AIBU?
Husband obsessed with McDonald’s Monopoly
sickandtired300 · 18/09/2022 14:42
I just need a rant.
I dread it every year as he is always the same, but this year is particularly bad. He’s absolutely obsessed with collecting the stickers and trying to win the prizes.
He has been going several times a day (we live just round the corner) and spending stupid amounts of money on food to get the stickers. He never even eats half the food and gives it to the dog or the DC. I don’t mind them having McDonald’s but it’s meant to be a treat and he’s giving them cheeseburgers and nuggets every day for a snack ffs to get rid of them because he’s only interested in the stickers on the packaging.
I have lost it today as he has come home with 12 lots of fries!!!! We can’t fucking afford this. We’re not on the breadline and have a couple of hundred spare each month but not for fucking McDonald’s splurged. We are now just one sticker away from winning the holiday (the final sticker is extremely rare and there’s only a few of them in circulation, so out chances are still vanishingly low) and so the obsession has ramped up. We’d had our breakfast (he pissed off afterwards for his McDonald’s stickers) and so they got thrown out. We have an on and off rat problem so I’d rather not be throwing out heaps of uneaten food.
He joins fucking Ebay auctions and is always on his phone inputting the codes. He even joins online discussions on it. He really wants the cash prize. He is saying that somebody is selling 500 of the stickers for £80 and he’s considering it. I’m sure it’s a scam. He knows I will go nuclear so I’m praying he doesn’t do it but we both allow each other some treat spends each month so he may well spend it on that.
It’s all he fucking talks about. This morning he was moaning about how he saw an article saying that he saw an article about McDonald’s staff cheating and peeking at the stickers beforehand, and I snapped at him to bloody shut up. He is completely neurotypical and doesn’t typically hyperfixate on things, but this is always an issue every year.
He’s also convinced the kids we’re winning a car and a holiday ffs. When I’m cleaning I’m always having to pick up the stickers. We’ve got that many of those free meal prizes that our family of 4 will never be able to get through them before they expire. I handed most of them to homeless folk in town the other day, otherwise they wouldn’t have been used. And he whigned that he could’ve used them to buy more food to get more stickers.
It is genuinely making me resent him. I can’t wait until it ends.
OlderParents · 18/09/2022 18:13
Hi MIL
😂😂😂
OP, others are right. This is very clearly a gambling addiction. I suppose one could say be grateful that he isn't addicted to gambling websites, but in all honestly this still sounds absolutely shit.
I would calculate how much he spends over the course of the promotion, and tell him, show him the maths. It might just be the shock he needs, but then again it might not.
I think I'd tell him he needs to set a spending limit for next time though, and that you want to see all receipts because spending X on food that literally goes in the bin for a vanishingly small chance of winning a big prize is absolutely diabolical.
sickandtired300 · 18/09/2022 18:15
As for the homeless people thing, most of them seemed pretty grateful actually. Don’t get me wrong I don’t think I’m Jesus or anything for giving them the stickers and I know it won’t really have any impact on their situation but I’m sure some of them were glad to have a free warm meal and being able to save their days change! What they then spend it on is none of my business. Homeless people are all individuals, not a collective group who will all inevitably get ill from McDonald’s. McDonald’s is dirt cheap anyway and I imagine a common option for them.
Jellywobblescobbles · 18/09/2022 18:23
MintyGreenDreams · 18/09/2022 16:53
You only get the stickers on large meals or fries afaik so he must be spending a hell of a lit
Omg he must be! I have been recently and noticed that hardly any stickers on what I have ordered. It’s a crap game that has only encouraged gambling. It needs to end.
Suzi888 · 18/09/2022 18:34
SummerHouse · 18/09/2022 14:51
Why does he get the food if he is not going to eat it? Why not just go in and pay full price for empty boxes? I appreciate that the wasted food is just part of the problem but I can't get past 12 lots of fries going in the bin...
Wasting food. Gives me the rage. Surely there must be a better way for him to feed his addiction.
Dogs should not be given McDonald’s.
sickandtired300 · 18/09/2022 18:34
As I said in a previous comment, I genuinely think it is something to do with the Monopoly
branding that hits a sweet spot in his dopamine receptors/subconscious. As he really isn’t interested in other gambling. Quite fascinating really, maybe a psychologist should study him.
youarntaguest · 18/09/2022 18:54
sickandtired300 · 18/09/2022 16:51
You should see the state of the outside bins, full to the brim with McDonald’s wrappers.
It is genuinely putting a strain on our marriage.
How embarrassing and dehumanising for me, to feel second to a fast fold restaurant.
Hahahah this isn't real !!!!
Boreded · 18/09/2022 19:07
He is a gambling addict, McDonald’s is his roulette wheel.
thankfully he can’t burn through a grand in 5 minutes like most addicts, but he does need to knock it off.
i have ocd and find myself occasionally getting sucked into the wormhole of micro transactions with apple. It’s not as easy to stop as you would expect
FlipFlopsAndIceCream · 18/09/2022 19:08
Pilipalapal · 18/09/2022 18:07
There’s a list here:
www.monopolyland.com/rare-mcdonalds-monopoly-pieces/
FlipFlopsAndIceCream · 18/09/2022 17:51
Which sticker are you missing that's rare?
I only have 3! Would love to know if one is rare and I could be sitting on a fortune!
(Sorry, I know that's not helping your situation!)
Thanks 🙏
PMAmostofthetime · 18/09/2022 19:38
sickandtired300 · 18/09/2022 14:42
I just need a rant.
I dread it every year as he is always the same, but this year is particularly bad. He’s absolutely obsessed with collecting the stickers and trying to win the prizes.
He has been going several times a day (we live just round the corner) and spending stupid amounts of money on food to get the stickers. He never even eats half the food and gives it to the dog or the DC. I don’t mind them having McDonald’s but it’s meant to be a treat and he’s giving them cheeseburgers and nuggets every day for a snack ffs to get rid of them because he’s only interested in the stickers on the packaging.
I have lost it today as he has come home with 12 lots of fries!!!! We can’t fucking afford this. We’re not on the breadline and have a couple of hundred spare each month but not for fucking McDonald’s splurged. We are now just one sticker away from winning the holiday (the final sticker is extremely rare and there’s only a few of them in circulation, so out chances are still vanishingly low) and so the obsession has ramped up. We’d had our breakfast (he pissed off afterwards for his McDonald’s stickers) and so they got thrown out. We have an on and off rat problem so I’d rather not be throwing out heaps of uneaten food.
He joins fucking Ebay auctions and is always on his phone inputting the codes. He even joins online discussions on it. He really wants the cash prize. He is saying that somebody is selling 500 of the stickers for £80 and he’s considering it. I’m sure it’s a scam. He knows I will go nuclear so I’m praying he doesn’t do it but we both allow each other some treat spends each month so he may well spend it on that.
It’s all he fucking talks about. This morning he was moaning about how he saw an article saying that he saw an article about McDonald’s staff cheating and peeking at the stickers beforehand, and I snapped at him to bloody shut up. He is completely neurotypical and doesn’t typically hyperfixate on things, but this is always an issue every year.
He’s also convinced the kids we’re winning a car and a holiday ffs. When I’m cleaning I’m always having to pick up the stickers. We’ve got that many of those free meal prizes that our family of 4 will never be able to get through them before they expire. I handed most of them to homeless folk in town the other day, otherwise they wouldn’t have been used. And he whigned that he could’ve used them to buy more food to get more stickers.
It is genuinely making me resent him. I can’t wait until it ends.
OP just a thought why isn't he using the free meal stickers to get his new stickers? I used some today and my new food had a sticker on? Just a thought to help with the cost in the short term.
Also try pointing out the money he's spending on McDonald's you can actually use to choose a holiday! 12 Fries alone is £12 at least so assuming he spends £25 a day is £750 that would be a very large chunk of a holiday.
He has got an issue by the sounds of it and I think you should limit Mc Donald's to once a week and just enough for the family to eat and then he can do what he pleases with his treat money.
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