, trying to look as innocent as possible.\n
Jason shifted uncomfortably, his hand gripping his wallet like it physically hurt to pull it out.\n
The cashier, an older woman named Linda, smirked. \u201cLooks like it\u2019s your turn, buddy.\u201d\n
Trapped, Jason had no choice but to cough up the $289.74.\n
I almost felt bad. Almost.\n
But I wasn\u2019t done yet.\n
Later that evening, I decided to confront him. \u201cJason, do you think I haven\u2019t noticed? Every single time it\u2019s your turn to pay, you magically get a call. You really thought I wouldn\u2019t catch on?\u201d\n
He had the audacity to laugh. \u201cBabe, come on, it\u2019s just a joke. You know I love you. And you\u2019re better with money anyway.\u201d\n
I crossed my arms. \u201cA joke? You\u2019ve been doing this for MONTHS. You think dodging responsibility is funny?\u201d\n
His grin faded. \u201cI\u2026 I didn\u2019t think it was a big deal.\u201d\n
I let out a slow breath. \u201cIt\u00a0is\u00a0a big deal, Jason. Marriage is a partnership, not a free ride. If you can\u2019t even split grocery costs fairly, what else are you cutting corners on?\u201d\n He looked down, fidgeting with his fingers. \u201cYou\u2019re right. That was really selfish of me.\u201d\n I softened a little. \u201cLook, I don\u2019t mind handling things sometimes, but it\u2019s about respect. I need to feel like we\u2019re a team.\u201d\n Jason nodded. \u201cI get it. I promise, no more fake calls. From now on, we split it fairly.\u201d\n And you know what? He actually kept his word. The next week, he paid without hesitation. No fake calls, no excuses.\n Lesson learned: If someone keeps dodging responsibility, sometimes you just have to outsmart them at their own game.\n If you enjoyed this story, like and share it! Have you ever caught someone in a sneaky scheme? Tell me in the comments!\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every time we grocery shop together, my husband Jason suddenly gets a \u201cvery important work call\u201d the second we hit checkout. \u201cOh, babe, I gotta take this,\u201d he says, walking off like clockwork, leaving me alone with a full cart and a hefty total. Last time? $347.92. Cashiers even started giving me the look \u2014 […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6070,"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6069\/revisions\/6070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lorebloom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}