Shutterstock

Imagine deciding to buy a home in a new HOA community where there are only a few houses, and you’re the first family to move in. If one reason you chose this house was because of a few HOA rules you really liked, what would you do if your new neighbors broke every single one of those rules? Would you ignore it or report it?

In this story, one homeowner is in this situation. She doesn’t want her neighbors to be mad at her, but she also wants them to follow the rules. These aren’t picky rules like where the trash cans go or how tall the grass is either.

I’d be annoyed if my neighborhood had these rules and neighbors broke them!

Keep reading for the list of rules and the homeowner’s dilemma about what to do.

WIBTA for asking the homeowners association to enforce the rules.

We were the second family to move in and the builder also currently the representative of the homeowners association asked we sign the homeowners agreement.

I read the rules they we basic but three rules made me thrilled:

Here are the rules that stood out.

1. No basketball goals. It’s not that I hate basketball but the sound of a ball bouncing while I might want to eat outside is annoying and there is a park well within walking distance.

2. You must park in your garage or in the designated area. The is one at each end or the street.

3. No at home business that would have clients at your home.

I agreed to abide by these rules and so has everyone else by signing regardless of if they read it or not.

New neighbors broke all the rules.

So fast forward to a few months ago the third family moves in. First week they buy a basketball goal and the wife runs a nail salon out of the house.

Fortunately the basketball goal has not been an issue, but the constant parking on the street by her clients is annoying.

They tend to park right at the edge of my driveway and the road is intentionally narrow.

Yikes! Don’t they lock their front door?

Last week one of her clients walked into our house. Just came right in.

Our house is dark brown with dark brick. Their house is light with light brick and a completely different floor plan.

I wasn’t home for this but my wife was. It was a non event but still.

OP wants the neighbors to follow the rules.

The forth family has moved in they have been no issue but the fifth family has yet to park their car in the garage.

They are still moving things so I am willing to give them some grace.

Long story short there are five families. If I complain to the builder its likely to come out that it was me.

I like my neighbors but I actually like these rules and that’s why I agreed to them. I don’t care if they didn’t bother to read them they signed too. I would like the homeowners association to enforce the rules.

It sounds like only one family is a problem. The nail salon and basketball hoop both need to go.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a townhome owner who is at his wit’s end with the noise from next door.

Let’s see if Reddit agrees.

This person bashes OP for living in an HOA.

Here’s a similar comment.

But this person thinks it’s important to follow the rules.

Another person suggests how to complain.

OP is not in the wrong for wanting the HOA rules to be followed. The neighbor who is breaking all the rules is in the wrong.

Some HOAs have really annoying rules like what paint color you can use or who color flowers you can plant, but rules about parking, home businesses and basketball hoops are far from small, easy to overlook rules.

The neighbors messed up by buying a house without reading the rules. I don’t think it’s wrong to report them.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a woman who was in love with her dream house – and then spring came and her neighbor’s trees caused her to question the purchase.

The post She Bought Her Home Specifically Because of the HOA Rules — Her New Neighbors Have Already Broken Every Single One appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

Some people hold entire families together without anyone noticing how heavy the weight has gotten. They show up every week, they make the kids feel safe, they absorb the instability so the next generation doesn’t have to feel it.

A man who babysits his nieces every Sunday is in exactly that spot. Their dad is losing parental rights, so as their uncle, he’s been the constant.

But when his mom landed in the ICU, he soon found his priorities shift.

He’s depressed, drained, and soon faced with the obligation of attending the older niece’s birthday later the same week.

He doesn’t want to cancel, but he also doesn’t want to have to pretend he’s okay.

Keep reading for the full story.

WIBTAH if I canceled on my nieces for the second week in a row?

I (27M) grab my nieces (5 and 7) every Sunday and we all have family fun day.

But then a family emergency rearranged his priorities.

I canceled last week because my mom was in the ICU. My excuse was not having the emotional bandwidth.

I love those kids, but they are work.

The timing just didn’t match up at all.

This week is extra special because we were gonna celebrate the older one’s birthday.

Their dad (my brother) is having his parental rights terminated and I don’t want to add more instability to their lives.

He’s also dealing with a lot caring for his mom.

My mom left the ICU today but she’s still on oxygen support and can barely move her limbs.

She’s so confused. She keeps asking me when we are gonna leave and getting mad and frustrated when I tell her it isn’t up to me.

She doesn’t understand where she is or what’s going on. She keeps asking for things I can’t do like giving her water or helping her up.I just feel emotionally drained. I’m so depressed.

He doesn’t think he can put all of this aside to babysit again.

I am sure I could fake it for the kids’ sake, but I don’t want to.

Is this one of those “man up” moments? AITA if I cancel?

It sounds like this man is in an impossible situation.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who abandoned their own D&D campaign when their friends stopped paying attention.

What did Reddit have to say?

This man needs to cut himself a lot more slack.

This user agrees he should put his mother first right now.

You can’t pour from an empty cup.

His own mental health should be an important priority.

Kids are perceptive enough to know when an adult is faking it, and they’re resilient enough to handle a rescheduled birthday when the reason is honest and the love is consistent.

This uncle has given them consistency every single week. He’s the one who shows up. He’s the one who made Sunday mean something in their lives when their own father was absent.

Missing one more week while his mother is in the hospital isn’t going to undo that, and pushing through while he’s this depleted might actually do more harm than good.

Children feel the energy of the adults around them, and bringing depression and emotional exhaustion into a birthday celebration isn’t the gift he thinks he owes them.

The real gift is the uncle who takes care of himself so he can keep being the person they count on.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man whose celebratory post-grad school vacation is being ruined by his family’s insistence he’s being lazy.

The post “There is Nothing Left to Give”: Overwhelmed Man Left Helpless as Sunday Babysitting Duties and a Mother’s Medical Emergency Collide appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Shutterstock

Some countries are very generous with their maternity leave policies for pregnant women. The United States is not one of them.

What would you do if you were pregnant but worked for a company that didn’t provide any paid maternity leave?

That’s the situation the woman in this story finds herself in. She has an idea about how to try to get a couple weeks of paid maternity leave, if her bosses will go for it, but she’s not sure if it’s a good idea or not.

Keep reading for all the details.

WIBTA If I (Salaried) Used My “OT” To Negotiate 2 Weeks Paid Maternity Leave?

I’m struggling with a moral quandary as I prepare to discuss the logistics of my impending maternity leave with my bosses. Some background info…

I work in the USA and the size of the company I work for is very small (husband/wife owners, one coworker).

There is no maternity leave policy in place.

Here’s some more context about where she works.

Now, I work customer service and thankfully the end of the year/holidays is actually extremely slow for the office.

They should hire someone else, we need a 3rd in the office in general, but if I was going to miss work for more than a week it’s the best time of the year for me to do it.

Another thing of note is that despite being salaried my coworker and I must clock in and out every day.

We currently get all of the negatives of hourly work (clocking in and micromanaging of our hours) and all of the negatives of salary (no overtime pay).

She has worked quite a bit of overtime.

I sat down this morning, curious, and checked my hours for the whole year. On average I work 42.7 hours a week and have worked 88.4 hours ‘overtime’ so far.

I’m very seriously considering asking for the following for my maternity leave, despite the fact that I only have 3 PTO days left, due to these numbers.

My plan is to start by asking them what sort of paid leave options there are, I do not want to be aggressive or rude.

Here is what she’s thinking about suggesting.

• 2 Weeks PTO
• 1 Week UTO & 1 Week Remote Work (Will not be able to answer phones, but this is the LOWEST call volume of the year and we don’t get that many calls. I can still do most of my job.)
  -or-
  2 Weeks Remote Work (Will not be able to answer phones, but this is the LOWEST call volume of the year and we don’t get that many calls. I can still do most of my job.)
• Return to Work Full Time.

She’s not sure if her suggestion is a good idea or not.

I’m not sure if this is an awful move. I’m salaried, and working 42 hours a week isn’t an absurd or unreasonable suggestion.

I’m trying to impact them as little as I can. I have to work for my husband and I to pay our bills, so taking a bunch of unpaid time off isn’t an option for us.

But… It’s a small business. They’re not offering paid maternity leave because there are basically 2 people (including me) that work here.

She needs advice.

I’m not a perfect employee. (My job always gets done, but I’m posting this at my desk.)

Additionally, I will be getting a new job and leaving as soon as I can beginning 2020.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman whose HR department advised her to quit if she was that unhappy, so she did and found herself in a role reversal years later.

So, reddit, WIBTA if I use the “overtime” I have worked this year to negotiate paid maternity leave for two weeks?

It’s too bad there’s no paid maternity leave. Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

A business owner has a question and a suggestion.

This person wishes her luck.

This person thinks her idea is a good one.

Everyone is rooting for her.

It’s awful that she can’t take more time off. Even two weeks isn’t enough. She deserves more time to bond with her baby before having to focus on work again.

I hope she gets the time off though.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who works fast and helps her coworkers, but is met with disapproval from her supervisor because of this practice

The post Her Company Has No Paid Maternity Leave Policy — She’s Pregnant and Thinking About Asking for It Anyway appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Shutterstock

How long08 is too long to claim an abandoned DoorDash order as your own?

It’s one of life’s great mysteries…

But I think most of us can agree that several hours is okay.

Like I said, MOST of us…

But not the woman who this college student is beefin’ with!

Check out what she had to say about what happened after she ate some food from Taco Bell that didn’t belong to her.

AITA for eating a DoorDash order that was delivered to my house by mistake?

“I’m 18f living alone for college.

Two nights ago around 10 pm, I opened my front door to push a lizard out of my house. When I did, I saw that there is a DoorDash Taco Bell order waiting outside.

I checked the receipt and it said it was ordered at 7:32 pm, and also saw the name of the person who ordered it. I left it outside for now because my community has a group chat that all the neighbors are in, so I sent a quick text informing them there was a Taco Bell order outside my house for the name.

She was only trying to help…

After about 2 hours I was about to go to bed and nobody responded so I took the order inside my house so it wouldn’t go bad.

The next day, I went to school and came back around the evening. I was hungry and was about to cook dinner until I realized I still had the Taco Bell order. I was contemplating whether to eat it or not but checked the group chat to see if someone had hopefully responded.

Don’t let any food go to waste!

Nobody did, so I decided to eat it (I’m Asian and grew up being taught never to throw food unless it went bad, i know it’s definitely not a smart choice but i made sure to check it was safe and I didn’t get food poisoning).

It was around 8:30 pm now, over 24 hours since the person ordered it. I figured most people wouldn’t want it by now anyway so I ate some of it (it was a relatively large order with 5 items, I ate 2).

The next day though, I woke up to a bunch of notifications from a lady with the same name as the order. I checked to see her saying the order was hers. I texted her saying sorry but I did eat it.

This is ridiculous…

She then got really upset saying how it’s rude to eat other people’s food and teenagers have no respect etc.

I told her I didn’t want to throw it away and I was hungry. She got even more upset, insulting my parents for not raising me right. She was still really mad and I don’t like conflict so I was just like okay, sorry, I can give you the 3 items i haven’t eaten yet.

She was furious asking why I think she would ever accept food from a stranger and how gross I am. I told her I didn’t touch it and i’m not forcing her to take it, it’s just an offer.

Wow…

She said she doesn’t want the food but is demanding compensation. The order is like $40 and I honestly don’t think it’s fair that I pay since she didn’t respond for at least 24 hours. I told her that and she called me a jerk for making up a 24 hour rule.

I guess she’s right. I drew the 24 hour line even though that could be subjective; some people might’ve waited a week for a response while others might’ve waited an hour before eating it.

I’m unsure if 24 hours really is unreasonable like she says.

Now I feel kinda guilty, and I started wondering if maybe I’m in the wrong. She’s still constantly demanding the money back but my dad is really mad and told me to just block her and he wants to come over this weekend to tell her to stop.

I don’t want her to think iI’m a jerk or that I’m a baby needing my dad to step in, but I also don’t really want to pay considering I’m kinda broke.

AITA?

What would you guys do if you were in my position?”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a lifeguard who told one child they were too short for the slide, but struggled to convince them to follow the rules.

Reddit users spoke up.

This person said she’s NTA.

Another reader agreed.

This individual spoke up.

Another person had a lot to say.

And this reader also said she’s NTA.

She didn’t do anything wrong, folks!

Well, at least that’s my humble opinion.

All this fuss over a simple Taco Bell order…

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who volunteered to help promote a church event for free, then was surprised to find she had to still pay admission to get in.

The post “You Ate My Chalupa!”: Furious Neighbor Confronts a Woman and Demands a Payout for Eating a Mistakenly Delivered Fast-Food Order appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

If something is bad enough to call someone sobbing and describe as “Dateline level,” it should be bad enough to actually say out loud.

You don’t call someone in hysterics, tell them something horrific happened, refuse to explain, and then get offended when they can’t guarantee they’ll be available for a callback two hours later.

One man is trying to figure out if he’s in the wrong after his friend called him crying, then flipped a switch the second he said he might miss a call because he was out bar hopping with friends.

He still doesn’t know what happened, and at this point he’s not sure if it was a genuine crisis or just a test of his loyalty.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITAH for not taking my friends “dateline level” situation serious

I’m 30M and have a friend who is 30F. We’ve known each other since high school and she moved out of state.

We hang out fairly infrequently and hook up some.

Lately the two have grown apart, which made the following story even more puzzling.

We have been in a weird spot where we don’t talk much lately.

The one night I go out with a group of friends she calls me and leaves a voice message crying and freaking out.

So he calls her back and his friend is really upset.

I call her back and she says something horrible has happened. She’s said it’s a “Dateline level” situation and she can’t tell me because it’s “so bad.”

She knows I’ve been front and center for a lot of traumatic things. Yet she framed her situation this way.

But she wasn’t forthcoming at all about the actual details.

And she would NOT tell me what was happening.

I asked if anyone was dead and she said no. And then she just kept saying she couldn’t tell me while crying.

So it was honestly frustrating and annoying.

She continues to needlessly drag the whole thing out.

And at the end of the call she said, “I’ll call you back in a while and tell you, can you answer?”

I said I’m out with a big group and we are bar hopping, there is a chance I miss a phone call but text me.

So when he hears from her again, her demeanor changed dramatically.

She goes from sobbing to very distinctly saying, “Okay never mind then.”

Basically am I the AH for not taking this seriously??

I have texted her multiple times today and still have no idea what the actual situation was.

Sounds like this friend really just wanted some attention.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a middle schooler who was totally frazzled after being left to babysit alone for 3-plus hours, and swears she’s never doing it again.

What did Reddit have to say?

This redditor would have told it exactly like it was.

Surely this friend knows better than to behave this way.

Maybe this friend found someone else to feed her dramatic story to.

It’s likely she’s just upset he didn’t give her the reaction she was hoping for.

Telling someone who’s witnessed real-life tragedies that your situation is “Dateline level” and then refusing to share a single detail puts the other person in an impossible position.

He can’t help if he doesn’t know what’s wrong. He can’t calibrate his response if the only information he has is “something bad” wrapped in tears.

He did everything a reasonable person could do with what he was given: he called back, he listened, he asked direct questions, and he offered to stay reachable.

The fact that she went from hysterical to dismissive the moment he couldn’t promise perfect availability suggests the call was less about the crisis and more about just needing attention.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man whose friends say he’s privileged for wanting to eat at nicer restaurants.

The post His Friend Called Him Sobbing About a Major Crisis — Refused to Say What — Then Completely Switched Up When He Didn’t Play Along appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

The thing about serial workplace bullies is that they never pick a fair fight. They don’t go after the senior leader with connections or the employee with a union rep.

They go after the person nobody will defend, and they do it so methodically that by the time anyone notices, the target has already quit and the narrative has been rewritten.

A freelancer watched this happen in real time at a nonprofit over two years. The boss she reported to always had one person in her sights, and the selection criteria was always the same: whoever was the most isolated, the newest, or the least protected.

So when the freelancer finally had the guts to push back, she became the next person to go.

The ex-employee begins to wonder what she could do to finally break this toxic cycle.

Keep reading for the full story.

My old boss bullied people one at a time, and every time someone quit she just moved to the next victim. Nobody stopped her.

I freelanced for this nonprofit for like two years and honestly it took me embarrassingly long to see how messed up their playbook was.

This employee sums up her main complaint about being employed there.

So the woman I reported to, she always had one person she was going after. Like there was always a target, and once that person finally broke and quit or got pushed out, she just moved onto the next one.

The more she reflects on it, the more she picks up on a pattern.

And looking back it was so obviously never random. It was always whoever was the most isolated, like the junior hire or the remote contractor, or even at one point lol someone who was literally off on sick leave.

And it was the same playbook essentially. She’d make you look stupid in meetings, screw around with your pay, and literally break employment law, which is incredibly insane.

This boss would always pick what she considered “easy targets”

Nobody really did anything because the people she picked were the people with ZERO leverage, no one above her willing to step in.

I was the one dumb enough to actually push back lol. And shocker, they soon “moved in another direction” lol.

She thinks this woman should have been fired a long time ago, but she’s starting to feel powerless.

Anyway, this person’s still there. And that’s ticking me off.

Also, I was working from another country so there’s basically nothing I can do legally even if I wanted to, and meanwhile she’s just sat there still doing the exact same thing to some new person right now as I type this.

She starts brainstorming how to finally hold this boss accountable.

So I guess what I’m actually asking, what the heck can I do?

I was thinking of writing to the board but will that even do anything? I just don’t wanna waste my time.

Oh also, a couple other people have said that they’d write something too, so it wouldn’t be just me.

The sooner this workplace can wise up and get rid of this bully, the better.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who volunteered to help promote a church event for free, then was surprised to find she had to still pay admission to get in.

Reddit is sure to have an idea or two.

The “safety in numbers” philosophy definitely applies here.

This disgruntled employee regrets not taking a chance to speak up.

This commenter prefers to take a more subtle approach.

That being said, banding together with other employees could be an effective strategy to finally bring about some justice.

This toxic boss still has her job precisely because every person she’s targeted has done the same thing: absorbed the damage, left, and moved on.

That’s the brilliance of picking the most vulnerable person on the team. They don’t have the energy, the leverage, or the connections to fight back after they’re already out.

But this scorned employee is ready to do whatever it takes to topple this oppressive system.

A letter to the board breaks that silence, and doing it collectively breaks it in a way that’s impossible to write off as one person’s grudge.

This boss has been untouchable for far too long, but that’s all about to change.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person whose colleague expected them to help pay for 11 elaborate birthday cakes they never agreed to buy.

The post She Watched Her Nonprofit Boss Target the Most Vulnerable People on Her Team for Two Years — When She Finally Said Something She Was Fired appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Shutterstock

Imagine happily living in an apartment building when some new neighbors move in. You’re friendly to them and try to be good neighbors.

But then their teenage son makes a mistake that you have to report to the landlord.

What would you do if the neighbors turned on you and started intentionally making your life more difficult, even lying about you to the landlord?

That’s the situation the couple in this story finds themselves in, and they’re pretty frustrated by the drama! They don’t want to be at war with their neighbors, but their neighbors keep doing things that are beyond irritating.

Keep reading for all the drama.

Neighbor is trying to start a parking war with me.

My upstairs neighbor moved in at the beginning of October last year (One mom and her two teenage kids).

We were nothing but respectful and kind to them since they moved in (Let them take the larger parking space in front of the yard since we only have one vehicle and they were a family, tried to introduce our dog so he could familiarize himself, took care of their trash bins when I was able to, salted our driveway during the winter)

Just trying to be a good neighbor since Ive had some pretty miserable experiences in the past and only wanted positive interactions with them.

Things got bad when the teenager was left home alone.

There were minor annoyances here and there (leaving the gate to the yard and doors open, taking up a majority of the space in shared areas, heavy steps and loud music late at night) but they were all things I could ignore.

The adult of the house wasn’t present for a week and the older teenager was left alone which led to loud noises late at night the entire week, trash being thrown out their window, and the door that sits in front of our parking space being left open while we had 30 mile per hour winds which resulted in the door breaking off the hinges and being wedged in between the front bumper of my car and the wall.

This was the first time I had to text the landlord for some assistance and he sent somebody over that day to fix the door and told them they needed to make sure doors were closed.

There was no serious damage to my car (my front plate took the brunt of it) but thats when the neighbors began (almost intentionally) giving us problems.

Here are a couple examples of annoying things the neighbors did.

It started with them not leaving any space for me to move the bins for trash and recycling.

I was fed up with this so I began only bringing out our bins when their car wasnt in the way.

Then a second vehicle belonging to one of their frequent guests (GMC 1500 so it took up a ton of room) began parking behind them and making our spot more difficult to park in especially on garbage days.

My frustration with this truck culminated in me returning home and seeing the truck idle in my space. I patiently waited for a few minutes for them to move before honking and getting an extremely passive aggressive glare from the driver.

Now the neighbors are lying!

A week later the landlord forwards me a text from them complaining that our dog barks everytime they make any noise and is left home alone for many hours everyday.

This was simply not true and the landlord knew it too, I work from home so I’m with the dog all day, the few times both of us are away from home its not for more than 4-5 hours and more often than not the dog comes with us.

Despite this, I still put forth the effort to keep the dog in the back half of our apartment when we aren’t home to reduce his exposure to them entering or exiting the apartment.

This was matched with them continuing to increase their volume almost as if their goal was to trigger our dog to start barking.

The drama continues…

All of this behavior led to my breaking point the last couple of days.

I was able to take our trash out but the next morning wasnt able to return the bins since their vehicle was in the way. I

left all of them in front of the house and left for a few hours, when I returned their cans were back in the yard but ours were on the side of the road with the path to the yard still blocked.

I moved the bins as close as I could to the yard to try and make sure they weren’t damaged any further, but this would put them dangerously close to my car.

This sounds so frustrating!

I secured them as best as I could and took photos so the landlord could see my problem if I needed to get him involved.

Next morning, I went to leave and the path was still blocked (they also moved the cars around since in that time) with the bins now being turned over even closer to my car (luckily no damage).

It was at this point I decided to get the landlord involved. He told them our problem and in return was sent assurance that the path would be clear from now on.

But that didn’t happen.

Well, 24 hours later the path is still not clear and the bins continue to sit in our yard.

I’m planning on getting the landlord involved again but Im so frustrated with these neighbors.

We love our space and our landlord is incredibly fair so it would be a shame to have to move due to the behavior of people who moved in after us.

What horrible neighbors!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about some renters who moved out and left their apartment in the same state of disarray they’d found it in when they moved in.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Here’s some good advice.

Another person agrees that they need to keep reporting the neighbors to the landlord.

Here’s a suggestion of what to say to the landlord.

Another person suggests cameras.

It really is getting to the point where the landlord has to decide whether he wants to keep the good tenants or the bad tenants because if he doesn’t do anything to make the bad tenants stop their bad behavior, the good tenants will eventually decide to move out.

It’s really sad when neighbors turn on you.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got creative with his parking after his neighbors started using his extra spot without asking.

The post “We Tried to Help Them!”: Terrified Couple Left Reeling After Their New Neighbors Turn on Them and Launch a Smear Campaign to the Landlord appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

Sometimes, the person everyone depends on is the one who needs a break the most.

This 19-year-old recently found herself in that situation after spending years helping care for both of her parents and taking on responsibilities most kids never have to think about.

In the past, she never complained about stepping up when her family needed her.

This time, though, she had her own exams, housing issues, and a recent breakup to deal with all at once.

So, when her aunt asked her to take her mother to a doctor’s appointment that conflicted with her university schedule, she finally said no.

But rather than understanding, her aunt called her selfish for refusing to help.

Keep reading to see how it all played out.

Aitah for not wanting to take my mom to her doctors appointment

I (19F) have been my mom’s caretaker since I was 12. I took care of my dad up until he died and took care of my mom after he died.

I have been labeled the “secretary” since I was 12, while my twin got to go off and have fun.

I’ve done a lot of things like dealing with lawyers, figuring out finances, and dealing with medical stuff that I should not have had to do at that age.

Her aunt wants her to attend the doctor’s appointment.

Recently, my mom (diabetic) let her blood sugar get low, and she collapsed into my arms, where I took her blood sugar and got her stable.

I informed my family of this, and my aunt is trying to get me more involved in her medical care. She has been asking me questions about my mom’s medical history and trying to make me research and purchase medical equipment for her.

She told me she wants me to go to the doctor with my mom because she’s worried that she “won’t be able to communicate with the doctor” and “there may be a language barrier,” despite my mom seeing this doctor for years without issue and being fully able to communicate.

She already has way too much going on.

The problem, for me, is that it’s on a day that I have an appointment and an exam for university.

Also, I recently went through a breakup, have been struggling with getting approved for my apartment so I can continue school, have exams all week, and have been dealing with my own stuff, so I’m very stressed.

All I asked of my aunt was for me to stay out of it and have her take care of it because I have a lot going on. She called me selfish and told me that plenty of 19-year-olds go through this or worse and that I am overreacting. But I know that the more I help out, the more expectations there will be of me.

Now, she’s really stressed.

I have been helping in my own way. I am always monitoring my mom, making sure she is taking her meds, etc. I’m pretty much her caregiver to make sure she doesn’t die. And my family pushes it all onto me because I’m a girl, it’s convenient, and I’m responsible.

All I wanted was a break.

Under normal circumstances, I would have no problem getting involved, but at this moment, when my education and housing are on the line and I’m recovering from a breakup that happened not long ago, it’s a lot.

AITA?

Eek! It sounds like this young lady has way too much on her plate.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who stirred up family drama by finally choosing her own mom over her in-laws.

Let’s see if the people over at Reddit have any suggestions on how to handle this.

Hopefully, this doesn’t happen.

Great point.

For this reader, it’s all about setting boundaries.

As this person points out, caring for a family member is stressful.

It’s easy to feel sorry for the mom, and hopefully she gets the care she needs.

However, expecting one child to carry this kind of responsibility since she was 12 years old just isn’t fair.

The rest of the family needs to step up instead of assuming she’ll always be the one to handle everything, especially when her own future is on the line.

And, most importantly, saying no this one time doesn’t make her selfish. It simply means she finally recognized that she can’t keep putting everyone else’s needs ahead of her own forever.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a middle schooler who was totally frazzled after being left to babysit alone for 3-plus hours, and swears she’s never doing it again.

The post The Cost of Childhood Caregiving: Why a College Student’s Fight for Her Own Future Sparked a Toxic Family Finger-Pointing Campaign appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

Every workplace has meetings that go off the rails, but there’s something uniquely painful about watching a room full of senior leaders burn high-value time on hypotheticals.

An employee supporting a hiring panel for a high-level job opening watched as committee started speculating wildly about why a candidate withdrew, building theories on assumptions that were more rooted in gossip than evidence.

The unprofessional loop kept going until the employee calmly redirected the conversation.

But later that day, he started wondering if he crossed a line.

Keep reading for the full story.

AITAH for shutting down a debate during a senior-level hiring meeting?

I work in a senior executive recruitment and advisory role. Recently, I was supporting a hiring panel for a high-level position.

He describes who all was in attendance.

The meeting included the executive Chair (the ultimate decision-maker/owner of the process), a senior HR leader, and a committee of senior leaders at the institution.

During the meeting, the topic of a candidate who had recently withdrawn came up.

The meeting quickly went from professional to personal.

3 committee members started speculating heavily about why this person withdrew, making a lot of assumptions, such as, “Oh, they are friends with so and so so he must have posted he was interviewing and it scared him off.” (The Chair said, “Oh, he withdrew before interview invites went out.”)

Another committee member and I both felt this speculation was getting very one-sided and not respecting the person who chose to withdraw.

That wasn’t the only annoying part.

To make matters worse, based on this speculation, the committee began wildly over-complicating a minor logistical detail regarding the interview day schedule.

They started saying things like, “Oh, both candidates same day? What if they bump into each other?” Even another panel member said, “Oh, we can get someone to chaperone them.”

Despite this, the committee kept debating it.

So this employee spoke up to get the meeting back on track.

Seeing that we were completely stuck in a loop and wasting high-value time, I stepped in. Quite matter-of-factly and calmly, I said to the room:

“I’ll let the Chair tell me what to do on that.”

The room immediately went quiet and the committee backed off. The meeting finally got back on track.

Luckily, others in the room rewarded his professionalism.

Right after I said it, one of the other panel members caught my eye and smiled at me.

In the moment, it felt like a necessary boundary to protect the meeting’s efficiency and reinforce the Chair’s authority.

But later he started to second-guess himself.

However, because I was speaking directly to a room of very senior stakeholders, my anxiety kicked in later making me worry if my delivery was too blunt.

AITAH for shutting down their debate like that?

This employee took a bit of a risk, but it seems like it paid off in the end.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a person who spent nearly 3 decades climbing the ladder at work only to be fired in a meeting that lasted less than a minute.

What did Reddit have to say?

It’s possible this employee just said out loud what everyone else was thinking.

Candidates backing out is pretty commonplace in this day and age.

This employee was only doing his duty.

This user agrees these topics didn’t warrant such intense speculation.

The anxiety he’s feeling is just the tax that comes with being effective in a room where you’re not the most senior person.

He spoke up because someone needed to, and the other panelist who smiled at him sent him an important message that he did the right thing.

Because at the end of the day, the committee wasn’t having a productive discussion.

Gossip should have no place in the hiring process.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman whose HR department advised her to quit if she was that unhappy, so she did and found herself in a role reversal years later.

The post “You’re Being Unprofessional”: Brave Employee Shuts Down a Room Full of Senior Leaders Gossiping Over a Ruined Job Interview appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Shutterstock

HOAs are notorious for having very picky rules, that’s why it’s important to read through them before buying a house. Otherwise, you might accidentally violate the rules and have to pay a lot of fees and pay to have things changed to fit the guidelines.

In this story, one HOA community has a rule that all the mailboxes have to be black. One homeowner didn’t know that was a rule, and her teenage son replaced their mailbox with a white mailbox.

Don’t think this didn’t go unnoticed by the HOA! There’s actually a guy that drives around the neighborhood just to look for HOA violations!

Keep reading to find out what happened when the HOA member saw the white mailbox. It’s pretty dramatic!

WIBTAH for reporting a HOA member to the board for yelling at my friend about a Mailbox color violation on my property?

I (19m) and mom live in a hoa community that dictates the color of mailboxes (they must be black).

While I recently had to put a new one in after the door broke off our old one.

While I did not know about the rule and put in a white mailbox.

This neighbor sounds annoying.

Fast forward to this afternoon, a retired man who lives in the neighborhood recently volunteered to help the board enforce violations.

He does a drive every few weeks to check up on houses.

Well today he went down my street as my friend(19m) pulled in the drive to work with me in my basement. he texts me he is here.

This neighbor needs to back off!

Before he made it up to my door the friend told me the HOA dude walks up to him and starts to ask him questions, says he is in direct violation of a hoa code.

My friend tells him he does not live their and hoa dude does not buy it.

Its been a few minutes now, so I assume I forgot to unlock the door and hes stuck outside.

When I open the door I hear HOA dude pulling the “do you know who I am card.” Hes raising his voice, when I but in, also not knowing much about him.

It’s not like it’s a hard problem to solve.

He goes off about the mailbox to me and how its making the neighborhood look bad.

I told him im unaware of it and will talk to my mom about painting it when she gets off work.

His tone shifted their.

He legitimately thought 2 19 year old kids owned a 300k+ house, had no idea my mom owned it.

At least the neighbor realized he must have sounded crazy.

Things than go full bonkers mode.

Dude started to cover his tracks to me saying that my friend was the one with the attitude and sarcastically answering questions and was “full of nonsense”.

In reality my friend was confused on why some dude approached him talking about a mailbox.

He calls us “violators” and leaves.

We both just laughed.

OP is thinking about reporting the neighbor.

I asked my mom on what to do and she said its up to me since im adult now.

Im leaning towards reporting the guy due to his condescending tone, unprofessional behavior and raising his voice at my friend who was genuinely just very confused about whats going on. I dont think he even knows what a HOA is.

My friend and I joked about it once he left but still I dont want another person in our neighborhood to get yelled at like that.

I wish one of us had taken a video to show as evidence of behavior, most of the board is actually quite reasonable so I could see him getting kicked out if I do report him. so WIBTAH for reporting his behavior.

Without evidence, I’m not sure reporting him will do any good.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got creative with his parking after his neighbors started using his extra spot without asking.

Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

This person thinks reporting him would be pointless.

But this person thinks it would be a good idea to report him.

Yet another person thinks there’s no point in reporting him.

But this person suggests reporting him.

The comments were definitely split. While nobody thinks it would be a bad thing to report him, about half of the commenters don’t think there would be any point in reporting him.

I would probably suggest reporting him. It may not help anything, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea. Maybe there are other reports about the same neighbor, and if enough people report him when he does something crazy, maybe there will eventually be consequences.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a homeowner who responded to an HOA violation letter by investigating the bylaws and having the whole board removed.

The post An HOA Board Member Yelled at Her Friend Over a Mailbox Color — Now She’s Ready to Report Him appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Pexels/Reddit

A motorcycle alarm going off during your shift is already stressful.

So one hotel employee was shocked to walk outside to find his bike physically turned around by a hotel guest who decided his parking spot was free game.

So, like anyone, this employee spoke up to try and defend his property. But instead of defending his staff, his awful boss decided to throw him under the bus for “being rude to the customer.”

Feeling doubly disrespected, this employee decided the job just wasn’t worth it anymore and quit on the spot.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

Quitting my job because i didn’t want some random dude to touch my motorcycle

I’m a student and I work full time. I saved up all my money for 6 months to get my motorcycle.

I work at a 3 star boutique-like hotel. B shift.

He starts describing a shift that went a little off the rails.

About a week ago some guy that stays at the hotel now and again called the front desk phone and I answered. He told me that he wanted to walk in for two rooms with his corporate coworkers.

I said okay, I have available rooms. And then I asked him if he’s going to pay when he checks in or is he going to send the payment from the bank, because some corporate guests do that too.

Immediately, this customer was giving off some red flags.

He started saying stuff like, “Well okay I will pay when I get there, what’s the big deal,” and I got a little irritated by his tone and still didn’t say anything. I said okay, good evening and I hung up.

That’s when things went from bad to worse.

An hour later, I heard my bike’s alarm going off. I went outside and I saw my parallel parked bike facing me, instead of facing left.

The said corporate dude was trying to push and move it so he could park his car on my spot.

The employee gets really upset with him.

I told him, “Why would you touch my bike, if you just told me I’d move it myself, man,” and I just removed the tire disc lock and moved the bike myself.

He walked inside the hotel, started arguing with me. He said stuff like,

“It’s not like I scratched your Lamborghini or something.”

But this customer is totally missing the point.

I mean, for ****’s sake man, I’m 20 years old and the bike is all I got.
When the bike talk was finally over, I asked him if he wanted to pay in cash or card. He told me that he’ll pay tomorrow morning.

I remembered what he said on the phone, and I said, “No, I’ll take it now,” just to **** with him.

He later on apologised to me. I told him that it was okay.

But then the boss got involved.

Everything was fine until my boss came up to me later that day and started giving me a lecture about “having a kind temperament towards people.”

So the employee defended himself.

I told him that the guy crossed a line and I refuse to learn a lesson from what happened right after I protected my property, and I told him that he never supports me on stuff like these.

The boss fires back with some retorts of his won.

He told me that I never appreciate the good things he’s allowing us to do (casual clothing, smoke breaks anytime we want, studying and watching stuff on the computer when we’re free) and that I always try and find the negative things to complain about.

He told me that if I keep acting this way he’ll ban me from smoking and doing stuff on the computer.

That’s when this employee decided this job just wasn’t worth it anymore.

When he said this, something switched in my head and I wrote my resignation on the spot.

I told him that I will divide my meal break and smoke whenever I want while I do my notice.

Do you guys think I did the right thing? Am I overreacting?

Sounds like it’s time to find a better job.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.

What did Reddit have to say?

This user postulates that certain industries have higher concentrations of difficult customers than others.

Ultimately, quitting is this employee’s prerogative.

Maybe this employee should have threatened to get the cops involved.

If it were this person, they would have actually stepped up and done something.

A reasonable boss would have noticed the red flags with this customer from the start. The rude attitude, the dodging of payment, the mistreatment of a staff’s property.

But instead, the boss decided to fall back on the lazy trope that “the customer is always right,” likely just because this was the path of least resistance.

This employee knew better though. He knew he deserved a job that didn’t leave him feel routinely disrespected, not only by the customer, but by his own boss.

The customer isn’t always right — in fact, sometimes they’re downright wrong.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who volunteered to help promote a church event for free, then was surprised to find she had to still pay admission to get in.

The post “Keep Your Job!”: Hotel Worker Resigns on the Spot After Boss Demands He Apologize to a Guest Who Literally Hijacked His Motorcycle appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Shutterstock

It’s pretty disheartening when you go out of your way to help people out…

And they repay that kindness by taking advantage of you.

But this is nothing new, folks!

We hear stories like this all the time.

In today’s story, a man who really went above and beyond to help out some friends explained why he’s annoyed with his friends.

Check out what he had to say about this.

AITA – recurrent unexpected house guests.

“I have two friends that are in their early 30s, they live with one of their parents in a mobile home, one friend works the other does not.

In February of this year the pipes froze at their mobile home, they asked if they could come stay with me for the weekend while they sorted out the situation.

Uh oh…you know where this is going…

I agreed, a weekend turned into 10 days.

During the time they stayed with me they did not purchase any food, and relied on me to provide them with food as well as a place to stay.

Neither of these friends drives or owns a vehicle, the working friend had me take them to work many times and pick them up as well, and the other friend needed rides to doctor’s appointments.

I work full-time but I moved things around to accommodate.

We all need some alone time…

I have a long distance romantic partner who comes and visits every 6 to 8 weeks, we had a pre-arranged weekend, and ultimately I told these friends that they needed to sort out other arrangements so that my partner could come visit me as we had previously scheduled weeks in advance.

The friends got a hotel for the weekend and still were having plumbing issues the following week, I went over to their mobile home I sorted out that their heat tape had trip to GFCI and was not functioning. I found that the valve from the main water line had frozen open and cracked.

I took the friends and their parent to the hardware store where they purchased a new valve and I installed it and I got their water working ( I am not a plumber). During this time the parent had been staying in a hotel.

These people sound totally helpless.

Fast forward to last week on Monday and I get a lot of panicked calls around 7:00 p.m., apparently the mobile home had caught fire, and that they needed a place to stay. I drove over and spoke with the fire department who was still on site and it was very clear that even though the structure was still standing it was a total loss.

I took these friends in again but as I have my long distance partner coming up this coming weekend, something that we had scheduled about 6 weeks ago.

I made it very clear that this coming Friday is it, they have to have other arrangements by then.

When I took them in they only had the clothes on their back I gave them some spare clothing provided them spare toiletries because they had nothing, and took them to the pharmacy so that they could get their medications refilled due to the fire.

What else can he possibly do for these folks?!?!

This time they have been purchasing groceries, but I made it clear that I’m unable to take the working friend to work this time due to my increased workload at my day job. Their parent has been picking them up and taking them to work.

In February the increased costs of food from them staying with me caused extreme strain to my budget, this current visit is also causing a strain on my budget but less so because I get more overtime opportunities in the summer months.

I know these our circumstances beyond their control, AITA for setting clear deadlines on when they need to have other arrangements set up?”

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about some renters who moved out and left their apartment in the same state of disarray they’d found it in when they moved in.

Check out what folks had to say on Reddit.

This person said they’re NTA.

Another reader weighed in.

This Reddit user shared their thoughts.

Another individual spoke up.

And this person weighed in.

I think this guy has done just about enough for these fellas, don’t you?

He needs to cut them off.

It’s time they learn a lesson!

This situation is now completely out of hand!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who got creative with his parking after his neighbors started using his extra spot without asking.

The post Their Neighbor Keeps Harassing Them and Stirring Up Drama — and Nobody Can Figure Out Why appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Shutterstock

While at work, it is important to remain professional at all times, but sometimes you have a coworker who is either awkward or downright creepy, which can make it difficult to know how to react.

What would you do if an older guy at work kept following you around and just staring at you or asking odd questions even though he had no reason to be doing that?

The young woman in this story had that happen to her, and while it is making her very uncomfortable, she doesn’t want to react or cause problems with her job.

Personally, I think she needs to either tell the guy to leave her alone or, better yet, ask a manager to step in and have that conversation. Read on to get the full details of the story and see how you think she should handle it.

Creepy Coworker

I am 17f and theres a coworker I just met for the first time maybe a week ago and he is maybe 30m.

Ok, let’s see what this guy is doing.

I dont think he is new but it is my first time seeing him and also working with him. So, this coworker is fairly chill and he doesnt really talk much, until he starts doing slightly unusual things I guess?

So, first time I am meeting and working with him, I go to the back of the store to grab some things and like its chill and nobody is back there.

Some people have no concept of personal space.

Out of nowhere, (he is supposed to be running our station while im back there) and he shows up, I am in between shelving and he is just standing right there outside the shelf staring at me, and then he walks in and asks me what I need.

So, I got what I needed but he just watches me open the box and leans in towards me and is in my personal space,(for no reason because he isnt doing anything) then he walks away after I crouch down to open the box to get away from him.. like alright, weird but whatever.

Maybe this guy has a crush on her, but doesn’t know how to handle it.

Maybe a week goes by and I am working with him again but on different stations. This time things kinda get weirder.

So, he always ends up on my station somehow. He either is grabbing something from under me for no reason, just randomly opening drawers in my station for no reason, and he throws away trash on my side.

This would be very uncomfortable.

He would come to my side to throw away trash constantly and when my coworker came to take out the trash, it was to the point thag my side was full, and she didnt have to change his because it was practically empty.

Then my break time rolls around and another person fills my place for a bit. He is supposed to be at his station while I am on break, but no. He comes into the break room at least 3 times to grab a drink and I see him looking at me through the corner of my eye. Like weird.

She needs to talk to a manager about this.

Then I’m back from break and I’m made to do a couple things. I have to go get some stuff from the back shelf to restock while someone is holding down my spot and he is meant to do the other spot like normal.

This time there is one other person in the back in the shelves but farther away slightly. I go to grab my stuff and im just looking to find my exact item, bam right behind me he asks what im looking for.

It isn’t his job to come help her like this.

I tell him and he shows it to me. Why is he not at his station…why is he here again.. then he just walks away like nothing happened.

I told my mom about this guy and she said hes a weirdo and to stay away from him.

She isn’t overreacting. She should document this with management.

He does sort of make me uncomfortable but I dont want to overreact.

I possibly didn’t explain some stuff super correctly in this post and it was definitely weirder in the moment, but uh thats my story. I’m prob overreacting lol

He is making her feel uncomfortable with his unusual behavior. Whether that is because he likes her and is being creepy, or because he is just an awkward guy, doesn’t really matter. It has to stop.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman whose HR department advised her to quit if she was that unhappy, so she did and found herself in a role reversal years later.

Let’s see what the people in the comments say about this.

He is being creepy, even if it isn’t intentional.

Documenting all communication is a good idea.

She isn’t being paranoid.

This commenter says to listen to your gut.

If she wants to confront him, this is a good way.

Regardless of his intentions, she needs to make it stop, and that means going to the manager. There is no way to know whether he is just an awkward guy or if he is a real threat, and she should not let it continue just to find out.

His actions are making her uncomfortable, so they need to stop. She could just ask him to leave her alone, but that often makes things worse. Talking to management is a safer and more effective option.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who works fast and helps her coworkers, but is met with disapproval from her supervisor because of this practice

The post A Coworker Keeps Following Her to Areas of the Workplace He Has No Reason to Be — She’s Scared but Worried She’s Overreacting appeared first on TwistedSifter.