We really thought Cinderella would be the end of two conniving evil stepsisters. I mean, come on, who would want to emulate that? They’re unbearably cruel, and if that isn’t enough of an incentive, they lose in the end. Earlier in the year, we found two stepsisters on the Reddit “Am I The A-hole” page who had been reading too many fairytales — “…or not enough.” The two forced their stepsister to sleep on the floor of their hotel room.
Yup, you read that right.
And with that act of malice, we once again hoped that would be the end of the trope. But no, because a-holes are everywhere, whether they be the stereotypical stepsister or otherwise.
The latest stepsister drama on Reddit involved a man’s 25- and 28-year-old stepdaughters, Monica and Leah. Their plan to abandon their 18-year-old stepsister Jessica is one of the most unbelievable things we’ve ever read. It was posted back in the spring (when we first wrote about it), but it was so wild and noteworthy that it got a special shoutout on Reddit AITA’s end-of-year recap.
The Motive
Monica and Leah are both single moms and currently live with this man and his wife (their mom) Beth. He said there have been “issues” with them asking their stepsister, Jessica, to babysit the kids often.
“Jessica didn’t have a problem with it at first since this is what she does to earn money but since her stepsisters don’t pay her much, she’d just refuse to babysit,” he wrote. “We worked this out by having my wife take care of paying for the babysitting.”
Um…weird?!
The original poster (OP) planned a 3-day vacation for the family. Monica and Leah suggested that Jessica stay home and watch the kids since their mom doesn’t want her grandkids to come. Because sometimes you just need an adult-only vacation. We get that.
“[Monica and Leah] said [Jessica should stay] because the kids are used to [her] and hiring another babysitter would cause issues,” OP wrote. “And also said that Jessica isn’t too ‘fond’ of our destination but it was obvious that Jessica wanted to go.”
“They insisted and Beth offered to pay her double and there was just … a lot of back and forth on this until I demanded they stop bringing it up.”
The Plan
Monica and Leah were not willing to let this go, so they devised a plan. When everybody was on their way, Jessica realized she didn’t have her passport. The family searched her bag and then went home and searched there. OP’s wife and stepdaughters insisted they go back to the airport so they wouldn’t miss the flight. They told the babysitter to go home now that Jessica would have to stay.
“I refused to go and kept searching until Monica admitted that she helped Leah hide Jessica’s passport to get her to stay home with the kids,” OP wrote. “I was livid. I tried to get her to tell me where it was but she said Leah had it. Leah denied it, so I threatened to cancel the vacation. That’s when they gave it back.”
*Jaw drop*
The Outcome
This man “blew up at” and “berated” his stepdaughters, and ended up canceling the vacation.
“They stayed upstairs for a while and Beth refused to speak to me,” he wrote. “She said that I punished my stepdaughters for worrying about their kids and wanting them to stay with someone they know. I got told I overreacted and ruined the trip for everybody.”
Overreacted?! Beth better buckle up and get ready for Reddit to berate her.
The Verdict
The highest-ranked comment (with 63,000 upvotes) said that OP is most definitely not the a-hole.
“I would have kicked your wife and lazy no-good stepchildren out right then and there and ended the marriage,” this Redditor said. “If they were 12 I might understand this level of entitlement and immaturity. But in their late 20s??? And WTF with your wife??? She should have roasted them for pulling this BS.”
“Yeah there is NO WAY the wife wasn’t in on this too she absolutely knew about this plan,” one person responded. “OP needs to ditch all 3 of them.”
And on and on it goes:
“I’d take the rosy glasses off and reflect on whether this person ever loved you, or if you’re just a meal ticket. She, her two almost thirty years old daughters and all of their kids live with you, along with your own barely-adult daughter. They expect free vacations, but also will actively harm your daughter to force her to do their parenting. They’re literally treating her like Cinderella … Get the f*ck away from the whole rotten bunch of them and enjoy your time with your daughter before she spreads her wings and starts a life of her own. You can’t get this time with her back if they ruin the rest of it, so take them out of the equation.”
“If the parents are sooo worried about their kids that Jessica is the only babysitter, THEY need to stay home.”
“Both of your stepdaughtes and your wife are toxic.”
“🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩.”
Reddit said it’s time to rebook a trip with just Jessica, buy her a safe to keep her valuables away from her stepsisters who are “spoiled entitled brats,” and tell them that they lost the privilege of ever having her babysit again. Honestly, all the suggestions were appropriate and reasonable. We saw none of the petty responses we are used to.
And so we have no choice but to remedy that. Here’s a plan from yours truly: “Hide” your wife and stepdaughters’ passports in the shredder. Not only will they not be able to go on vacation, but they’ll have to do the kind of paperwork that makes me want to rip my hair out.
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