So my ex-husband shows up at Christmas with this “incredible” new phone for me. I was genuinely excited—like, wow, he actually did something thoughtful. I set it up right away and carried it everywhere, showing it off like a kid with a new toy. For the next month, I’m using it daily, feeling grateful… while he’s soaking up the attention.
And he loved the attention.
He kept telling our friends and family how he “spoiled” me, how he went all out, how he picked the perfect gift. Everyone kept saying things like, “Aww, that’s so sweet!” and “He’s such a good guy!” And I’ll admit, I let people believe it—because why would I assume there was a catch?
Then, about a month later, he comes up to me casually—like he’s reminding me to buy milk—and says, “Oh, by the way, you need to pay this amount.”
I was like… pay what amount?
That’s when he explains that the phone wasn’t really “a gift” the way any normal person would mean it. He had bought it on credit—some ridiculous plan with a brutal interest rate—and the best part? There was no early payoff option. So I couldn’t just pay it off and be done. I was locked into the monthly payments and the interest, whether I liked it or not.
Basically, he didn’t buy me a phone for Christmas.
He signed me up to buy myself a phone… and then wrapped it up like he was Santa.
When I did the math, it was even worse: by the time the plan ended, I’d be paying almost double the phone’s actual price because of the interest. So while he got to play “generous hero” in front of everyone, I got stuck with the real cost—and the embarrassment of realizing I’d been used as part of his little performance.
And the funniest (most infuriating) part? Even after that, people still saw him as the guy who gave this “amazing gift.” Meanwhile, I’m the one quietly paying for it—month after month—like some kind of holiday scam he managed to pull off with a smile.
