By skinnybitch - 11/12/2012 18:09 - Denmark - Copenhagen

Today, the guy I'm dating found out I have severe arachnophobia. He downloaded a picture of a huge, hairy spider and set it as background on my iPhone. I can't even unlock my phone, as every time I try, the spider pops up and I drop the phone. He laughs every time I do it. FML
I agree, your life sucks 33 956
You deserved it 6 543

Same thing different taste

Top comments

unknown_user5566 26

What a cruel joke to play on someone. I hate it when people play on other people's phobias, just to get a laugh out of it.

Comments

I don't see what the funny bit is. Once would have been fun if it wasn't a phobia.

It might be funny to do to a teacher.. Assuming it isn't a hardass teacher that will make your life miserable..

He's a ****. I hate big hairy spiders. I'm a teacher too. Don't even try it lilhellian!!

No! Come any closer and I'll stick a ninja star in you. YOUR ninja star!

*walks away while my comrade does it for me*

Hey. After about 200 more tries (without fainting), you might get over your fear. So in a way, hes helping you.

The best way to get over a phobia is to face it.

121 yeeeeeah no thanks. Every time I need someone to kill a spider for me my mom threatens to find a place where they put me in a tub full of spiders... If anything I think that would just give me post traumatic stress disorder.

AllyyK 9

#129 The thought of that made me cringe, and that would probably give me PTSD too. I've had several horrible experiences with spiders :/

Uh no. Phobias are irrational fears, ones that nearly impossible for people to get over as the cause is unknown.

unknown_user5566 26

What a cruel joke to play on someone. I hate it when people play on other people's phobias, just to get a laugh out of it.

JerryH 9

I have a social phobia, i dont have any problems with talking to people that im frieds with, or with people over the web, but if i dont know somebody or dont like someones vibe i cant talk to them or i sound like a retard. My school wants me to spend 22 hours around people i dont know, for graduation project

Jdog619 11

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unknown_user5566 26

70- If it's a really severe phobia, no. They can be extremely hard to overcome, and affect some people very badly.

She might be arachnophobic because she had a bad experience with spiders. I'm afraid of George Clooney for the same reason.

I have a phobia of heights and once my friends and I were at the park and i realized we were on a mound so i panicked and just sat on the ground

I used to be acrophobic (heights). I didn't scream or cry, I'd just grab something, like a guard rail, and freeze up solid. I mentally panicked and just couldn't make my muscles move, or barely breathe. :p I'm not so bad anymore but it took a lot of exposure to different, less intimidating heights for me to be able to work myself up to trying to inch over a high up catwalk. My summer job during my college years back required a fair amount of walking on grating floors at different heights up to 5 floors up, so I had to try. :p Long damn summer that was, but thankfully I didn't have anyone teasing me over it. :p

scarface90 8

Fun fact - phobias and weird fetishes are the result of classical conditioning. Phobias can also be treated using classical conditioning, you just have to associate a pleasant stimulus (candy, relaxing music, chocolate) with the sight of a spider, but do it in baby steps and over intervals of times

I am scared of fish, you can imagine how much I get made fun of.

114- Fish can be really big and scary though and some people just lack empathy :/

AlexM42 5

Actually several fetishes are the result of cross-synaptic misfire. Take for example foot fetishes- the receptors in the brain that receive signals from the feet are located very close to receptors that trigger the pleasure associated with sexual intercourse. In some individuals there's a slight abnormality that causes the foot-receptor to create pleasure

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Well after unlocking your phone dozens of times each day, you tend to learn where the unlock thingy is, and once you do that, you should be able to open your eyes, unless the spiders are still there, in which case you close your eyes and call 911.

I was thinking the same even though I know he was wrong

Sounds like you and your boyfriend have a web of problems you gotta figure out

iOceanus 18

They better deal with them before they crawl up and come back to bite them in the future.

Emotionally abusive, do not proceed. Good to learn these things earlier before he locks you in a sex dungeon.

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unknown_user5566 26

7- If OP has a true phobia of spiders, it's not a "harmless prank". Depending on the severity of the phobia, it could be emotionally scarring.

X_Codes 11

@7 - If it's severe enough to be classified as a genuine "phobia," then it's absolutely not a harmless prank. Anyway, there's just the whole emotional abusiveness of the situation as well as boundary issues (messing with your phone without your consent). Change the background on his phone to a break-up note, and then change the password on it so he can't get access to your number.

20 That's why she deletes her number while she is in there.. And turn on Delete all info after 10 incorrect tries..

StalkerChick 13

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We don't know that it isn't honestly I'd rather assume it is then it isn't because if you that they just dislike and put it in the food.. You could kill them..

StalkerChick 13

Well, I usually don't force people(kids included) to eat things they don't like so I wouldn't have that problem either.

She said it, not me. I think insinuating that someone is going to lock someone in a "sex dungeon" is ridiculous, no matter how hurtful the joke I personally don't see that in any way relating to something that serious, and even if the op's boyfriend is a dick, making that leap seems insane to me, which is why I commented that. I realize now that it is more serious than I would have imagined, but I don't see it being to the levels of abuse and cruelty that so many commenters seem to be implying. I guess none of you have ever laughed at people getting hurt in YouTube videos or anything, and those millions of people who enjoy that are all "abusive" for laughing at that kind of stuff. I would never cause someone pain for my own pleasure, but I seriously doubt the guy meant to cause her "emotional scarring" and any other mental anguish. I have problems way more serious than a fear of spiders, but I can still take a ******* joke. You guys need to lighten up :P

Just because something seems funny doesn't make it right. A bunch of younger boys thought it would hilarious to punch my head once, but I couldn't lay on that side of it for over a week afterwards.

You're right, I guess it is a pretty douchey thing to do. Maybe I haven't been taking people's emotions serious enough, I guess this kind of bullying could be as bad as physical abuse for some people. I hope I haven't offended anyone by laughing at this, I guess I just need to keep my dark side to myself? ;)

No worries, I guess I'm just ranting a bit today. Glad we can all be civil!

I don't think he's emotionally abusive... He probably just doesn't realize how bad an actual phobia is, because people trivialize them all the time. "OMG, I, like, have a school phobia!" Yeah, with that kind of stuff going around, a lot of people don't realize how horrible actual phobias are... He probably thinks OP just kind of freaks out when she sees a spider. Still kind of douchey though.

crammer1 6

Someone who gets entertainment from your fear or pain does not love you. It shows a lack of empathy and is also a trait of a psychopath. Trust me, he'll be looking for more fun ways to entertain himself with you. I suggest getting out while you can.

Anyone who derives pleasure from the pain of others is a psychopath? Please explain why action and horror movies are popular and why colosseums were built to show gladiators fight.

unknown_user5566 26

63- #6 said it was a TRAIT of being a psychopath, which I believe is correct.

63- psychologically speaking, it is a red flag.

6- How the flying **** did you get that he doesn't love OP, just because he is messing with her? I don't know a single person on earth who hasn't made a joke or some form of entertainment by exploiting the weaknesses of others. If I hide around the corner and pop out and scare my girlfriend, because I know she freaks out every time I do it, does that mean I don't love her? Because if that's your mindset, then frankly, you must be a very boring person.

I don't think changing the background on a phone to a scarry spider is all that serious, like the comment up a couple of notches, it's through the safety of a screen, its not an actual spider in her hand, how can it hurt her? And i know some of you would say psychologically, but thats a load of bologna, i doubt very much that any accredited psychologist or therapist reads these, and if so, they know that laughing at the misfortune of others (as FML is made for) is not cause for red flags or warnings of psychopathic behavior.

The "dump him" comments almost never get thumbed up.. *isn't going to waste the ammo on this..*

It's not cool to mess with people's phobias. I used to have a weird phobia of those ferby (however they're spelled) toys and my family would chase me around with them and scare me to death. It sucks :p I know how ya feel OP.

Furbies are coming back. They're about £50 though and look the same as they used to, probably still as useless. I don't remember mine much as I dropped it down a flight of stairs (I was 3 or 4) but it didn't do much, just had a moving beak and was a hard soft toy :(

I had the same phobia, i still hate those things though.

51 Part of it had to with the creepiness and the movie "The Gremlims"

They scare me, those things are the spawn of the devil and the creatures in your nightmares, even scarier now that they have LED eyes, imagine them glowing in the dark, also they can now become evil and have tails, my sister brought one of the new ones recently, I hate it, and she never uses it despite spending $70 AUS on it

I don't have a phobia of them, but they are ******* creepy!

Tell someone else to unlock your phone then change the password. hopefully he won't be doing it anymore after that

That's just mean, and for him to laugh, is even worse. Don't let him touch your phone anymore. Communication is key, so try expressing how you feel to him? (:

I think it would be worse if he didn't laugh, because then he would have done it for the sole purpose of being mean. By laughing, he made the being 'mean' part just a side repercussion of the entertainment.