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It’s easy for a compliment to come out differently than you intended.

One employee learned that after a coworker showed up with a new hairstyle she clearly loved.

Since the woman said she thought it looked better, the employee agreed and told her it looked beautiful.

But later that day, HR called her in and said the comment had come across as racist.

Now, she’s not sure whether she actually said something wrong or if the whole situation got twisted.

Read on to see what you think about it.

AITAH for agreeing that my coworker’s new hairstyle looked better?

The other day at work, one of my coworkers was leaving early.

We joke around a lot, so I said, “You’re leaving already? Got a hot date?” She laughed and said she was getting her hair done.

The next day she came in with long, straight hair, and I told her it looked beautiful.

The woman had previously shared thoughts on her natural hair.

For context, she had previously told me she didn’t like her natural hair and that it was always a mess because she never took care of it. She was excited about getting it done, so when she said she thought it looked so much better, I agreed.

In my mind, I was just trying to hype her up because she seemed happy and more confident. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with her natural hair, and I wasn’t making a statement about Black hair or natural hair in general.

Later that day, I was called into HR.

The HR director had some choice words for her.

Apparently, HR had overheard her talking to another coworker.

According to HR, she felt I only liked her new hairstyle because it was more “white-passing” and that I was out of line for agreeing that it looked better.

The HR director told me racism would not be tolerated and that people in the office were talking about my comments. I wasn’t told exactly what had been said beyond that.

Now, she’s shocked and confused.

One thing that makes this harder for me to process is that our HR director has a reputation in the office for being very drama-driven.

There always seems to be some kind of issue or conflict surrounding him, and his approach tends to escalate situations rather than resolve them. Because of that, I don’t know if I got the full story or whether things were repeated with additional assumptions or exaggerations.

I was honestly shocked and mortified because that was never my intention. Looking back, I can understand how agreeing that one hairstyle looked “better” could have been interpreted differently than I meant it. At the time, though, I genuinely thought I was just complimenting her and agreeing with something she had already said about herself.

AITA?

Oh no. Situations like this suck because it doesn’t seem like she had bad intentions.

Let’s take a look at how the readers over at Reddit feel about her comments.

This person thinks she needs to be more cognizant of what she says from now on.

Great point.

This may not be the best idea either.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a contractor who flew along way and spent 3 days on a fix only to find a breaker that needed to be flipped.

Some people do talk like this.

It sounds like one big misunderstanding.

After all, there’s nothing wrong with trying to make your coworker feel good.

However, she should probably be a little more careful with how she words things from now on.

Even the smallest compliment can turn into something completely different once other people start interpreting it.

The post She Thought She Was Complimenting Her Coworker’s New Hairstyle—Then HR Called Her In appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Living close to someone doesn’t mean they get to control what you do on your own property.

One homeowner ran into that after washing his car in the driveway around 7:30 on a Sunday morning.

His new neighbor lives in an ADU right beside the driveway, and apparently, she wasn’t happy about the noise.

Since she complained to the property owner instead of talking to him directly, he ignored it and kept going.

Now, he’s waiting to see whether she confronts him about it.

Read on to learn more about this situation.

What is the earliest reasonable time on Sunday morning to wash your car? Take out trash?

A renter neighbor moved in next door 2 months ago, into the ADU my homeowner neighbor built last year.

We are a street of single-family homes.

Because of stupid ADU rules, the ADU has very little setback from the property line, and it’s built behind their main house, in the rear, right next to my detached garage in the rear of my house.

Apparently, this isn’t the first time the people on that property have complained.

Their ADU bedroom windows are close to my driveway. But we have a 6-ft.-high concrete block wall dividing our properties.

It’s after 7:30 a.m. on Sunday. The sun has risen. I wash my car in my driveway with my garden hose.

And from behind the concrete wall, I hear this tenant complaining that I’m washing my car early on Sunday morning. I believe she was complaining to the homeowner neighbor, who also has OCD and used to complain about my tree leaves falling onto their side of the property line until I cussed them out earlier this year.

Since the tenant didn’t say it directly to my face, I ignored it and went about washing my car.

He already has a plan if the woman comes back over.

The city municipal code doesn’t prohibit me from washing my car in the morning. I have done nothing wrong.

I’m just waiting for this ***** to come over and say it to my face.

I’m gonna tell her to get earplugs, or close her window, or move out. Because I am using my own property as intended.

My driveway runs alongside your ADU, and my driveway is for cars to come and go. This is not the last time you will hear my car on a Sunday morning.

Wow. That sounds like some pretty entitled behavior.

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit think about the situation.

That sounds pretty reasonable.

Now, this is funny.

For this reader, that is a little early.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a woman who refuses to confine her dog for days on end because building management can’t schedule a more exact inspection time.

According to this comment, 8 AM is appropriate.

7:30 on a Sunday morning is pretty early to start washing a car.

Sure, he has every right to use his own driveway, but he may want to consider waiting until a little later.

Yet, at the same time, the neighbor lives right next to a driveway, so she can’t expect complete silence.

This seems like one of those situations where both sides are going to have to give a little.

The post Neighborhood Conflict Fallout: New Resident Challenges Homeowner Over 7:30 AM Noise appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Source: Pexels/Reddit

Friendship can start to feel lonely when the people you invest in are more invested in finding someone else. It’s hard not to feel like a placeholder when dating gets all of your bestie’s attention, and the friendship gets whatever is left.

What would you do if your best friend skipped your milestone birthday to hang out with a random guy? One woman recently aired her grievances out about her situation like this with Reddit. Here’s what she said.

AITAH If I skip my best friends birthday?

I (F40) and my friend we will call her Sarah (F40) have been friends for 18 years.

We have had many many bumps in our friendship.

As tends to happen over almost two decades.

This most recent span of friendship is the only one I’m worried about.

So back up to last year my birthday was in September and I was turning the big 40 and was not very happy about it.

I had told her and my family I wanted to go out of town / state way in advance.

It’s good to give events like this plenty of planning time.

Family included my daughter and one other person.

Sarah had agreed to go and was excited.

She said she would start saving for her room.

Sounds like the beginnings of a great birthday.

Month go by and we are still making plans and getting excited.

Well two weeks before the trip she backs out with the excuse of money.

Understandable and I wasn’t mad.

Still, pretty disappointing.

A bit upset that my best friend wouldn’t be there but ultimately I understood.

Well her money issues also made it where she said she couldn’t get me a gift.

Again, totally understandable, we’ve all been there.

Gifts don’t always have to cost money.

Until the day before my birthday she told me she was taking a guy out for his birthday.

The same guy that’s been rejecting her and friend zoning her for years.

She just thinks if she buys him things or takes him out that he will give in.

That’s cringey to say the least.

That where it kinda rubbed me wrong.

Not because I didn’t get a gift, more so the principle that she said she couldn’t afford to do anything with her best friend, but this guy comes around and it’s the biggest deal ever.

Any sensible person would feel the same.

Second this past weekend was Mother’s Day.

I have one kid and for the first time in the 20 years she’s been alive we weren’t going to get to see each other.

Her job had her out of state.

That makes for a lackluster day to be sure.

Sarah’s family throws a lot of family gatherings.

I get invited to all of the since 18 years we have basically became a big family.

Sarah knew how sad I was not getting to see my daughter, but didn’t invite me to the Mother’s Day thing / broke off plans we had for the day before Mother’s Day as well.

Foresight doesn’t seem to be Sarah’s forte.

I kinda understood because they said it was a small family thing and I assumed it would’ve the immediate family.

The actual reason?

She invited a guy she had never met to the gathering.

How is that not totally awkward for everyone involved?

Her first time meeting him was bringing him around everyone in her family.

Lastly we have had plans for two weeks for this weekend.

Why does she even bother making plans with her at this point?

She canceled them because the guy she met last week is a carpenter and is doing free labor at her son’s house to hang out with her.

Her birthday is next weekend and honestly I don’t want to go.

I don’t want to buy her anything.

And why should she?

I don’t want to do anything for her.

I can’t afford to buy some elaborate gift that I know she’s expecting.

If she expects that, she’s even more delusional than what’s been described so far.

Plus all the things she’s kinda missed / chose a guy over me for Mae’s me question why I even would.

So would I be TA if I made up some excuse and didn’t go?

Seems like it’s only logical to match the energy that she’s being given. Let’s see if the Reddit community agrees.

The comments all seemed to reach the same logical conclusion.

A few offered some tough love.

As well as some armchair psychology.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a teenager whose family thinks she’s selfish for wanting to help plan her own sweet 16.

One person brought up a valid question.

And some tried to find the nuance in the situation.

It’s not her birthday, but she’ll fight if she wants to…

The post She Skipped Her Best Friend’s Birthday for a Date With a Stranger — Now She’s Facing the Consequences appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Job openings can bring out some strange confidence, especially when an applicant decides the best available position is already occupied.

One valet customer asks how to get the cashier’s exact shift, but when told it is unavailable, would you back off or suggest replacing her?

The conversation quickly turns from friendly hiring advice into one woman confidently planning a ridiculously-attempted coup d’état.

Oh this should be fun.

No, I will not quit so that you may take my job.

Guys, I just had a story from the zoo less than 24 hours ago. I should not have one from the valet already. And yet, here I am, because this is not the first time I’ve had this conversation.

A woman notices our sign that states we are hiring drivers. As she pays for her valet, she is chatting with me about it, mentioning how sorry she feels for the drivers that stand outside in the cold.

But, the woman had thought long and hard about these positions…

She says my job as the cashier seems so much nicer and I agree because, well, it is.

She asks what my shift is, and I tell her 7-3:30, Monday-Friday.

I let her know we have 24/7 location that needs cashiers for all shifts, and my location needs a 3:30-10 p.m. cashier Monday-Friday.

She asks for an application, which I gladly give her.

This is where it goes downhill.

The woman has an odd request.

Once the application is in her hand, she suddenly looks very smug.

“Can I mail this back instead of bringing it here?” She asks.

Unusual, but OK, I write down the address and hand it to her.

But this is where things get really strange.

She snatches it out of my hand, scratching me with her nails. She offers no apology, but instead I get a suddenly nasty tone.

“So. How do I get YOUR job?”

I blink at her and explain what my shift is, and then explain the available shifts again. I get about halfway through before she interrupts me.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you but I want YOUR job. I want that shift. How do I get it?”

So, the cashier replies back honestly.

“Well, ma’am, I don’t plan on quitting any time soon. I really need this job, so getting my exact shift wouldn’t really-”

“You could just go work outside with the rest of them. You’re young. They would make you go out there. How do I get your job!”

I sigh, and point to the boxes on the application where she can mark her preferred shift and position.

And the customer? Strangely mean after all the help…

“Have fun out there in the cold!” She cackles as she walks off.

I smile at my good fortune, as the only mailing address we have is for corporate, so that is what I gave her.

Corporate passes applications along to managers solely on the east side of the city, and my location is the only one on the west side, and we do our own hiring, which I would have explained to her if she hadn’t turned into the wicked witch.

Ah well.

Does Reddit think this woman’s behavior is odd? Let’s read the comments below to learn what the readers think.

One user reminded everyone that’s not how jobs typically work.

Another had a great response for the cashier to use next time.

Someone else recommended the OP come prepared with a stamper next time.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who is shocked to learn how little he has to do to keep his cushy remote job.

And finally, another Redditor had a brilliant comeback.

The cashier happily offered an application until the woman made it clear she wanted her exact job and daytime schedule.

After suggesting the younger employee should simply work outside instead, she mailed the application to the corporate address she had requested.

Redditors were mostly baffled by the entitlement, while the cashier quietly enjoyed knowing corporate would route the application somewhere else entirely.

She tried calling dibs on someone else’s job and accidentally applied for a location across town instead.

The post A Customer Says She Wants To Work At The Store, But Her Questions Get Awkward When She Targets The Cashier’s Specific Role appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Sometimes, one person’s parking habits can make things harder for everyone else.

One homeowner is dealing with that because the houses on his street share a gravel parking area instead of regular driveways.

His low car needs to use one of the ramps, but the neighbor keeps parking in a way that blocks the path to his usual spot.

He’s asked her several times to move closer to the sidewalk, but she keeps telling him to drive over the curb instead.

Now, he can’t find any clear rule that says she’s doing something wrong.

Read on to see exactly what’s going on.

Neighbor keeps blocking me from parking.

None of the houses on my street have an actual driveway. It’s just the front yard, sidewalk, and then a wide-ish gravel area next to the street that everyone uses for parking.

There are only a few ramps onto this area, and I have a car that’s quite low to the ground and always scrape the bottom of it if I try to pull up onto the actual curb.

My neighbor, who has one car, always parks really far out to block the pathway that people take from the ramp to their parking spot in front of their house, including mine. There’s a light post right next to her spot, so no one can get by.

He’s asked her several times, but nothing happens.

She could easily just park right behind the light post instead of beside it.

I’ve asked her multiple times to park slightly closer to the sidewalk so I can get to my spot without scraping my car up, but she always refuses and gives some sort of excuse, saying, “Just pull up onto the curb.”

I haven’t been able to find any laws about this since she’s technically not blocking an actual driveway or in front of my property.

Yikes! It’s easy to see why he’s upset. Most people wouldn’t want to mess their cars up either.

Let’s see if the people over at Reddit have any suggestions for him.

This is a good point.

Yet another reader who suggests the same thing.

It does sound like that would solve it.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a feud that starts between neighbors after one reports an illegal drainage issue and the other can’t let it go.

Some of these things may work.

She’s definitely making things harder than they need to be.

If moving her car over a little would solve the problem, it’s hard to understand why she keeps refusing.

However, if she’s technically allowed to park there, he may not have much he can force her to do.

At that point, it may be worth checking with the city and seeing whether there’s actually a rule he can use.

The post He Asked His Neighbor to Move Her Car So He Could Reach His Parking Spot—But She Told Him to Drive Over the Curb appeared first on TwistedSifter.

Source: Pexels/Reddit

Mother’s Day can get a little awkward once Dad gets a new wife, and suddenly the whole family tree needs a seating chart. You want to celebrate Mom of course, but where does this new figure fit in this now complicated holiday?

How would you handle your Dad’s new spouse wrongfully expecting a Mother’s Day celebration? One woman recently shared a super awkward example of this with Reddit. Here’s what happened.

AITAH for not telling my father’s third wife happy Mother’s Day?

I’m mid 40s.

My father married his third wife about 10 years ago.

They live across the country and my relationship with her mainly consists of her listening to my phone calls with my father on speaker phone.

Doesn’t seem like an abnormal relationship for that phase in life.

I often don’t even know she’s there until she says something in the background and I realize I’ve actually been ‘talking’ to both of them.

I met her one time about a decade ago and she is nice enough, but I really just see her as a woman my father married.

I cut off contact with my own mother years ago and try to block out anything Mother’s Day for obvious reasons.

And that’s her own prerogative.

So my father and his wife came to visit this year and it happened to fall on Mother’s Day weekend.

Despite being up since 5 am with two sick dogs and having my own chronic health conditions to deal with, I spent 3 hours making dinner for their last night in town.

We had barely sat down to eat and I made a comment about how nice of a day it was.

It sure sounds like it was!

My father piped in with “It’s Mother’s Day too!” and I kind of laughed and said we aren’t real big on that in this house for obvious reasons.

His wife scoffed and said “Thanks a lot!”.

I asked what she meant and she said “I’m a mom!” and I replied that she isn’t my mom.

Yikes…that’s a record scratch moment.

She said she’s “someone’s mom” and proceeds to tell me about how *her* kids told her happy Mother’s Day.

I told her I don’t typically say happy Mother’s Day to every mom I know of and asked her if she planned on telling me happy Mother’s Day for being a mother to my two elderly sick dogs.

She said no as if it was a ridiculous thing for me to ask.

That’s a hot-button discourse topic.

At this point she told me to shut up and stop talking to her.

Well lady, you started a fight just as we sat down to eat and in my house, you don’t throw a punch and then get to put your hands up and say fight over.

I tried to explain to her that I don’t view her as a mother figure, she’s my dads wife but I was an adult when she joined the family and *she never mothered me*.

A little harsh, but incorrect.

She shouted “f*** you” to me and everyone got up and left the table and went into their rooms.

I found out later they dumped the dinner I made them in the garbage and had cold cereal for dinner.

Well now that’s a little dramatic.

They asked my husband to drive them to the airport the next morning for their flight, and neither of them said a word to me (or my dogs) before they left.

AITAH?

Maybe family gatherings should be off the table (literally) for these guys for awhile. Let’s see if the Reddit community agreed.

Most of the comments were pretty baffled by the situation.

One person offered a way forward.

Another made a very valid point.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a teenager who wants to work, but his mom thinks working past 8pm is too late for high school.

A few dragged the dad through the mud.

And one person felt the situation should have been escalated further.

“One, big, happy family” seems like too lofty of a goal for these folks.

The post She Made an Honest Mistake on Mother’s Day—Then Her Dad’s New Wife Completely Exploded appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Going above and beyond at work feels generous until management starts policing the exact minutes you are supposed to be there.

One teacher gets reprimanded for arriving a few minutes late, so when administrators insist on contract hours, would you argue or follow them exactly?

By leaving at 2:22, he removes the unpaid supervision everyone had quietly come to depend on.

Let’s see how the school handled this one…

Was told to work my contract hours. Damage ensued.

Teacher here in inner city . Found myself coming in at 7::12-7:15 for a week or two, supposed to be there for 7:10.

My Daughter’s daycare is getting construction done so had to park across street and drop her off.

Got reprimanded and a mark on my file for not working during contractual hours; “you’re paid for working 7:10 to 2:22.”

Fine.

He usually worked late.

Once school is out at 2:02 I usually open up the weightroom and let athletes workout, give some advice (I was a college athlete and lifted a lot), and I watch them until about 3:15 when their coaches get there.

Kids love it, I love it, coaches love it, never asked for pay.

But my contracts done at 2:22.

He decided not to stay late.

One day. Only one day. I posted on our webpage that I wasn’t going to be there.

What happened?

That same day numerous phones stolen from locker room so cops came, weightroom door broke open, kids running through halls and ran into a teacher sending her to Urgent Care.

Time to get paid for what used to be volunteering!

Admin calls me in asking why I wasn’t watching them.

“I was told to work my contractual hours, I’m only paid until 2:22. I did this for fun, and it was unofficial.”

Next day whole district gets an email for a job posting “Afterschool Weightroom Coach.”

Admin asked me to apply. Now it’s costing them money.

Sounds like this is going to work out alright in the end. He might as well earn some extra money doing something he enjoyed doing anyway!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

He deserves to be paid for his time.

He really shouldn’t have been working for free.

This person rants about school administrators.

This person thinks it’s incredible how quickly the new position was posted.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about an employee who decided to push back against time micromanagement.

Another person completely believes the new position was posted that quickly.

The guy had been volunteering after school, opening the weight room and supervising athletes until their coaches arrived.

Once he stopped at his contractual end time, thefts, property damage, and an injured teacher followed that very same day.

By the next morning, the district had posted a paid after-school weight room position and even asked him to apply.

Management wanted every minute accounted for, then discovered those free minutes had been doing some very heavy lifting.

The post His School Punished Him Over A Two-Minute Delay, So He Started Following His Contracted Work Schedule Down To The Minute appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Bad neighbors can make it hard to enjoy your own home.

One resident is dealing with problems from the people living on both sides of the house.

For years, one family’s children have thrown things into the garden and used the property as a shortcut.

Meanwhile, the other neighbors keep leaving trash around and walking across the driveway.

After dealing with it over and over, the homeowner has had enough.

Read on to see exactly how she feels about this whole thing.

I hate my neighbors SOOOO MUCH

I live in a house, and my two neighbors to the left and right are so insanely rude. Oh my Godddd.

One household has daughters who keep throwing their belongings into our garden. Not only that, but they also use our garden as a means to access their neighbor’s house. This has happened for years. We tell them to stop, tell their parents what they are doing, but the parents tell us that they are only children and that they won’t listen to them.

Oh, OK. So fine, they make a mess, we clean it up? How is it our responsibility to clean up their shit? I might as well ask them to clean it up.

At this point, she really doesn’t like them.

Btw, these kids are in Year 1 and 2, and whenever we tell them to stop, they laugh and giggle as if it’s a little game.

Alright, then we have the more infuriating neighbor consisting of actual grown teenagers who litter in front of our door, in our driveway. Not only that, but we have found dead rats in our driveway twice and dead rats in our garden three times, and I know it was them.

I hate them so ******* much.

I don’t understand people like these at all, AT ALL!!! What is the point in being purposefully a piece of ****? I don’t get it.

Unlike them, she tries to not burden anyone else.

God, having bad neighbors is the worst. Like, no decency at all.

And this might not be the worst of the annoyances, but it still ****** me off: they keep using my driveway as a place to walk, like as a go-between, so I frequently see these people walk right by my front window near my car.

I just, oh my god. It makes no sense.

I am the opposite. I try not to burden or invade other people’s spaces, and this is who I get as neighbors, dude.

Geez. Those neighbors sound annoying, but she sounds pretty whiny about the whole thing.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think.

This person thinks she needs to calm down.

These people are always left out by their neighbors.

Great advice.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about neighbors who intentionally tank an open house sale because they want to buy the property themselves.

Here’s more advice she can consider.

It’s easy to see why she’s so frustrated.

After all, no one wants other people constantly leaving things in their yard or cutting through their property.

However, some of these neighbors are kids, and there are definitely worse things they could be doing.

Maybe the bigger issue is getting their parents to actually step in and teach them where the boundaries are.

The post Neighbors Keep Cutting Through Her Yard and Leaving Messes — She’s Fed Up but Doesn’t Know How Hard to Push Back When Some of Them Are Kids appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Babysitting plans only work when everyone agrees on the logistics, especially when an entire birthday celebration depends on them.

One couple arranges for grandma to pick up their baby, but when she changes the plan two days beforehand, would you rearrange everything or find another sitter?

Suddenly, a simple transportation problem becomes a family dispute over flexibility, favoritism, and who should be making the extra effort.

See why one birthday babysitting switch left Grandma feeling completely sidelined.

AITAH for having my parents watch our son instead of my MIL?

My husband’s birthday was this past Saturday, and a few weeks ago we asked my MIL if she could watch our infant son overnight so we could have a kid-free celebration.

She agreed, and the plan was that she would come pick him up from our house (she lives just under an hour away).

Based on that, we planned the whole day—lunch with friends, a movie, and dinner at 7.

But then the night of the event comes.

Thursday night at 8pm, she calls and asks what time we’re dropping him off.

We were confused and told her we thought she was picking him up, as originally discussed.

She then tells us she’s been having car issues and didn’t think we’d be comfortable with her driving the baby.

We totally understand that—if her car isn’t reliable, it’s a valid concern.

But by then, our weekend was already booked around the original arrangement.

We explained we didn’t have time in our day to make the drive.

Gotta go with SOME sort of plan B.

So we called my parents (who live the same distance away), and they were happy to help—they picked him up so we could still celebrate.

My husband told his mom not to worry and that she could watch him another weekend when her car was fixed.

She was furious and hasn’t spoken to us since.

She said we were being dramatic, and we get the feeling she’s mostly mad at me—she was already upset that I answered my husband’s phone (he was right there, just busy, and she was on speaker the whole time).

She tends to guilt-trip and emotionally manipulate, and she already believes we favor my parents because they see our son more often.

But the reality is, both sides have equal opportunities—my parents are just more available and willing to help when we need it.

That sounds like too much.

We weren’t trying to be rude or exclude her—we just needed a solution that let us stick to plans we’d made weeks ago.

AITAH for not driving our son out and instead asking my parents for help?

Let’s see what the comments have to say:

Like, did she expect someone else to give HER notice when HER circumstance changed?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a grandson who is tired of driving 5 hours one way to work on his grandparent’s investment property for free.

Plus don’t you kind of need a car?

The couple planned their day around Grandma picking up the baby, only learning two days beforehand that her car problems had changed things.

Rather than cancel their plans, they called the other grandparents, who happily made the same drive and picked him up instead.

Grandma could still babysit another weekend, but her silent treatment turned a practical scheduling fix into something far more personal.

She lost one babysitting night, then somehow turned it into a full weekend of grandmotherly grievance.

The post A Simple Babysitting Change Turned Into Family Drama After The Parents Chose A Different Grandparent For The Evening appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Corporate travel rules sound efficient until someone removes a practical option and replaces it with something far more expensive.

One consultant loses his rental car and gets only two cab rides daily, so when management insists, would you complain or find another approved route?

With those limits exhausted, he discovers a wonderfully literal transportation option hiding inside the company’s fully covered mailing policy.

See how one consultant turned business travel into a very special delivery.

Special Delivery

It was the mid 90s.

My father was a highly paid business consultant.

The company he worked for would hire him out to businesses who were trying to get off the ground.

He would fly out, spend a few weeks with them, and train their management the finer points of business ownership.

He also handled large projects, such as the planning, building, staffing, and organization of new offices, and other such.

He must have been good at his job.

For this, his company would charge anywhere from $300-$400 an hour for his time, billed by the week at a minimum of 40 hours a week (or more if there was overtime).

In exchange for this less than modest sum, the company took care of all of my father’s expenses, rather than push them off on the client.

This went on for years.

My mom quit her job to stay at home with me, and my dad held down the finances of the household himself.

But he was gone for three weeks at a time, and when he was here, he was at the office.

I was lucky if I spent any real time with him more than two days a month. This also negatively affected my parents’ marriage.

That would be a really cool gift!

Then for my sixth birthday, my dad got me a model plane, and a membership card to the airline his company used.

(In truth it was a copy of his card, but 6 year old me thought it was the coolest thing ever. It had my dad’s name on it, and the word “admiral”)

Bringing his concerns regarding his homelife to his boss, my father had struck a deal. I would be flown out to him every third or so weekend.

My father would pay the cost of the flights, but would use his company account, and thus have access to his frequent flier discount, company discount, and would collect any loyalty points or whathaveyou that I earned.

This is a great arrangement.

I was flying for pennies on the dollar.

I would spend the weekend with him in whatever hotel we was in, and we would go and do stuff in the city.

He got to see me, I got to see both him and a new city, and mom got to spend a weekend without me to decompress.

Everyone loved the arrangement, myself especially.

Fast forward a year.

I have achieved admiral status within the airline’s loyalty program (not a hard task as my dad already had that status and I was using his account, but I felt accomplished none the less), and have been to all 48 continental States.

Promotions aren’t always a good thing.

This is when something happened.

There was a change in the company.

People moved around, people were hired, and people were fired.

And when all the dust settled, my Dad found himself one position higher, and under new management.

Dad’s new manager had no issues with the Father and Son get-away perk my dad was liberally using.

But to offset the extra cost, there would be a few changes to my Dad’s expense account.

While food and entertainment were fully covered (as many of his meetings happened over lunch), the manager decided that rather than provide my father with a rental car, instead he would take local transport, via cabs or similar services, and would be given a limited number of trips he could take a day.

This is pretty reasonable.

Surely he only needed to travel twice a day, (to and from the site) so he was alloted two cab rides per day he was out of state (including weekends since the manager wanted to be generous).

Any additional travel my father wanted to take would be on his own dime.

My dad brought up that the company was not spending any resources on my trips, aside from the 30 minutes of time it tooks the travel agent to book my flights.

But this new manager insisted that this was a much better use of company time and resources.

All other expenses, including the hotel, dry cleaning, and any mail that had to be sent, would be covered as usual.

Now… normally my visiting weekends would be jam packed with whatever local museum or attraction the city had, followed by a nice dinner at a cool or fancy resturant.

One does not achive this with two cab rides a day.

I bet this was an incredible day.

My dad blows all his cab rides on my next visit. We go and see everything.

A museum, a movie, and a fair of some sort. Every trip was by cab.

This is the part I remember, because my dad had me keep count with him. An entire amazing day is spent and in total, 11 cab rides were had.

Now for the malicious compliance.

Without any more alloted cab rides, after I was sent home, my dad was still schedualed for a week of work.

He contacted the local postoffice and explained his situation.

After some evil laughter from both him and the postman, a truck shows up at his hotel.

This is too funny.

He “mails” himself to work and then back again for the rest of the week.

He pays for first class delivery by the pound.

This becomes exorbitantly expensive.

At the end of the trip my dad sent in an expense report that had a few thousand dollars extra on it, for “shipping” costs.

The fallout:

Some stuff happened. There was a change in the company.

Some people were moved, some people were hired, and some people were fired.

My father found himself under a new manager.

The company decided that it was improper to have different rules for expenses for different employees based on their status or tenure.

A fixed policy was enacted company wide.

My dad’s new manager had no issues with sending me out once a month on my fathers business account…

As long as my father paid for the cost of the flights.

That is great that they put things back the way they were, which worked out well for everyone.

Read on to see what the people in the comments thought of this.

Dad really made things work. He must have been great at his job.

Maybe he meant 2-3 years later?

I’m sure he was just exaggerating.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a contractor who flew along way and spent 3 days on a fix only to find a breaker that needed to be flipped.

This commenter loves the deal this kid got.

The new manager replaced a rental car with two daily cab rides, even though the consultant’s work and family visits required far more flexibility.

After absolutely burning through the cab allowance, he paid the post office to transport him and submitted the enormous shipping bill as an expense.

Management eventually standardized the expense policy, while the manager behind the restriction was replaced and the family travel arrangement continued.

He lost the rental car, but somehow upgraded himself to first-class human freight.

The post His Manager Wouldn’t Approve A Rental Car While He Was Traveling, But His Unusual Solution Made Sure He Still Reached The Office appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Breaking someone else’s expensive property usually comes with consequences, even when replacing it would barely affect their family financially.

One father tells his daughter to repay her stepbrother’s broken headphones, but when his wife objects, would you drop it or make her take responsibility?

Soon, a damaged pair of headphones becomes a bigger argument about privacy, respect, and whether money should erase consequences.

See why one costly accident turned into a much louder family dispute.

AITA for taking unneccesary money out of my daughter’s pocket?

Basically, I have a daughter, Emily (16F), from a previous marriage.

My wife, Sasha, has a son the same age, Mark (16M).

Mark doesn’t stay with us that often and prefers to stay with his biological dad.

That being said, when he is here, I find Mark to be a pretty good kid. He is polite and respectful.

This man’s stepson, Mark, was staying with them for awhile.

His dad decided to take a trip for work in the last few weeks of school, so Mark’s here for a bit.

He’s out of the house most of the time, and doesn’t take up much space.

He does get kind of grumpy when there’s too much going on around him.

Mark’s favorite thing is his expensive headphones.

He especially doesn’t like noise, but for that, his favourite thing are these expensive noise-cancelling headphones.

He almost always has it with him. It was a present from his dad.

Emily’s school has already finished, so she’s also home.

Emily kept going through Mark’s stuff.

Here’s the problem.

The room Mark is in, sometimes has random items put in when he’s not here, and therefore, Emily seems to think it’s fair game to go through his stuff.

I’ve told her to stop, but Sasha hasn’t been taking it seriously. She’s saying that most of Mark’s stuff is easy to replace.

She accidentally broke Mark’s headphones.

The big problem happened when Mark accidentally left his headphones in his room, and Emily accidentally snapped them.

Mark found out when he came home from school and flipped. He shouted at her, saying she was “spoilt without anything to back it up.”

He said it loud enough that my wife and I heard it from the other room.

He told Emily to pay for it, even though she didn’t have to.

Sasha wanted me to calm things down, which I did, but I also told Emily she’s replacing them.

Mark’s dad offered to have someone get him a new pair immediately. He said it wasn’t a problem.

I said Emily would pay him back, and I’m sticking with it.

Emily and his wife didn’t think it was fair.

Emily and Sasha think that’s unfair since Mark’s dad can afford to buy 10 more.

But I don’t think you get to break someone’s stuff and not pay for it. Those aren’t the values I was raised with or what I want for my daughter.

That being said, I do realise, in this case, it’s kind of unnecessary, and there may be better ways for her to make it up to him. AITA?

It’s great that he wants to teach his daughter there are consequences for her actions.

Let’s check out the comments of other people on Reddit.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

This person makes a valid point.

Emily should pay Mark back, says this person.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a student who did the math and figured out he was better off skipping school than serving detention if he forgot his ID.

And lastly, short and straightforward.

Well well well. Emily repeatedly entered Mark’s room despite being told not to, then broke the expensive headphones he relied on for peace and quiet.

Her father still wanted her to pay, even after Mark’s dad offered to replace them immediately and Sasha called repayment unnecessary.

Commenters overwhelmingly backed the father, arguing that being able to afford replacements does not erase someone else’s responsibility for breaking them.

Dad was not charging a headphone tax, he was charging tuition for Accountability 101.

The post She Damaged Her Stepbrother’s Expensive Headphones, So Her Father Made Her Responsible For Covering The Full Cost Of Replacing Them appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Every family is different, and there are many things that go into these relationships, but it all needs to start with love and respect.

What would you do if your step-daughter excluded your daughter from her baby shower, so you didn’t attend either, but your step-daughter kept texting to demand the gifts you got her?

That is what happened to the stepmother in this story, so while she did give her the gifts eventually, she had her husband give them and is creating some boundaries. She wonders if she was out of line for how she handled the situation.

Personally, I think the step-daughter is behaving poorly here. Read through the full story below and see if you agree.

AITAH for refusing to take stepdaughter the baby gifts I got her

My (43f) stepdaughter (23f) Sally, invited me to her baby shower, along with her sisters (Leigh 25, Cali 25, and Amanda 13).

Scheduling these things can be difficult.

We were all over at my parents’ house for a cookout. We usually do all holidays there since my mother has dementia, also important, and I go over every weekend to give my dad some much needed time away from home.

When she invited us, Leigh let her know she could not go the end weekend of the month, this is important, as she works that weekend.

It is rare that everyone can attend an event.

When the date was announced it was May 30th, so Leigh was not going to be able to attend. Leigh said that was alright as she understood Sally’s mom planned the baby shower and she would just do something with Sally at a later time.

Cali, Amanda, and I really enjoyed shopping for the little one. Sally let us know she was having a boy and they were doing Winnie the Pooh for the baby room.

They are being very generous.

We went all out. My husband and I got the video baby monitor they were wanting, with an extra camera. Tons of baby clothes all 6-12 months since most people buy new born-3 months. I actually had Sally over to give her some things because I went a little overboard.

The day before the shower arrives, Sally sends a message in the family group chat that says, I’m so excited to see everyone at the baby shower tomorrow.

Why isn’t she responding? This should have been sorted out long ago.

As a reminder, the shower is for people 20 and up only, no children allowed. Amanda gets very upset and messages to ask if that includes her (remember, she is 13). Sally never responded.

The next morning comes and I respond, since we’ve still not heard from Sally, that if Amanda was not welcome to come and celebrate her first nephew and her sister then I would just drop my gifts at Sally’s another time.

Honestly, this is a difficult situation.

Still no response. Keep in mind, she had invited Amanda at the cookout and had never said anything about it being an adult only occasion.

Cali also decides not to go because now Sally has excluded Leigh and Amanda and she felt it was extremely rude, especially to wait until the day before.

Bold to message and ask when she will be getting gifts.

A whole week goes by and no one hears anything from Sally, but we did hear from my DIL that Sally is moving to be closer to her bio mom at the end of July.

Sally messages me that Friday and also when I’m planning on dropping off the baby gifts. I let her know I’m at work and can’t just now.

This would be irritating, for sure.

Another week and she messages me on Saturday asking if I can drop off the gifts or if she should come by and pick them up.

As I said, on the weekends I am with my mom who has dementia, and at this point it’s been two weeks that the only thing I’ve heard from Sally is when are you dropping off gifts.

That’s a reasonable text. But why is her bio-mom getting involved?

I lost it, and this is where I may be in the wrong. I text her, “Honestly I’m tired of feeling used. You’ve broken your sisters’ and your dad’s heart. You’ve left the family out of everything including the gender reveal, and didn’t even bother to tell us you’re moving. I’m not bringing the gifts by.”

The next thing I know is her mother is texting me.

They shouldn’t have talked about this unless they got the house.

A little back story. While my husband and I were searching for a new house, we had found one with an apartment out back and told Sally if we got that house she could move into that apartment.

We ended up not buying that house and got a smaller one. Sally came to us asking if she and her boyfriend could move in, this was about two years ago.

Wow, this is manipulative.

We told her we didn’t have room as Amanda, and her two brothers had the other rooms, and in fact one brother was in the basement that was unfinished.

Two weeks later she shows up with her boyfriend, her mom, and all their (Sally and the boyfriend’s) stuff saying her mom got a new house with only two bedrooms and they could not stay there.

They have been very generous to her.

So, we split the basement in half because what else can we do, and give them half. We spoke with them and the agreement was $200/person since neither of them were working we agreed to start in two months to give them time to get a job.

He got a job, she never did. At one point the basement flooded because Sally unplugged the sump pump to plug in her tv. Cue the cleanup. All of this is thrown in my face by her mom.

The step-daughter and bio-mom seem a bit entitled.

She messages me saying this is the last time I will make her daughter cry. That when the basement flooded Sally got hurt and we did nothing. (I offered to take her to the ER, she twisted her ankle, she refused and called her mom to take her instead).

That we charged them $400 to stay in an unfinished basement after we invited them to move in with us. So, if anyone is using someone it’s me using her daughter.

She still got the gifts, but I’m sure she isn’t happy.

Sally still got her gifts, her dad took them to her. But was I wrong for refusing to take them?

This has been weighing heavily on my mind. I have great relationships with all my step children, but Sally has never liked me no matter what I do.

AITA?

No. Sally seems to be very entitled and spoiled, and her bio-mom is enabling that. While you don’t want to cut your kids out of your life, you can’t let them keep controlling you like this.

Read on to see what the people in the comments think she should do.

Texting to ask for the gifts was tacky at a minimum.

Here is someone who wouldn’t give them any gifts.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a single person who is dumbfounded when her friends insist couples count as one person when splitting a check.

This commenter thinks the step-mom needs to put her foot down.

Don’t let yourself be treated like an ATM.

Her step-daughter is entitled and manipulative, so putting up some boundaries makes sense. In this situation, I think the dad needs to take a more active role to hold his daughter accountable.

They shouldn’t cut her out of their lives, of course, but they also can’t allow themselves to be treated this way.

The post Her Stepdaughter Excluded Her Sisters From the Baby Shower—Then Expected Their Gifts Anyway appeared first on TwistedSifter.

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Our dogs are part of our families, right?

You’re darn right!

We only want the best for them, and part of that includes their safety.

So you can probably understand why someone would get pretty bent out of shape if a person took their dog without their permission.

Yeah…not cool.

That’s what the woman in this story is dealing with.

Let’s take a look!

Roommate obsessed with my dog.

“This is a story about my roommate who’s obsessed with my dog.

The back story why I moved here is I’m recently separated. My family doesn’t have clue.

I wasn’t ready to tell them that I’m not with my partner anymore, so me and my ex decided to part ways.

We have 2 dogs and I stayed with the smaller dog.

You gotta do what you gotta do…

When looking for place I was in a bit of a rush because of the separation. I ended finding a room for rent close to my job that accepts dogs.

When I went it was a Hispanic mom in her 50s and daughter in her early 20s. I am also Hispanic.

When we moved in they loved my dog right away. I was happy that they became loving with my dog.

A week or 2 in, the 20 year old, Leticia, started to get really close to my dog. It first started with giving him food. At first I didn’t say anything because I just didn’t but I don’t like it because he gets sick easily.

That’s not cool…

The feeding turned into her taking him out on a walk while I’m working without my acknowledgment.

I had mentioned that I prefer for her not to do that.

Same with the food I told her to not give him food because he specifically eats rice and chicken I cook for him. since I work every day I made the hard decision to just lock him in my room until I’m off since they weren’t being respectful about that.

This is very odd…

I forgot to mention that they ended up taking him out when they were running errands. It upset me because he’s my dog.

I decided to lock him in room.

They stopped after being strict with it then I finally gave in and left door open when I’m not there so he can roam free.

Yikes!

That’s when I came home my roommate Leticia told me she took my dog somewhere 30 minutes away.

I was really upset about it and she proceeded to tell me that I need to take him out and not keep locked in the room.

BUT I DO. I take him to work many times.

I also over heard when the mom claimed it’s their dog. What should I do? It’s getting worse.”

Check out what folks had to say about this on Reddit.

This person had a lot to say.

Another individual shared their thoughts.

This Reddit user spoke up.

Another individual weighed in.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a student who did the math and figured out he was better off skipping school than serving detention if he forgot his ID.

And this Reddit user shared their thoughts.

People seem to have mixed reactions about this story…

But I think it’s pretty weird that her roommate is taking her dog without her permission.

I know I wouldn’t be okay with that!

It sounds like she needs to find a new place to live ASAP…

The post Roommates Keep Feeding and Walking Woman’s Dog Despite Her Clear Boundaries appeared first on TwistedSifter.