The good old-fashioned song claims that money makes the world go round, and we have absolutely no reason to disagree. Moreover, money is definitely the greatest invention of mankind. For instance, because all other inventions, even taken together, can be bought for money.
At the same time, money, despite its many advantages, also has some flaws. For example, because of money, many families have been destroyed at different times. Mainly, of course, due to lack of money. But it happens that because of a lot of money, family dramas arise as well.
Do you want an example? Here it is, a brand new post on the AITA Reddit community that has already racked up around 16.6K upvotes and 3.5K comments. As we have already said, the combination of money and family drama multiplies the effect, and here that is exactly the type of family drama that takes place.
More info: Reddit
The Original Poster and his family live in a VHCOL city
Image source: Henrique Pinto (not the actual photo)
So, the Original Poster and his wife, as well as their two children, five and three years old, live in a city with a very high cost of living, but they can easily afford it. Mainly thanks to the husband, who earns about five times more than his wife, while admitting that if they received the same amounts, they would not be able to live there.
Image source: Unique_Confusion9528
The OP has a high-paid job, while his wife works a lot for much less money
Despite the high salary, the OP's work is not the most exhausting. He works approximately 35 hours a week, and the only major requirement is that he must be on call all the time for about one week every month. At the same time, his wife works very hard - up to 50 hours a week - has an extremely picky boss, and is often stressed at her workplace.
Image source: Unique_Confusion9528
As the OP admits, he has repeatedly tried to persuade his wife to change jobs, but she, perhaps out of a sense of loyalty or just out of fear of something new, each time refused. As a result, it is the husband who takes on a lot of housework, cooking and childcare.
Image source: Unique_Confusion9528
One day, the OP and his wife both received urgent work tasks almost at the same time
Everything went on as usual, until finally, once again, the same week came, during which the OP should always be in touch. One day, his wife received a message from her boss that she urgently needed to fulfill a "request" from a client. As the wife herself said, this task could very well wait until the next day, but it would be better if she did it that day - just so that the next day, the boss would not grumble at her.
Image source: Unique_Confusion9528
The OP didn't mind, but remarked that if he suddenly had to rush to the office, it was really urgent. The wife, as the OP noticed, muttered something in the affirmative in response, but nothing beyond that. And then, two hours later, the husband received a message asking him to urgently come to the office.
Image source: Unique_Confusion9528
The husband wanted to rush to his office, but it turned out that his wife was already doing her own task and demanded that he look after the kids while she was busy
Usually the OP could deal with such issues remotely, but now the nature of the problem required his personal presence. He quickly got ready and went to the exit - but then it turned out that his wife was already doing her work assignment, so somebody had to stay with kids.
Image source: Unique_Confusion9528
The woman said that since her task appeared first, the husband had to wait until she did everything and tell his team that he could not do his work right now. The OP was indignant, stating that he just had a task that was absolutely urgent, and if he did not complete it, he could have problems at his job.
In the heat of the quarrel, the OP told his wife that his job has to come before hers as it brings them way more money
A quarrel broke out, but the husband could not stand it and just left the house and went to his office. Meanwhile, his wife called him and started arguing again. In the heat of the moment, the OP blurted out something like, "It's only because of my job that we can afford our home and lifestyle. So my job must always take precedence over yours, otherwise we'll just end up on the street!" After that, the wife hung up.
Image source: Engin_Akyurt (not the actual photo)
Returning home three hours later (it was already around 11pm), the OP found his kids sleeping on the couch in the living room, surrounded by cereal spills. The door to the bedroom was locked, and the wife refused to talk. In the morning, the children told dad that their mother had been crying in the bedroom all evening, so they had to take care of the food themselves and just go to bed in the living room.
Commenters basically supported the OP and also suggested that his wife change her stressful job
Most of the people in the comments supported the OP, outraged, first of all, by his wife's behavior, as she did not feed her kids before going to bed. In addition, according to many commenters, the husband should talk to his wife again and persuade her to change jobs - at least so that she experiences less stress.
Some commenters suggested that the OP simply hire a nanny - but, unfortunately, as the man himself admitted, there is no such service as an emergency nanny. After all, an urgent call to work can happen at any minute throughout the whole week. In addition, the OP added that he had tried to persuade his wife to go to psychotherapy, but she repeatedly said something like "I'm too busy" or "they won't help me."
By the way, maybe the Original Poster's wife could be helped by your advice or some brilliant fresh idea! In any case, just feel free to express your own opinion on this family drama.