Woman looks through friend's closet to find 'lost' wedding dress; it's there. AITA?
There's nothing quite like losing a friend's prized piece of clothing. The only thing worse than that is losing their wedding dress and then getting defensive when they find it.
In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a woman asked if she was wrong for going through her friend's closet to find her wedding dress. She wrote:
"AITA for going through my friend’s closet to find my wedding dress?"
Two years ago, my husband and I were doing some renovations to our house. I didn’t want my wedding dress to get damaged or lost in the process. Which, considering we did lose a few things during the renovation, I was right to be concerned. My friend offered to keep it in her closet until the renovations were done. After we finished the renovations, I asked my friend for the dress back.
She kept saying she’d get back to me. I kept asking and she’d make up excuses. I found it weird. Now, my sister is getting married and she wanted to wear the dress. This was our mother’s dress and we always agreed we’d each wear it. I told my friend I need it back. She claimed she couldn’t find it.
I was perplexed because how does it just get up and walk away? She apologized and offered to pay me the cost of the dress, which I turned down because it wasn’t about money. The dress was sentimental and I felt terrible my sister couldn’t wear it. My friend and her husband went away. I was there to water their plants and feed their dogs. I decided to go look myself. The closet was very cluttered.
I eventually found the dress. I can totally believe that she missed where it was and she wasn’t being malicious in the slightest. The box was tucked behind a few larger ones containing seasonal clothes. I texted her saying “I found the dress”. Instead of being happy for me, she asked why I rummaged through her closet? I said I just wanted to double check. She told me I had no right to go through her things.
I said that because of her clutter, my sister almost didn’t get to wear a dress she always dreamed of. My friend told me that I could’ve asked her to look again but I pointed out it took two years for her to even look in the first place. AITA?
The internet weighed in.
Squinky75 wrote:
I would have just taken it and never told her. Let her think she lost her mind.
mmurphyk9 wrote:
NTA. You just sent “I found the dress” not saying where you found it? If she didn’t know where it was, why did she accuse you of going through her closet? Seems to me she knew exactly where it was and for whatever reason, didn’t want to give it back. This woman is not your friend.
SociallyIneptRaccoon wrote:
NTA I feel like your friend was being shady by offering money instead of finding a family heirloom. I think I never would've told her that I found the dress and I would've let her find out by seeing your sister's wedding photos. Additionally, I totally would've let her plants die.
__sadpotato__ wrote:
Lol she was trying to steal the dress so she could sell it or keep it for herself. I refuse to believe any adult who doesn’t have nefarious intentions would just “lose” a wedding dress and then try to act like it’s no biggie.
Electric__Milk wrote:
NTA, to people saying you shouldn't have snooped, she accepted to watching something that means a lot to you and did not try to find it in the slightest when you kept asking her. Even offered to pay instead of actually looking? That sounds suspicious AF. You did nothing wrong OP, she had YOUR property and refused to give it back, that is way worse then you looking through her things for it. She is TA.
OP is NTA here, but her friend seems to have some hidden agenda, or a really bad eye.