Among the many cynical but often damn truthful pieces of advice that I’ve ever heard or read, there was this: “every initiative is punishable.” And indeed, as soon as one of us takes an initiative in any matter, it instantly becomes our “inalienable duty” in the eyes of others.
Are you tech savvy? They will call and write to you day and night with persistent demands to fix their desktop. Once you babysat at someone's home and got along with the kids - be prepared that you will be perceived as a regular babysitter and they will take offense to any refusal. If you can cook deliciously, all your relatives will be happy to take advantage of your talent. Well, will use, overuse, and sometimes even abuse it...
More info: Reddit
The author of the post is a 16-year-old boy who discovered his talent for cooking several years ago
Image credits: Julia M Cameron (not the actual photo)
The boy tried to cook breakfast and so on for himself first, but then his relatives literally forced him to cook for the entire family
Image credits: u/Live_Frosting_7812
Moreover, each of them turned out to be incredibly whimsical and not so grateful
Image credits: Julia M Cameron (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Live_Frosting_7812
The boy tried to vent about it to his mom but she just said it's the fate of every home cook
Image credits: Vanessa Loring (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Live_Frosting_7812
And when the teen tried to revolt against this burden, he was dubbed 'rude' and even got grounded for 2 weeks
The perfect example of this is perhaps this story from the user u/Live_Frosting_7812 in the AITA community on Reddit, which in just a couple of days has already gained over 11K upvotes and around 1.6K various comments. The Original Poster (OP) is a 16-year-old boy who studies in school and several years ago not only became interested in cooking, but also had the imprudence to demonstrate his talents to numerous relatives.
And that’s it - very little time passed, and our hero began to be perceived as a full-time cook in the family. Moreover, in the best traditions of family manipulation, the OP’s dad told his son that cooking only for himself is 'rude.' And then the culinary drama unfolded rapidly...
It turned out that each of the family members had their own food preferences, and they didn’t hesitate to actively express their wishes and whims to the newly minted ‘chef.’ And when he cooked something that didn’t suit their taste, they also did not hesitate to loudly express their complaints. And, of course, without any special thanks to the boy.
The OP was trying to create some kind of a menu for the week, desperately attempting to please everyone, and at the same time not fall behind in his studies (after all, no one canceled school for him!), but every day it became worse, and the whims of his relatives turned out to be increasingly bizarre.
The guy tried to complain to his mom, but she philosophically and thoughtfully noted that such is the fate of everyone who undertakes to cook for the whole family. The son tried to reasonably argue that he didn’t volunteer to do this - he was actually forced, but to no avail. Apparently, this decent woman was so glad that there was someone on whom to shift the burden of cooking that she was actually deaf to the sufferings of her own son.
Moreover, when just recently the teen tried to rebel, saying that he didn’t volunteer to cook for all these folks, he was immediately labeled 'rude' and 'disrespectful,' and was almost accused of trying to starve his relatives (like ordering pizza is that difficult and beyond human strength!..) and he ended up being grounded for 2 weeks. Every initiative is punishable...
Image credits: Antoni Shkraba (not the actual photo)
Well, I can immediately say that the original poster is far from alone in his problem, and many of the heroes of our stories have faced something similar more than once. For example, this woman once got tired of hosting holidays for all relatives and went to the beach instead of gathering everyone at her home for Thanksgiving. It all ended with predictable condemnation from relatives.
The problem is that many people sometimes have wishful thinking and confuse goodwill with duty. For example, as it was the case with another hero of our post, whose sister one fine day simply brought her three kids to his porch and demanded he babysat them, citing the fact that “he must be a decent uncle.” That guy however was strong enough to say "No", but he was, after all, an adult, not a teenager...
The most interesting thing is that literally all the people in the comments under the original post got everything perfectly well - unlike the author’s relatives. “You are a minor. It’s your parents’ responsibility to take care of you,” one of the commenters wrote. “Cooking is a wonderful interest to have and I hope your enjoyment is not ruined by your family’s behavior. It’s one thing to share your dishes alongside the rest of the food during meals, but another entirely to be responsible for feeding all your family members.”
However, people understand that the OP, being still a minor, is limited in his ability to resist abusive relatives. Still, there are a couple of wholesome tips from the peeps. "With your age, unfortunately there is not a lot you can do here. Once you have a part time job, start buying your own groceries and they can't complain about it being a waste of food," another person in the comments tried to support the author.
It’s interesting, by the way - in this story of ours, the mom was actually criticized by her own mother for trying to teach her son to cook, but here the situation turned out to be completely different. So what would you, our dear readers, do if you were the original poster? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
People in the comments sided with our hero, but said that he actually hasn't got that many chances to resist since he's still a minor
