Man sparks debate after sharing idea for ‘wasted’ engagement ring: ‘Fair game’

A man broke up with his fiancée and kept her engagement ring. But his future plans for the ring made his ex furious. 

He went on Reddit’s “Am I the A******” forum to see if he was in the wrong. He and his fiancée broke up during lockdown much to her dismay. Later he found her engagement ring in the garbage and fished it out.

“When I refused to back down from ending things, she got very angry and very bitter,” he explained. “So, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find the engagement ring in the garbage. But I was and I was hurt. I don’t know what I expected, that she would sell it or something I guess, but I never thought she’d throw it out. So I took it, cleaned it off and I kept it. I saved up for months to buy that ring and while I was fine with her keeping it, I don’t want to see it totally wasted. I figured that in a few years I’d get it turned into something else. I don’t know what, but I don’t see any reason to waste the materials.”

A month later, a mutual friend of his and the ex told him she regretted chucking the ring. 

“A mutual friend told me that my ex was talking about how she shouldn’t have thrown out the ring because she didn’t like the idea of it being lost in a landfill,” he wrote. “I told the friend that I’d fished it out and planned on repurposing it in a few years. Now both the friend and my ex are saying I’m an a******, that turning it into something else is disrespectful to her and the relationship and that I have no right. My ex hasn’t asked for it back, but even if she had, I kinda feel like she forfeited her right to it when she threw it out?”

Most people agreed that the ex didn’t have a right to be upset after throwing it away. 

“Ring was abandoned property when she threw it out. It was fair game for you (or anyone really) at that point,” a user wrote

“She threw it out… in the trash. It really doesn’t get more disrespectful than that,” another commented

“You’re no longer engaged and she threw the ring out, she can’t complain about you retrieving it,” someone added.

Think this is bad? Read about the girlfriend who made her boyfriend propose four times for a very “annoying” reason.

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