real life

16 things you have to experience before you truly know your partner.

It’s a well known fact that a trip to IKEA is an ultimate relationship test. There’s nothing like a visit to the furniture-filled battleground and then attempting to assemble a Billy bookshelf to see someone’s true colours.

It’s not the only way to find out if you really are with ‘the one’. Here are 16 other situations that show you what your partner is really like – for better or for worse.

1. Camping.

There’s nothing like being without home comforts in the middle of nowhere to see your true compatibility.

“Neither my partner or I are particularly outdoors-y people but somehow we found ourselves on a group camping trick. He assured me he had the tent covered but despite my repeated request and offer to bring my own he left it to the last minute to check it was all in order. A four hour drive later and we began to set up the tent only to discover that not only was there no outer or waterproof cover, but there were no pegs either.

No body wants to experience this scent from The Parent Trap. Screenshot via YouTube.

“As I had to beg around the campsite for pegs and construct a makeshift cover with some leftover tarp as it started to rain, part of me really wanted to kill him… but an overwhelming part couldn’t help but laugh at him sitting there totally helpless and embarrassed that he’d gotten it so wrong. We’re still together, but we haven’t been camping since.”

2. Food poisoning.

“My partner got very extreme food poisoning in Nepal while I was fine, so a) I had to deal with him in agony but b) I also had to step up and navigate Kathmandu to find him medicine/crackers/water etc.

I got very lost and nearly had a breakdown myself so we learned about how we both handle sickness and stressful situations. You quickly learn about how the other person handles stress and how you both overcome obstacles together (or not).” (Watch: People confess when they knew their partner was the one.) Post continues after video.

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3. Toilet accidents.

“My partner shit his pants after he got very ill from something I’d given him. He locked himself in the bathroom and refused to come out from embarrassment.” shared one Reddit user.

“I got him some clean clothes and ordered him to pass the soiled ones out. He eventually did and I washed it all for him. After a lot of persuasion he let me into the bathroom and I rubbed his back while he vommed into the toilet. I guess part of me felt bad that it was kinda my fault, but it was very funny and I know he’d do the same for me.”

4. Travel.

“Traveling together. Seeing how well you do on a vacation really speaks volumes about how well you’ll do in the long run. If it’s day three and you want to leave him at a rural Slovakian gas station, you might want to consider your long term compatibility,” said one Reddit user.

Watch: People confess when they knew their partner was the one. Post continues after video.

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5. Sharing a bathroom.

When a relationship is new, you’re both on your best behaviour but once the comfortable feeling settles in, all hell can break loose when it comes to a communal bathroom.

“After his apartment was undergoing renovations, my boyfriend moved in with me for a month. Although he dressed well and was a meticulous neat freak elsewhere, his bathroom habits were horrendous.

“He’d regularly leave a mess all over the seat, leave wet towels and clothes all over the floor and an almost-toxic smell after every visit (and give me no warning!). Needless to say he moved out and I moved on very quickly.”

6. Being drunk.

The drunk you can be very different to the sober version.

“Taking care of them when they are fall-down, puke-your-guts-out, cry-about-everything, thinks-they-can-take-a-shower-but-ends-up-pulling-off-the-handle-and-crying-in-the-corner-because-it’s-too-cold drunk, and still loving them more than anything when they wake up the next morning, start remembering what they did and the only word that can come out of their mouth is “I am so sorry,” wrote forkinanoutlet.

“To me, this has always been my big test to see if I love someone.”

7. Cooking together.

“My partner and I decided to throw a dinner party and in a moment of madness refused guests’ offer to bring dishes to lighten the load (I blame too much Masterchef!) I like to meticulously follow a recipe, he likes to get creative and make it up as he goes a long.

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An hour of screaming and one totally ruined curry later, we had to call it quits and take turns in the kitchen. Five years later and we still have a strict “one person is head chef” system in place.”

8. Weddings.

No, it’s never too late.

“I know that you choose to get married once you’d decided you can put up with each other for the rest of your lives, but planning the nuptials is next level stressful and if a good indicator of how someone acts under pressures. There’s pleasing each other, parents, grandparents, family members.

Screenshot via YouTube.

“There’s dealing with money, lack of money, decisions over money. There’s dealing with annoying relatives in town and annoying mother in laws. If you can get through that – YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!”

9. A food order gone wrong.

“I was on a date with a man who up to this point had been a textbook gentleman and romantic. Flowers, chocolate, champagne and getting doors for me – you name it, he did it.

“Then out to dinner, the waiter messed up his meal order and brought out his steak covered in mushroom sauce rather than the red wine one he’d requested. He lost his temper, verbally abused the poor man and demanded to see the manager. There was no follow-up date.”

10. A brush with the law.

“My boyfriend got pulled over New Years Day driving me home, and got done for mid level drink driving. That’s a relationship killer – you really see someone’s true colours.”

11. Catching a plane.

Even better if the length is double digits.

“Being on a flight. Everyone is at their worst when they are in transit and you also look like absolute shit. Plus, add a crying baby and fighting for the window or aisle seat and you have the ultimate relationship test.”

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Screenshot via YouTube.

12. A heatwave.

“I think an extreme summer of heat in an apartment with no air con and a sex addicted next door neighbour was the ultimate relationship test. It’s amazing how real the hate can get when you haven’t slept properly in six months and can’t stop sweating.”

13. A major crisis.

“It will either break you or give you a chance to grow closer and work as a team. The best thing that happened to my significant other of four years and I was a major car crash and quite a few serious injuries,” wrote user tiraline.

“I know how this man handles a life and death situation, I can in good faith let him handle my laundry now.”

14. A road trip.

“If you can drive somewhere more than 10 hours away with someone with the possibility of getting lost and negotiate it as a couple, that’s a good sign,” wrote Reddit user katewexler.

15. Silence.

Underrated, but very important.

“If you can share it together and enjoy it, it stands a good chance of being a good relationship,” wrote one Reddit user.

16. A full blown argument.

“Not slight bickering but a huge blow out. How you heal and get past a fight like that can basically show you how your relationship will play out.”

What would you add to the list?

This post originally appeared on The Glow.