47 Controversial Stories From Reddit This Week That Split The Crowd (2024)

From Redditor u/Maleficent_Guide_837:

I (M39) travel for work and make good money. I have never been interested in settling down or having a family.

I mostly work and take vacations. I don't own an apartment, much less a house. I live out of a backpack and a duffel bag.

My brother (30) is the opposite. All he ever ever wanted since he was a kid was to have a perfect family. Our dad did the same kind of work that I do and [my brother] hated it. He was always closer to our mom than our dad.

He married the first girl he dated after college and they already have two kids. They are happy. And I love my brother and my nephews. I spend a bunch of my extra money on them because I have more than I need and I want them to have a great life. My brother chose to be a teacher so he could spend more time with his wife and kids. I respect that but he isn't well paid.

His 30th birthday was coming up and I decided to do something nice for his family. I checked with him when he and his wife had a free week this summer and I got them a week away at Disney World. I also paid for my folks to go along so they could watch the kids and give him and his wife some alone time.

His wife thinks I'm a scumbag because I refuse to get a girlfriend or have a serious relationship. I don't want that. I like meeting a woman at a resort or on a tour. Spending a week together and then saying goodbye. It works for me. They don't want anything more from me than I am willing to give.

Because she thinks I'm a degenerate, womanizing, alcoholic dirtbag, she doesn't want me around her husband or children. So she made sure I knew I wasn't invited to his birthday party at their house.

I am seriously tired of her bullsh*t so I canceled everything. I took my mom and dad on a golf vacation instead. I sent my brother a card with [a] $100 gift card to a restaurant he likes.

My sister-in-law found out from my parents what his original gift was going to be and has been contacting me saying that I'm being a **** taking away an experience like that from her family over a party invitation.

I told her that she was the one who decided I wasn't good enough to be around her family so my dirty money wasn't going to be around her either. I told her not to bother me any more.

My folks are staying out of it and my brother is as well. He knows I don't owe him **** and that I just like to blow money on stupid gifts.

From Redditor u/MannerMinimum214:

I (31M) have a father (52M) who has two other children from another woman. He always asks me for money because I am a chemical engineer that makes over $250K a year. Most of the time I do it, because his asks are pretty small, but he has never had a vacation with me before. In the last two years, he has asked me to pay for his trips to have quality time with his other kids. This year, I asked if I could also tag along, but he said that I wouldn’t fit in and it’d be awkward. This time, the trip cost over $20,000, so I said, if I’m paying for this trip, I’m tagging along.

He got very annoyed and said that he had promised a father-son bonding experience for them. I asked him why he promised to do something he couldn’t afford, and he said "because I know you’ll pay for it.” I asked him why we never had father-son bond time, and he shouted, “ARE YOU GONNA DO IT OR NOT?” I told him no. Now all of my family is saying that just [because] I was denied something that doesn’t mean I should deny it to other people, but maybe he shouldn’t [have] promised someone he’d do something when he couldn’t afford it? Idk, a lot of people are telling me that I am the *******. What do you think?

From Redditor u/Pretend_Canary_9411:

My family situation is messy. I (25F) was engaged four years ago to my high school sweetheart. My fiancé cheated on me with my sister (28F). We had never had a good relationship even as kids, so after I found out, I went scorched earth [on] both of them. She was “so in love” with my fiancé, but he dumped her within two weeks and was back trying to get me to forgive him (I didn’t). My parents were initially on my side, but my sister had a nervous breakdown after she was dumped and was hospitalized, so they changed their tune to “it’s over now and you can’t be mad forever.” So I dumped them, too, and went to grad school on the other side of the country.

My grandfather was livid with the whole thing, disowned my sister, and chewed out my parents. Sometimes it felt like he was the only one who was on my side and understood. I was able to get my job to let me work remotely and moved back to take care of him when he got sick last fall and I was dev[a]stated when he passed a couple of months ago. I had been in limited contact with my parents since I came back, mostly because I didn’t want to be an obstacle to my dad seeing my grandfather, but with the understanding that any discussion of my sister or what happened would end that.

It turns out that my grandfather left me virtually everything. He left enough for my father to cover a debt and some token stuff for a couple of other relatives, but he wrote a letters for everyone and did a video tape with his attorney explaining what his intentions were. I knew that he had done well for himself, but he lived a… simple lifestyle, so I didn’t realize how much money and assets he really had. I would give it all up to have my papaw back, but even after taxes it is set-for-life money.

My parents are pretty mad about it. One of the reasons stated for cutting them out was how disappointed my grandfather was with how they had treated me growing up vs.my sister and over the fiancé debacle. There were other reasons, but that’s what they’re fixated on. The will is pretty airtight apparently, so my parents want me to “do the right thing” and share it equally between me, them, and my sister. Their argument is that I don’t need it. I make more than both of them combined and this would allow them to retire. My sister is not doing great and can’t hold a job, so this would ensure she has something for when my parents pass.

I don’t want to. My grandfather’s wishes were crystal clear, and also I kind of don’t feel like doing more than the minimum for any of them. They’ve been telling me that I’m being vindictive because of a mistake years ago. I can’t deny there might be a little vindictiveness there. I don’t want them to suffer necessarily, but I also don’t feel like they deserve my help.

From Redditor u/ChoiceDisastrous4432:

My wife is currently battling cancer, and one of the things she’s told me she’s struggling with the most was losing her hair. She’s been given a near 100% chance of survival since we caught it early, but the chemotherapy has destroyed her hair anyway, and she had to shave what was left of it off a few weeks ago.

Not long after that, she suggested we attempt to get our 17-year-old daughter… to do so as well. [Our daughter] has very long hair that she puts a lot of care into so I felt it was appropriate to ask her in private if she wanted to/would be willing to do such a thing. She told me that she didn’t want to cut her hair and I figured that was the end of that.

However, yesterday they came home from a “girls' shopping trip,” something they do every so often, and [our daughter] had a buzzed haircut. That struck me as odd after what she’d said, so after dinner I talked to her and she told me that my wife had said she would never forgive [her] if she didn’t show her support by buzzing her head. I asked her if she was happy about it and she said that she wasn’t.

When I went to bed, I brought it up with my wife and she said “it was [our daughter's] choice to or not; I just told her how I’d see the situation.”

I told her off, saying she needed to respect [our daughter's] personal choices and that a 17-year-old girl being against shaving her head wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary; however, my wife simply said it was to show support for her.

I’ve been sleeping on the couch since. I love my wife, and I understand that she’s going through something traumatic; however, her attitude comes off as very manipulative to me, and that’s not behavior I feel I can personally accept. I’m not sure if I can move past this to continue the relationship.

AITA?

From Redditor u/RiskCurious7230:

I’m the father of four children. In May my son… got married to [DIL]. [DIL] acted terribly the whole day. Straight up entitled and embarrassing. My oldest daughter was three months pregnant and hadn’t told anyone because she has already had one miscarriage. She was barely showing and [DIL] pick[ed] a tight-fitting bridesmaid dress. My daughter was super sick from morning sickness and [DIL] told her she looked disgusting and stop taking attention off of her.

My son, who was best man to the groom (his brother), had his wife seated with some cousins across the room at the reception and not at the family table because she wasn’t immediate family. We did not know this until the reception and tried to have her moved back with our table, and [DIL] said no, it’s her day. It caused a fight and the best man just left before the reception because his wife was snubbed.

A few days after the wedding my daughter miscarried again while [DIL] and [our son were] on their honeymoon. [DIL] felt like that was attention seeking.

My wife, children, and spouses normally rent a house by the beach for Labor Day, and because of continued bad blood between [DIL] and the rest of the family they aren’t invited. All three of my other children basically said if [DIL] comes they aren’t going. So [DIL] and [my son] got the ax.

When [my son] asked about it, I told him, “[DIL] showed us who she really was on her wedding day and don’t expect many invites from the rest of the family to do things.” [He] was ****** and [said] it’s not fair, that she is feeling left out because she saw on social media where all the girls (including the snubbed SIL, her mother, and my wife) went to [the] Barbie movie dressed in pink and she felt left out. Now he has to tell her she can’t go to the annual beach vacation and she’s feeling hurt. I told him not one person in the family wants [DIL] there and I’m sorry that she can’t come.

My son had me on speaker and [DIL] started crying, say[ing] she can’t believe how horrible we are and she wasn’t going to go anyway, and don’t expect to see her at Thanksgiving or Christmas ever again. I lost my temper at [DIL] and I told her the rest of the family would be relieved to hear it.

From Redditor u/ForsakenWolverine444:

I’m a young MIL, I’m only 39. Had my kids pretty young and I am very lucky that my husband makes a lot of money so I don’t have to work. I was a SAHM for a long time and once they started to spread their wings instead of going to work my husband and I decided I would be a home maker and be active in the community. That’s what I have been up to and I try to make the community a better place.

Now my oldest son 22 married and I was really excited until I met her. In general she is a very [business-focused] person that is very blunt. I actively dislike her but I try to be polite for my son's sake.

A few examples of why I don’t like her: Her wedding gift I handed over saying it was from me and my husband. She responded back with just your husband since I know it wasn’t your money that paid for it. Saying I am volunteering; well that’s not a real job since it doesn’t make money. It’s passive aggressive, and yes, I have talked to my son about it and even once with her to try to clear the air.

We had a get-together last night and I made a homemade meal… [S]he came up and made the comment… no wonder I could make a home-cooked meal; I don’t do anything else with my day.

I lost it and told her that she needs to respect me or get the **** out of my house. She was shocked and then started to cry when I did kick her out. My son is ****** and we had a huge argument and he called me a huge *******. I need an outside opinion.