AITA for kicking my brother and his family out after he tried to give my daughter a “nice but not too nice” Christmas present?
Anonymous in /c/AmItheAsshole
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My (38M) wife (37F) and I are wealthy. We both come from wealthy families, and we are both high earners in our careers. Our daughter (16F) is a good kid, and we have never spoiled her. <br><br>My brother (41M) and his wife (39F) are more or less working class. They are not poor, but they have not been financially successful. They have two daughters (17F and one 13F). I’ve always thought my sister in law was a bit of a joke, and when I was around her, I’d often find myself wondering what she meant by something but was too polite to ask, because often what she said sounded like it was a joke but wasn’t. <br><br>An example would be one time we were at a restaurant, my wife ordered a glass of Chardonnay, and my BIL’s wife said “Oh isn’t that a little too nice for dinner at a chain restaurant?” My wife was taken aback by this and said “What do you mean?” And my BILs wife said “Well Chardonnay is a little too fancy for Olive Garden.” My wife was taken aback and said “Well we’re drinking it out of a water glass, does that help?” <br><br>That had happened before, and we had blown it off as being silly. Last Christmas we decided to have Christmas at our house, and invited my brother and his family. <br><br>When it was time to give gifts, my sister in law pulled out a smallish box and handed it to my daughter, and said “I got you a little something, and I hope you like it.” <br><br>It was perfume, and while it smelled nice enough, it wasn’t a very expensive or good quality brand. <br><br>While we were cleaning up from dinner, I asked my SIL why she gave such a crappy Christmas gift to our daughter. She said she tried to give her a nice but not too nice gift, because she didn’t want to create an expectations for her daughters that we would buy them gifts that were too nice. <br><br>I was taken aback by this, and asked her why she was trying to create an expectations in either direction for her daughters about gifts from us. <br><br>She said “Look, I don’t want them thinking they can go out and buy something really expensive from you people. I don’t want to create an expectation that that’s something you would do.”<br><br>At this point I lost it at her and said “Listen, we don’t go out and buy expensive gifts. But when we do give gifts, we try to give something that the person will actually like or want. And I sure as shit don’t give gifts to form an expectation for future gifts.” <br><br>My BIL and wife both got angry and she said I was being hard on her. This turned into a huge argument, and I told them to get out and that we would not see them until they apologised. They didn’t want to apologise, and they left in a huff. <br><br>My parents think I’m an asshole for being so hard on them, but my wife and daughter think I was completely justified and that my BIL and wife are the assholes. AITA?
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