Breaking up with someone, or having someone break up with you, is never fun. Occasionally, though, breakups get nasty. Really nasty. And P-E-T-T-Y. Whether you're happy in a relationship or not, the way in which a breakup is handled can often cause more collateral damage than a toxic partnership.

This is why I'm single. This is why I have three cats.

Reddit's peopleoftomorrow8 asked, "What is the worst thing to do/say to break up with someone?"

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.

Back in high school (late 90s) my friend got broken up with via pager code.

She had to decipher that sh*t to figure out the guy was dumping her...

My boyfriend broke up with me on April fools day. Took a lot of "no seriously" for me to believe him

Convince me to quit my job, sell my house, and spend thousands studying for and taking the bar exam in a new state because you got a good job offer there, then cheat on me with some guy you met playing Heroes of Newerth, give me herpes, tell me you're just not attracted to me anymore, and ask me to move out now that I have no house and no job.

When I was 14 my boyfriend tried to break up with me by ghosting me, unfortunately, I was extremely dense and didn't get the hint. So he had his mum break up with me over the phone. Good times!

Yeah 11 or 12 years ago I was on my computer looking at Facebook when I noticed my girlfriend of a year-and-a-half's Facebook status changed from 'in a relationship' to 'single'.

I figured it was probably a mistake and sent her a text joking about it and went to bed. The next day I had no reply from her. I tried calling and just got voicemail. I tried calling a couple times for the next few days and no reply. I tried her parent's house and they said she was at work. I tried her work and they said she was busy and couldn't come to the phone. I drove to her work to figure out what was going on and she started crying and said it was all okay she was just going through some things and would call me after work.

I never heard from her for like another week or two till I texted her and asked what I should do with all her stuff she left at my house (Like 3 garbage bags full of clothes and random stuff). She told me she would come pick it up tomorrow. She never showed. Then she texted and said she'd come the next day. This pattern repeated for about a month, I offered multiple times to drive her things out to her or even leave them at her parents or a mutual friends house for her to pick up. Finally one day after not showing up to pick her stuff up when she said she would I threw everything in the trash. I texted her saying I threw it in the trash and she called me and yelled a bunch of obscenities at me then hung up.

That month was incredibly rough. I had no idea what happened or why she dumped me or how she could be so mean. It was seriously the worst. The sad part is I was just finishing a surprise painting of her and her horse when she ghosted me. I spent so long on it and it actually looked really good. I hung onto it for a long time after she started ghosting me thinking I would give it to her when she picked up her stuff. A last vestige of hope from a heartbroken man. It ended up torn in half and thrown in the garbage with the rest of her belongings.

One time a guy invited me to a beautiful picnic with wine and flowers and then when I tried to sit down he said "Don't eat anything, Rebecca's coming." And then he broke up with me.

One girlfriend I was on and off with for a while may fall into this category. Dated in college in Maryland and when I graduated I had to move for a job to New York. I wanted to do long distance and we kept talking, but we started to fade because I was stressed in my job.

After a while, I went back to where we both lived and took her out for her birthday with my family as it was my dad's birthday too. Got her a gift and flowers and surprised her at work and everything. I tell her she should visit New York but she always said no because she was broke.

Fast forward to later that week, I check her snap story and she was in New York, with another dude, saying she's the luckiest girl in the world or whatever. I text her like yo tf what is this, she proceeds to block my number and I text her via Facebook saying she just confirmed my beliefs and to have a nice life. Tells me to leave her alone.

So yeah, I think this one's pretty bad. She still hits me up from time to time and I ignore her and have her blocked on everything else. Oh well, live and learn.

I once broke up with my gf the day before Valentines Day. Was told by everyone I was an assh*le.

Edit: Forgot to mention it was over the phone.

Only things worse is sitting through an incredibly awkward dinner on V-Day that you could just barely afford because you work a part-time minimum wage job only to confront her about the guy she's been texting the entire evening and get broken up with over text when you get home.

That was me a few years ago. Can't make this sh*t up.

About 10 years ago, I had a boyfriend who was from another state. After dating for about six months, he asked me to bring him to the airport for a flight home for Christmas, which of course I did. He called me about three hours later (on his layover) to tell me he left something in my glove box for me. Thinking left something sweet for me for Christmas, I rushed out to my car and excitedly searched through. It wasn't a sweet gift, it was a letter breaking up with me.

That's a pretty bad way to do it.

My ex broke up with me five days before our one year anniversary, on which he told me "I planned to propose to you today but I dumped you instead".

"I need space due to my depression" by space I mean need to go bang my manager for a few weeks then break up with you the day before your birthday.

"I don't think I'm gay after all." After six months, my ex-fiance that I lived with came to that groundbreaking conclusion.

"You helped me through a tough time, but I'm going to try it with my ex again."

It's not you it's me

My ex told me that the (his name) I fell in love with was dead and never coming back while Silas (the really bad and ugly personality who lives in his head) had taken full control of him.

So yeah. Probably that.

She said "do you know how many times I rolled my eyes after I turned over to go to bed after you said I love you?" Tore my soul apart

One time this guy I'd been seeing for two weeks took me to a cemetery and broke up with me by the reasoning "You're too morbid." Then he went back to my house and copulated with my sister.

By text. 30 minutes before we had dinner plans. A few months before our 3 year anniversary. And we were both 26.

We lived 10 minutes away from each other and were never long distance, had known each other for 10+ years at that point, and I got a f*cking text.

Not a bad break up, per-say, but not the ideal aftermath: My now-ex and I split when we were living together, but there was only 3 weeks left on the lease so we decided to stay living together for those 3 weeks and then move our separate ways once it had finished.

It was all fine until we agreed that since we were no longer dating we could do as we pleased, so came along many nights of me being home and him staying out all night or vice versa, I ended up going to a different city for a week to work and when I got back he went away for a week. It mainly only got awkward when I signed up for a dating app and saw him on there. But then it became comical, I asked him about how it was going and he said he'd met a few girls and that's where'd he'd been staying, and then he helped me set up my profile, helped me choose good photos and write a bio.

But hey I met my current partner on that dating site and now my ex and I are both in long-term relationships now with other people and we still see each other around occasionally, but no biggie.

It was a weird month.

Do it over AIM, like my HS girlfriend in 2003.

I'm over her, but I'm still not over how she did it. What a low f*ckin move.

My buddy in high school walked up to his gf and her friends and said "everyone with a boyfriend raise their hand, WHOA NOT SO FAST"

She kicked him in the balls.

I laughed

What my dad did to my mom. They were married 26 years, and she was incredibly hard to get along with. He was a really passive person and was no match for her temperament. He wanted a divorce but was too chicken to say so. He waited until her father died and they were in the car, driving home from his funeral. She was at her weakest, totally crushed. He told her he never loved her and wanted a divorce. Good timing, assh*le. He and I were always joined at the hip until then. He was too big of a wuss to realize how cruel he had been to a fellow human being.

My last ex dumped me a week before we were supposed to move in together. I let my lease run out on my apartment, I quit my job, I took my kids out of school (it was winter break and I had time to set them up in their new school before school was back in session). To compete it all, I found out I was pregnant 2 weeks before. So I lost my house, my job, and my kid's school because he decided to be an assh*le.

He didn't even have the decency to do it in person. He told me over the phone and then had the audacity to ask for his radio back. The only reason I didn't end up homeless was because my mom got sick and asked me to move to her state to help her out and so she could see my kids before she passed away. She passed away 2 months later. So yeah... that year was one of the worst of my life.

I'm doing better now. I'm in a stable relationship, I kept the baby, I own a car, have a stable job, my kids are straight A students, and I rent out a townhouse. Still, it was a f*cked up thing to do to me and subsequently my kids.

My time to shine! When I was 22 I was married. After 3 weeks of being in the hospital with a collapsed lung, I took a cab back to our apartment. I walked into seeing him having sex with another girl in our bed. He looked over his shoulder and calmly said "do you mind? I'm not done yet." No assh_le you're done.