Yahoo Lifestyle People Are Confessing Their Worst Valentine's Day Stories Of All Time, Proving The Holiday Isn't Always About Romance And Roses
Not a fan of Valentine's Day? You're not the only one. Maybe you consider it a Hallmark holiday, live for the discounted candy haul on February 15, or have zero interest in romance and roses. If that's you, I recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to share their *worst* V-Day stories of all time. Here's what they had to say:
Note: Some submissions are from this Reddit thread.
1."When I was a sophomore in college, I met a guy named 'Chris' (that's what we'll call him) at a party. He was tall, handsome, funny, and the president of his fraternity. Chris and I exchanged numbers and after a few days of back and forth, we agreed on a Valentine's Day date. He promised a very fun, romantic day. I expressed how excited I was for our day together because I had recently been dumped by my ex of two years. I was dressed to the nines with immaculate 2017-era makeup, which meant I spent hours getting ready. When Chris picked me up, he looked at me with a confused expression and asked why I was so dolled up. He then stated he had plans for us to play tennis together. TENNIS. I begrudgingly changed clothes and we embarked to the tennis court, which was located in a gated community. I had never played before, and to no one's surprise I was not good at tennis."
"For some reason, this upset Chris, who stated that his ideal girlfriend would be good at tennis. I already felt such ick and started planning my escape via text messages to my friends. After many failed attempts at teaching me how to play tennis, Chris asked if I was hungry and said he would take me somewhere nice to eat. He took me to Chili's, where he tried to order my food for me (a salad), and paid our bill with a gift card his dad had given him for Christmas. Thankfully, my friends made it to Chili's and waited for me in the parking lot. I excused myself from the table, pretended to go to the bathroom, and then booked it into my best friend's car. We laughed about the ordeal for weeks until one night I saw Chris again at a party. He ran up to me and said, 'Sarah! I thought I'd never see you again!' My name isn't Sarah."
2."I realized that the Valentine's Day cards I had been receiving from my secret admirer for years were from my parents."
3."I have an ongoing worst Valentine's Day experience. Every year without fail, whenever I have someone I'm dating or excited about, it inexplicably blows up or ends before Valentine's Day — which ironically is one of my favorite holidays due to the concept of sharing love and romance. I have never had a Valentine's Day where I was in a relationship or with someone in a dating capacity. Even when I've had multi-year relationships, there was an 'on a break' moment that would fall on Valentine's Day. I would love to have one Valentine's Day where someone is excited about the holiday and excited about celebrating it with me."
4."I was dating a guy and we had plans for Valentine's Day. I hadn't heard from him all day, and that's when I checked out his Facebook. There was a photo of him and another girl going out for a V-Day dinner that evening. Super cool!"
5."He gave me a card with a condom inside that said he wanted to taste my sweat and feel my moans. I was 16. We met in our school's purity club. I found out he was in the club to look good on his college resume."
—Anonymous from Maine
6."The one after elementary school when I realized that we don't distribute candy to each other in middle school."
7."About 10 years ago, I had a first date planned with a guy I was talking to on a dating app. Valentine's Day just worked out for our schedules and we didn't make a big deal of it. I showed up at the restaurant and he wasn't there. I couldn't reach him so I ate by myself and went home sad about being stood up. He messaged me a few days later saying that V-Day was the first anniversary of his ex-girlfriend breaking up with him and he posted something on Facebook that made his friends nervous. Someone called the police and he was taken to the psychiatric hospital. I refused to give him a second chance and he was really upset."
8."In fifth grade, I didn't receive a single Valentine's Day card in my cubby while everyone else did."
9."My husband (now ex) was not the romantic type, so when he did remember Valentine's Day, my birthday, or our anniversary, it felt special. Yes, the bar was in hell. The only time he remembered Valentine's Day, he gave me one of those giant peanut butter cups. Is it the most thoughtful? No, but any effort was going a long way with me. The minimal effort was deemed null and void the next day when I came home to discover he had eaten the entire peanut butter cup."
10."I remember running outside in third grade for recess and then waking up in the nurse's office with my face and shirt covered in blood. I had slipped and slid face-first along a gravel walkway and into a concrete sidewalk. My nose hasn't quite looked the same since."
11."In high school, I went out for Valentine's Day with my then-boyfriend. We had been dating for almost a year, but this was the first time we ever really went anywhere — typical high school relationship I guess. So we got dinner, and right before we left, we exchanged presents. I was going to a fine arts school so I made him something in class that I was proud of and hid a gift card to a store he loved inside. He gave me one of those $5 stuffed animals from Walgreens and just threw it at me, with no card or anything. After that, we walked to the car. He almost took up the entire sidewalk, so I tried to walk through the mushy grass in heels. I fell in the mud, practically ruined my dress, and he laughed at me. The worst part is that he didn't even take the present I worked so hard to make for him. He 'accidentally' left it at my house when he dropped me off. I still have it, too."
12."My dad had a stroke on Valentine's Day and we spent the day in the ER with a naked guy handcuffed to a gurney in the hallway outside the room my dad was moved into."
13."My then-boyfriend did not make reservations, and every place had a long wait. We ended up at Denny's where my food was cold and tasteless, and our server didn't check on us once. The manager came around, and I explained about the food and our server, so he comped our meals."
14."I was very pregnant. My husband cooked dinner at home, and I had to clean it up. I had begged him to go anywhere so I could have a relaxing night. He then proceeded to get wasted and passed out around 10 p.m. I ended up crying in the bathroom. He burst in and started screaming that I was ungrateful and to stop whining. He is not normally a bad man. I think he was stressed about the baby and just drank too much, but I will never think of V-Day in a positive light ever again."
15."When I was a child, I was often left out of special events. During one school event, we were supposed to exchange secret Valentine's Day gifts. All the gifts were wrapped while mine was in a paper bag. The substitute teacher yelled, 'I see nine students, but only eight gifts.' I showed her the paper sack and she scoffed and stated it was supposed to have been wrapped that morning. I had to be in physical therapy, so I wasn't aware of that change. The teacher chimed in on my behalf, stating she never said they had to be wrapped, but it was too late. The damage had already been done as I'd been embarrassed in front of the entire class."
"We exchanged gifts, and one of my closest friends received the art pen set I had purchased for $20. The substitute scoffed at it, saying all I had given were pens. But the teacher looked at the label, realizing what they were. They were high-end pens for artistic sketching and drawing. In return, I had only received a Tootsie Roll container that cost less than $5. The teacher realized she had forgotten to tell me all gifts had to be under $5. I purchased that pen set with money leftover from my birthday the year before."
16."I liked this guy in high school and thought we were getting close. He even asked me to a dance and was super excited about it. Valentine's Day was approaching, and I had my hopes up. It turns out that a week before Valentine's Day, he got together with another girl who was just awful all around. Everyone in our friend group was mad at him for picking that girl over me and leading me on. Even though I pretended it didn't hurt, it did."
17."I was with a girl absolutely in love with me, talking about marriage, pets, kids, etc. On our third V-Day, I looked at her at dinner and it hit me. I realized I had lost any feelings I had for her. Nice girl, cute, treated me great, would've made a fantastic wife — I just lost those feelings. It sucks to know it's not your fault the way you feel, but to realize this poor soul is going to be crushed. It's been five years and I still feel like sh*t for that."
18."All of them."
What's your worst Valentine's Day story of all time? Share yours in the comments.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
