It’s been said that family helps family, but just how much help should you be willing to give? Are you expected to do endless favors for them for your whole life? When do you put your foot down and say enough is enough?
One woman has rocked the family boat by refusing to babysit her niece. The reason? Her sister is offering to pay her with a Chick-fil-A coupon, some candy, and a promise that she’ll stop stealing her snacks for a whole month. Livid, the woman turned to Reddit to vent.
More info: Reddit
Family is expected to help family, but this woman’s cheapskate sister asked too much for too little
Image credits: Kaboompics.com / Pexels (not the actual photo)
The sister asked her to babysit her 3-year-old niece for a few hours while she went out
Image credits: Mike Mozart / Flickr (not the actual photo)
After declining at first, the woman asked her sister what she’d be willing to pay for her childminding services
Image credits: Yan Krukau / Pexels (not the actual photo)
That’s when her sister offered her a $25 Chick-fil-A coupon, a bag of her favorite candy and a promise not to raid her snacks for a whole month
Image credits: Cascade_Soul
Thinking her sister’s bribe a joke, she turned her down again, but that sparked family drama, so the woman turned to netizens to ask if she was being a jerk
OP begins her post by telling the community that she has a 28-year-old sister, Amanda, and a 3-year-old niece, Lily. She admits that she’s no babysitting queen, what with school, work, and the rest of it, and besides, she’s just not interested in watching a toddler do her best impression of Taz the Tasmanian devil.
A few days ago, Amanda asked her if she could watch Lily for a few hours while she went out, but she politely declined. A few days later, Amanda asked her to babysit Lily again, this time offering payment. She was in for a shock though, because Amanda told her she could only pay her with a $25 Chick-fil-A gift card.
Well, OP thought she was joking, but then Amanda tried to sweeten the deal by offering her a couple of bags of her favorite candy and, to top it off, a solemn promise not to raid her snacks behind her back - for a whole month, at that. Of course, OP refused, but now Amanda's acting like she's the worst person on the planet.
Her family thinks she should suck it up and help Amanda out, but she turned to the web to ask if she’s being a jerk for drawing a line at payment in food.
From what we can tell from the woman’s post, Amanda seems a bit toxic, considering she’s accusing her of, in her words, “ruining family bonds.” Perhaps if Amanda had made a more convincing offer, she wouldn’t be so mad at OP’s refusal.
Image credits: Mike Mozart / Flickr (not the actual photo)
Long before we had cards, cash, and Bitcoin, humans bartered for goods and services. Bartering had its downsides though, because it relied on a coincidence of wants and needs. If you didn’t need a goat and your bartering partner had no use for your cow, you were out of luck.
This snag led to humans developing currency. According to the Britannica website, some of mankind’s earliest currencies were objects sourced from nature, such as cowrie shells, first used as money about 1200 BCE.
Though this may seem like a fairly random choice, the shells had a number of unique advantages - they were small, hardwearing, and similar in size to each other, making them easy to transport and make deals with.
What OP’s sister lacks is a deal that works for everyone because, in this instance, bartering clearly isn’t going to do the trick.
According to Cirrus Insight, two of the biggest deals in US history include the Louisiana Purchase, which saw the United States buy the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million (effectively doubling the size of the United States), and Henry Ford’s 1914 deal with his workers to shorten the workday by an hour and double their salary. We’re sure anyone working today would agree that that’s nothing to be sniffed at.
Considering OP’s not inclined to spend her afternoons chasing after a toddler who thinks glitter glue is a new form of edible art, Amanda’s new deal better be sweeter than a coupon and a couple of bags of candy.
What would you do if you were in OP’s shoes? Do you think the sister’s deal was fair, or does she need to consider forking over some cold, hard cash? Let us know your opinion in the comments!
Readers in the comments slammed the sister for her bogus bargaining chips and told the woman that if her family are complaining, they can babysit too
