You know, until today I thought the epitome of audacity was walking into a plumbing supply store, doing a number two on one of the toilets on display, and then walking up to the clerk and demanding toilet paper. Well, today my ideas about chutzpah and being entitled have been shaken – maybe yours will be too.
So today we bring you a story told by the user u/Inanarcticparadise, who has been organizing free family trips for their numerous relatives for the past twenty years – so much so that they have finally come to take it for granted. Okay, let’s just get down to business.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post has been organizing free family trips for the last two decades or so
Image credits: Documerica / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The author used to fund the tickets and accommodation themselves, and the relatives only paid for tips and whatnot
Image credits: Inanarcticparadise
Image credits: Francesca Tirico / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The only problem was the author’s nephew, who used to back out at the last minute, thus making them lose money
Image credits: Inanarcticparadise
Image credits: Amy Perez / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
So now, planning a cruise to the Galapagos, the author decided not to invite this “unreliable” guy by default
Image credits: Inanarcticparadise
The fam’s reaction was a total uproar as they even threatened to cut all ties with the “selfish” author
So, the Original Poster (OP) is apparently a fairly well-off person, since over the past two decades, they have consistently organized trips for their relatives (about a dozen people) to the most interesting corners of the world. Moreover, they themselves funded the travel and accommodation, and the relatives only paid for tips and incidentals.
Turkey and South Africa, Vietnam and Croatia, Panama, Mongolia and Iceland are examples of places where the whole family went, and all of this required long months of preparation and funding from the OP. The following year, they planned a cruise to the Galapagos – and in the process of preparation, they encountered one issue.
The issue had its own face – it was the author’s nephew, who always RSVP’d ‘Yes,’ but literally a couple of days before departure, he used to back out for a variety of, seemingly valid, reasons. Work, a family event, concert tickets – and each time it was too late for the OP to recoup the cost of his fare. So this time the author decided that by default the nephew wouldn’t be invited…
As you probably already can guess, this caused a storm of indignation from the relatives, who called the author “selfish” – and when OP, being so upset, suggested canceling the trip, they threatened to cut all ties with them. For the OP, who had been doing this for many years only out of love for the family, this was a real blow. So they took it online seeking support.
Image credits: Kateryna Hliznitsova / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
“It’s a completely outrageous story – when people get used to good things over many years, and start taking it for granted. And then, when the question arises that they might lose it, the anger is directed not at the real culprit of the situation, but at the benefactor,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. “Alas, such cases actually happen all the time.”
“What this person should’ve done is go all the way and cancel the cruise – just to let the relatives understand what they could lose over their entitlement. Because, it seems, over the decades, the family has learned to press their buttons, and now they are simply manipulating them. A reality check is needed – and the toughest one,” Irina sums up.
Well, considering that, according to the author, each relative’s trip usually cost them between $4K and $6K, then the nephew’s inconsistency actually cost them around $20K overall. In fact, people sometimes sue for much less money – and the original poster was de facto throwing this money away. So the opinions of people in the comments here were unanimous.
According to the responders, both the nephew and the other family members behaved extremely outrageously and unacceptably. “The way your family are treating you is bluntly disgraceful. They don’t deserve you & I’m so sorry you’ve been hurt over years,” someone reasonably wrote in the comments. So what do you, our dear readers, think about the described situation?
People in the comments, however, sided with the author almost unanimously, urging them to quit this practice of funding the trips at all
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