The latest post on the “Am I The A—hole? (AITA?)” subreddit is throwing the “When life gives you lemons …” adage out the window. Turning lemons into lemonade is so 2023. Now, based on a delusional aunt’s request, we’re learning that 2024 is the year of “When life gives your niece stale lemon cake, make money.”
(Yes, this story is about to be as ridiculous as that failed swap.)
A mom joined Reddit to talk about a recent incident with her 17-year-old daughter, Carly. Carly often babysits her 7- and 9-year-old cousins while her aunt (her mom’s sister) and her uncle go out. The mom who originally posted (the “OP”) explained that her sister and brother-in-law usually go out for 3-4 hours and pay Carly 10 euros per hour.
“Me and my sister do not make Carly babysit,” OP insisted, “she volunteers to.”
“She likes having the extra money to fund her Starbucks addiction…plus the kids love getting to see her. I’m glad that she’s getting to learn responsibility.”
The Problem
Carly babysat her cousins last weekend, and OP got a call from her sister a couple of hours after Carly came home. You see, it was OP’s niece’s birthday “2ish weeks ago” and they had a “custom-made fancy lemon curd cake.”
“I remember at the party a lot of the kids didn’t want to eat it so a lot was leftover,” OP said. “Whilst she was babysitting, Carly had eaten two slices.”
*Record scratch* She ate the 2-week-old cake?! Eek! They kept the leftovers in their fridge for that long?! Shouldn’t it have been chucked well before then?! One Redditor said, “That’s firmly in ‘this is, um, technically edible still, please eat as much as you like so it doesn’t go to waste” territory.
Well, Carly’s aunt had a problem with her niece helping herself. OP apologized to her sister and said she would talk to Carly about it.
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“She mentions again that the cake was custom-made and expensive, and says that we should be compensating her,” OP said.
Hold up. What?! OP — like us — thought her sister was joking at first. Because how could she be serious about this?
“I mentioned that surely the cake is going bad soon if it isn’t already stale (I said this light-heartedly trying to lighten the mood) but made it clear I’M NOT GIVING HER MONEY,” OP wrote. “She says she paid €70 for the cake and she expects me to give her €20.”
Absolutely Not
OP told her sister she’s not reimbursing her and was promptly called “inconsiderate.” And so she wants to know, is she the a—hole for refusing to fork over the 20 euros?
“I feel like she is being petty, and what difference would it have made if all of it got eaten last weekend or at the birthday party?
Reddit’s Reaction
More than 24.1 thousand Redditors agree with the person who said OP should pay for the “fancy a** cake.”
“[Then] tell your daughter she will not be babysitting her cousins without full and comparable to other sitters compensation ever again … Your sis had the golden goose of babysitters, and she obviously had no idea how good she had it. Emphasis on had. If she wants to nickle and dime you, let’s go.”
“And don’t bother to give sister a heads up,” they continued. “She can find out your daughter will be charging her … or she can scramble to find an alternate. Your daughter could make all kinds of money for her Starbucks addiction, working for somebody else. But the bargain sis had ended when she expected you to fork over 20 euro for stale leftover cake.”
The internet totally agrees and is flooding this post with petty ideas.
“I would return the 20 euros in person … BUT it would be attached to an invoice for the amount my daughter should have been compensated for … I would then pluck that 20 euros off of the invoice and ask my sister to pay me the balance due to my daughter in cash. Because if you want to FA you most certainly will FO. 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️”
When someone suggested OP add a per diem for food and snacks — “Since [Carly] obviously cannot eat the ones at her [aunt’s] house” — another Redditor gushed over how much they love the pettiness. “I have found my spirit animals,” they said. Another said to the petty crew, “Can we be friends? This is brilliant!”
Someone said they would add a note at the bottom of the invoice saying that if this aunt needs financing, she should apply with the Bank of Sisters. “Because clearly, she needs money if she is choosing to humiliate her niece and to charge $20 for 2-week-old cake.”
“That fact that the cake was 2 weeks old is what burns my butt! Like are you f*cking kidding me?” someone asked
Then began the hilarious conversation about the cake’s depreciation and whether the aunt should try to trade or pawn it. “’Sorry, buddy. The second this cake left the lot it was worth at best $3 a slice. I could go to maybe $4 if we work it out in trade.’”
Or, given its age, some people are wondering if the cake is now considered an antique.
Luckily, there is a scenario in which the aunt gets her fancy cake back! “That must have been on the verge of turning. Tell the sister she can have the cake back if it gives the daughter food poisoning.”
While Redditors were mad about the situation, they loved the ensuing discussion, saying the thread is “sweet enough to eat two slices of.”
“Yeah but do you have permission to eat two slices?” one person expertly asked, saving us all from another fiasco.
Before you go, check out some of Reddit’s most wicked step-parent stories.
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