People Get Infuriated By These "Am I The Jerk?" Stories

"I'm 19 live with my mom and stepdad for the summer as I'm a student. The kitchen in the house is very small and can only house a fridge and freezer that are also small, so my mom and stepdad have an extra fridge and freezer in the shed. I'm working late shifts at my job, so I'm up late on my days off. During the night, I'll go outside to the shed to grab something from the fridge or freezer, then come back into the house, making sure to be quiet. My stepdad is usually up late too, watching TV. For context, our door to the backyard can't be unlocked from the outside. The person who owned the house before them had pet wolfdogs, so the fence surrounding the backyard is super high and secure, making it not possible to go around to the front door. Last week on my day off, I went outside to the shed to grab something, but couldn't get back into the house as the back door was locked. I didn't want to wake my mom by knocking, so I texted my stepdad asking him to let me in. No response. I tried calling him three times. No response. I started loudly knocking on the back door, and my mom, who was still half asleep, let me inside. I was quite annoyed at my stepdad, to say the least. I talked to my stepdad, and he said he assumed I had forgotten to lock the back door after going outside. His phone was on silent, and he was using the restroom when I knocked on the door. I thought, "Okay, this probably won't happen again." The next day, I went out to grab something from the shed again. Back door locked behind me AGAIN. This time I immediately called my stepdad. Straight to voicemail. I tried several more times and couldn't get through. I knocked repeatedly on the back door, and it took 40 minutes for my stepdad to notice me and let me in. I was super mad and said he could at least learn how to answer his phone. He told me to be quiet and that it's my fault for rummaging around and eating so late at night. We had a super heated argument, and he called me a moron." Another User Comments: "NTJ. Seems clear this is enemy action. Cut a piece of wood to fit into the latch hole. That way the door cannot be locked until the wood is removed. If you put it in when you go out and remove it when you return, there's no way stepdad can successfully lock you out without fully revealing his malice. Whether you do this or not, do talk to your mother about the situation." extinct_diplodocus Another User Comments: "ESH You have a freezer in your garden shed. You have a back door that can't be unlocked from the outside, and a backyard without a gate to let you get round the front. You need some sort of system to indicate "there is a person in the backyard - do not lock door". Or just change the lock on the back door for one with key access from outside. You're calling each other idiots, where the problem is that you don't have a sensible system for using your door." _mmiggs_ Another User Comments: "Ok, I can't determine YTJ or NTJ. Can you use your brain and prop the door open? Can you unlock it from the inside, so it's unlocked? Can you bring food/drink inside in the daylight when someone is in the kitchen? Come on dude, you're 19, come up with a solution. Stepdad isn't locking you out, you're locking yourself out. What happens when mom or stepdad go into the back garden? How do they get back in?" Traditional-Bag-4508