Living with siblings often means sharing spaces and belongings, but what happens when boundaries are crossed? Family is expected to go the extra mile for each other, but surely there has to be some kind of limit to your obligation.
One guy has had it up to here with his twin brother who, after weeks, he caught stealing his allergy medication. His brother has since offered to get him a generic replacement, but the guy has turned to netizens to ask if he’s a jerk for demanding the original product instead.
More info: Reddit
You’re expected to go the extra mile for family, but this guy has had enough of his brother’s entitled behavior
Image credits: freepik/ Freepik (not the actual photo)
After noticing his allergy medication disappearing, he confronted his twin brother about it, who admitted he’d been stealing it for weeks
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The brother thought it was no big deal and offered to replace the pilfered meds with a cheap knock-off he found on Amazon
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The guy refused, demanding his brother replace what he stole with the original, more expensive product
Image credits: anonymousUTguy
His brother wouldn’t budge, prompting the guy to turn to netizens to ask whether or not he’s being a jerk for insisting on a one for one replacement
OP begins his story by telling the community that he and his twin brother have lived together for a few years. He adds that their relationship is usually stable, except for the fact that his brother has a habit of taking advantage of him and not respecting boundaries when it comes to using his stuff.
He goes on to explain that he suffers from allergies and bought a bottle of medication for it a few months ago. According to OP, there are 90 pills in a bottle, so it’s kind of hard to keep track of how many there are. Despite not taking a pill every day, he noticed that the bottle was getting lighter. He eventually counted them and found there were only 15 left.
Well, when next he needed to treat his allergies, he found just a single pill remaining. He instantly suspected his brother of taking them without asking, as per usual. When OP confronted him about it, he admitted to pilfering the pills but got quite defensive about it and claimed it wasn’t a big deal. OP replied that it was the principle that mattered.
When OP demanded he replace the product, his brother offered to get him a generic replacement off Amazon, but he insisted on a one for one replacement. His brother told him he would get him the cheaper pills or nothing at all, prompting OP to ask netizens if he was being a jerk for demanding the genuine medication at the original cost.
From what OP tells us in his post, it would seem he’s dealing with a severely entitled sibling. If you’ve ever had to cope with someone who constantly thinks the world owes them something, you can probably relate.
Image credits: Sam's Club / Samsclub (not the actual photo)
So, what’s the best way to deal with an entitled family member? We went looking for answers.
In her article for Psychology Today, Abigail Brenner writes that family members are often the hardest to deal with, because they’re connected to us in a more complicated, intimate way than friends, colleagues or neighbors.
Brenner puts forward several strategies to deal with difficult family members, including not trying to ‘fix’ the problematic person, being present and direct, encouraging the person to express themselves, watching out for trigger topics, and remembering it’s not about you.
In his post for A Conscious Rethink, Jack Nollan suggests a few no-nonsense ways for dealing with entitled people, family or not. Nollan recommends setting limits and establishing your boundaries, using soft language to prevent conflicts, identifying the difference between a need and a want, and keeping your compassion in mind.
It looks like OP and his twin need to have some real talk about boundaries, or he’ll have to invest in a lock to keep his brother’s entitled clutches out of his room for good.
So, do you think OP is being a jerk, or is his brother actually playing that role? What’s the most ridiculous sibling argument you’ve ever had? Spill the tea in the comments!
In the comments, readers swiftly concluded that the guy was not being a jerk and slammed his brother for trying to weasel out of buying the genuine meds
