Karen DEMANDS I STOP READING... GETS TAUGHT A LESSON! - Reddit Stories

In today’s episode of Reddit Stories Podcast, a wild Karen completely loses it. You won’t believe how this one ends! Sit back, relax, and enjoy this binge-worthy Reddit Stories Podcast, featuring Karen freakouts, entitled people stories, and pro revenge tales.

🎧 Listen to More Reddit Stories Podcast Episodes Here:
👉 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5ZVzMm0Pr3bwlM26VuVv8J
👉 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mr-redder/id1516821033

📌 **Every episode dives into trending Reddit stories, insane Karen freakouts, and dramatic pro revenge stories! We cover the wildest situations from r/EntitledPeople, r/AITA, and r/EntitledParents. If you love binge-worthy podcast compilations, long-form storytelling, and Reddit drama stories, you’re in the right place!

👉 📺 Love These Stories? Watch Full Video Episodes on YouTube! → https://www.youtube.com/@MrRedderYT


🎵 Music Credit: https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories-podcast-mr-redder--5571651/support.

Enjoyed this story? Follow the show and leave a quick rating.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, mister Redder here, welcome back to another episode
of Reddit podcast Stories. Our first story we'll be reading today,
Karen Teacher takes my kid's book because she reads too much.
After that, wild Karen loses it in the er, And
after that, am I the jerk for making my son,
who's sixteen, volunteer at the zoo. Now, for every thumbs

(00:20):
up this video gets one, Karen does not get to
take anyone's book. I haven't even read a book since
the last Terry Potter one came out to be honest.
So please smash that like button and subscribe and turn
on notifications for news stories from Reddit every single day.
Karen Teacher takes my kid's book because she reads too much.

(00:41):
My daughter, Chloe, who's eleven, is very active outside of school.
She plays soccer, takes swimming lessons, and will play outside
a lot with the neighborhood kids. She's very social. Most
of her friends are from outside of school. At school, however,
she struggles making friends. Chloe has ADHD and was bullied
in third fourth grade for some of that. While it

(01:02):
was brought under control by fifth current grade, these kids
still don't play with her and pretty much ice her out.
While I don't think they have to play with her,
it also means that she doesn't socialize a lot at school.
She's okay with this. Her teacher says, our daughter often
plays alone at recess or reads. My wife and I
were not very concerned and explained she's very social and

(01:23):
active afterwards. Cleo is a huge reader. She's currently reading
her way through my wife's collection of books from her childhood.
She loves them and treasures them, knowing that they were
her mama's and wants to take great care of them.
She came home on Tuesday very upset and worried her
mom would be upset with her. I asked why, and
she said her teacher took her book away and won't

(01:44):
give it back until tomorrow. When pressed for more information,
she said she was reading at recess. Her teacher walked over,
took the book and told her to go play. My
daughter begged for her book back, and the teacher refused.
I quickly assured Cleo that she wasn't in trouble, and
even called my wife at work to have her back
me up. It was quite concerning that she was so afraid,

(02:06):
as my wife isn't one to fly off the handle.
She's also gentle with Cleo. I suspected. My wife assured
her she wasn't upset and that Cleo did zero wrong.
The next day, I brought Cleo to school early and
walked to her class. No one but the teacher was there.
I told the teacher to give me the book. She
obliged and tried to defend herself. I told her to

(02:28):
save it and she had no right. There is no
rule that Cleo has to do physical activity at recess,
and we expressed no concern. The teacher said she was
allowed to set boundaries for her class, but I pointed
out recess was free time. It's not like Cleo is
reading during math. We went back and forth, and finally
I said I'd be reaching out to the principle. The

(02:49):
issue was resolved quickly. I don't know the particulars, except
the principle told me that Cleo is allowed to read
at recess and unless she's actively harming someone or reading
during a non designation time, she wouldn't have any more
books confiscated. My wife and I were pleased Cleo even
more so. My cousin is a teacher at this school,
just a different grade She says what I did is

(03:11):
hot gossip in the teacher's lounge and that I've been
marked as one of those parents. She says, the teacher
isn't paid enough and I should have just accepted the rule.
When I pointed out that we only have two months
left at this school. Cleo is our only kid and
starts Junior High in August, that's not a concern. My
wife and I feel justified, but we're wondering if I'm

(03:32):
the jerk not the jerk, and how does a teacher's
pay have to do with her overstepping her boundaries. One
would think that if she wasn't paid enough, that she
had actually won a relax at recess instead of harassing students.
Not the jerk. How can you actively discourage reading and
call yourself a teacher? Not the jerk. I did find

(03:52):
the bit about the teacher not being paid enough and
you should have just accepted the rule to be pretty comical.
Your kids should not be mistreated as because a teacher
isn't paid enough. You did the right thing. The teacher
was strangely out of line and lacking in compassion, even
if well intentioned. She effectively punished Chloe, which was wildly inappropriate.
Wild Karen loses it in the er. I'm a veterinary

(04:16):
technician and I got injured on the job. A puppy
was handed to me and he started flailing and managed
to take a chunk out of the cornea of my
eye with his claw. It's amongst the most painful injuries
I've ever had. I can't see to save my life,
so I called my dad and asked him to take
me to the er. He picks me up directly from work.
The er is a madhouse. You know it's going to

(04:37):
be bad when there's a handful of staff waiting on
an ambulance to arrive. While I'm waiting in the exam room,
I hear a page come over the system for a
code blue. That means that patient has arrested, and it's
an all hands on deck situation for CPR. It's also
a reminder that you're lucky to be waiting in an
er because you're not dying. I'm eventually seen by the

(04:58):
doctor and I get a few sidelong li lances from
the nurse at my scrubs. They seem to notice the
large pawprint logo embroidered on them. From the hospital I
used to work at, and they leave me be After
my visit. The nurse who's discharging me points down the
hall at the door and tells me to exit that way,
and then she gets back to work. As I'm walking
down the hall, a woman pops out from one of

(05:19):
the exam rooms on my blind side and immediately starts yelling.
I almost crash into a desk. Our characters will be concerned, mother, mortified, daughter,
and yours truly, Karen, do you know how long I've
been waiting? Me gesturing in vain towards the pawprint logo,
I don't work here. Do you think I'm an idiot? Me?

(05:41):
I can get someone to We've been waiting for forty
five minutes in this room. My daughter's tummy hurts. Did
you even care about her? Her daughter, who seems to
be about thirteen years old, covering her face with her hands,
looking a bit like she wishes the floor would swallow
her off. Me. I can't help, Karen slowly like I'm
an idiot? Heer tommy hurts. Do you people even care

(06:05):
at all about how long we've been waiting? Me in
disbelief over how someone could be so clueless about triage.
Did you not see the man come in that I
got hit by a car, Just to guess, but hoping
to give her some perspective. Is he my daughter? Now? Then?
Why would I care? What's wrong with your face? Quit
winking at me? Me just struggling to see over here

(06:28):
my bad. At this point, a security guard shows up.
He stands between us and looks at her, then at me,
me desperately pointing at the pawprint logo I'm a patient.
He nods and turns to Karen and starts explaining that
I don't work there. I didn't hang around to see
the aftermath because you know, the whole couldn't see part.
Some say her daughter's tummy hurts to this very day.

(06:52):
Am I the jerk for making my son, who's sixteen,
volunteer at the zoo. I'm divorced, but I have primary
custody of my three kids, who are sixteen, twelve, and eight.
Last week I took them all to the zoo, and
it was mostly a good experience. The two younger kids
especially liked it, but my oldest, he isn't very fond
of animals. We passed a zoo keeper working hard cleaning

(07:13):
a giraff exhibit, and to my surprise, my sixteen year
old son pointed and said to his brother, that's why
you'd do good in school. I guess, or he end
up scooping crap for a job. He said it loud too.
The keeper and the nearby guests surely heard. I was
very embarrassed. I quickly led them away and left the
zoo soon after, and asked him where he learned to

(07:35):
talk like that. I said, that's not even true. Don't
many of them have master's degrees and hire. But he
said he thinks it's gross menial work for people who
don't want to work with their intellect, and anyone could
do it, referencing enclosure cleaning. I assume. I was pretty
appalled by how he's learned to look down on manual labor,
but particularly zookeeping, because, as I understand, it's not even easy. Sure,

(08:00):
it's manual labor, but I don't think I could do
what those zoo keepers do every day. I gaged from
our cat's litter box alone. I thought the best way
to teach him more respect and appreciation was to sign
him up to volunteer at the zoo. So that's what
I did. I found a zookeeper for a week program
at a zoo not far from here, and I enrolled him.
When I told him, he was very upset and said,

(08:22):
why would you do though that sounds awful? I told
him I thought he had said it was easy, so
surely one week wouldn't hurt. But he said, yeah, cleaning
up messes is easy and that anyone can do it,
but that doesn't mean I want to. His father thinks
this was too harsh when he found out. I'm guessing
some of his sentiments may be influencing these attitudes, but

(08:44):
I decided to stick with it. Am I the jerk,
not the jerk. Making him do the work will help
him realize how hard a lot of these jobs actually
are and the amount of effort people put into what
they do. The jobs we might see as undesirable are
are the ones that keep a lot of systems running.
To make that comment loudly in front of the zoo
keeper is just harsh. Oof. My daughter's middle school class

(09:08):
took a zoo field trip ones one of those overnight ones,
and I was a parent chaperone. In the morning, one
of the keepers led us around a bit and then
stopped outside the lion nighthouse. She pulled out a ten
dollar bill and said, half jokingly, Okay, I'll give ten
dollars to anyone who can come in here with me
and help me clean. So I and two of the
kids walked up with her, opened the door to the inside,

(09:31):
and OMG. We all turned around, wretching and coughing for
fresh air. I didn't know it's possible for anything to
smell that bad. The zoo keeper laughed like it was
nothing and said, just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you.
Guess I have to clean this alone. Enjoy the rest
of your day. I don't think ninety nine point nine
percent of people could do that job like it all

(09:52):
furthest thing from easy. Not the jerk, Not the jerk.
Gotta nip that attitude in the bud early, not the jerk.
That attitude anywhere in life is absolutely disgusting. That being said,
my only thoughts would be of concern for the keepers
who will be responsible for supervising him for a week.
I've been in this situation where I've had to supervise

(10:13):
people who thought the work was boring and menial and
copped a lot of attitude for it, not the jerk.
Any attempt at stopping the formation of a pretentious snob
is a benefit to society. Kid needs to learn some respect.
You're the jerk. Your son is one hundred percent correct.
Let me spell this out for you and all the
other idiots here on Reddit. We live in a capitalism

(10:36):
driven society. Becoming successful here is not based on how
hard you work. It's all about how smart you work.
You don't get rich working hard. Are janitors and fry
cooks rich? No, the rich ones are those who use
their minds. Just as your son stated, you won't get
rich scooping gorilla crap for ten bucks an hour. You
won't even be able to afford a decent apartment with

(10:57):
a job like that. I'm just glad he had as
his father in his life to teach him common sense,
since you seem to be allergic to it and punish
him for speaking the truth? Am I the jerk for
taking my son's access to games? For deleting my file?
I thirty four female have a very spoiled thirteen year
old son will call Junior in our home. We absolutely

(11:18):
love gaming when we have the chance, So Junior has
access to all of our game systems. He mostly plays
the PS five, but occasionally he plays the Switch. So
a big rule I have for my switch he broke
his on accident, is absolutely no Fortnite. He has it
on every system he can get it on, but I
don't want it on mine, nor do I have the
space for it. I currently at home with a very

(11:42):
needy newborn who won't nap unless I'm holding him. This
is after five months of strict bed rest while pregnant.
As you can imagine, I've been getting a lot of
time to play on the switch, but when Junior asked
to use it to play a game, I gave it up.
Upon getting it back this morning, I went to play
one of my games Stardo to find half of my
games uninstalled and Fortnite on it. I was aggravated, but whatever,

(12:05):
I was stressed and just wanted to relax, so I
deleted it and its data. When I launched my game,
all of my progress was gone. I checked my other
games to find the same. Long story short, I had
a stern talk with Junior and grounded him from all
of the systems. As you can imagine, he was furious.
He yelled, went to his room, and slammed his door,

(12:26):
all of which woke the baby. Next thing I knew,
I got a call from my mom saying that games
are meant for kids and I needed to get over
it and give her grand baby his games back. I
told her absolutely not, and went and grounded Junior from
his phone as well. My mom is still blowing up
my phone and threatening to come save her grand baby

(12:46):
since I can't grow up and parent properly, am I
the jerk? Thirteen seems like a perfectly good age to
start learning accountability to me, not the jerk. He's thirteen,
he knows better. He has access to Fortnite on all
the other systems, so the fact that he ignored your
one wish about gaming is ridiculous. He's lucky you didn't

(13:07):
just delete the games and his progress. Oh no, not
the jerk. He broke his own switch, broke your rule
of no Fortnite on your switch, and I'm honestly confused
why he had delete your data from your currently installed games.
He should see consequences for his actions. Hope you get
some time to yourself soon. Not the jerk, And I'd
block Grandma from visiting. She's just enabling some very entitled behavior.

(13:31):
Thirteen years old is absolutely old enough to know what
he did, password the crap out of everything and parental
lock at all when you give it back and he
has to ask for everything all over again. I'm all
for flexible parenting, but trust is earned, not the jerk.
But this is why it's so important you have a
man of the house to prevent kids from acting this way.

(13:52):
Kids who grow up in fatherless homes tend to run
amok and lack proper development. I have a master's in
early childhood and family study because I'm very passionate about
this topic. But you don't have to take my word
for it. Just ask anyone who grew up in a
home with a structured family versus growing up in a
fatherless home. The campaigns began in the sixties to convince

(14:13):
mothers to leave their husbands and attempt to raise their
kids on their own. However, in the upper income brackets
this never became a common thing the way it did
among the mid to lower middle class. The elite never
forgot the power of the family structure, and it's why
they still control over ninety nine percent of the wealth
and power. Gee, it's almost as if men and women

(14:33):
were meant to work together as a unit to raise smart,
successful kids. Whoever would have thought, am I the jerk
for not wanting to work around my girlfriend's daughter's nap schedule.
My girlfriend has an eight year old daughter with a
heart condition. I have a seven year old daughter and
a ten year old son. My girlfriend's daughter has very
specific needs that can be hard to work around. She

(14:54):
can only be with one babysitter, so if we want
to go out without the kids, we have to go
on the babysitters schedule. If we do want to bring
the kids, we have to be at her house by
seven so her daughter can be in bed by eight.
Day trips are nearly impossible because she takes a two
to three hour nap at noon, so we either have
to be driving for those two to three hours, we
have to leave after she wakes up, or we have

(15:16):
to get a hotel or a motel or Airbnb for
her to take a nap. Yes, we've actually done this before.
Then there's all of the hospital stays to work around to.
She stays in the hospital for two nights every fourteen days.
I only have fifty to fifty custody of my kids,
so it's very hard to get the kids together because
of all of this. Sure we can go to build
a bear, the indoor playground down the street from her house,

(15:39):
or out for ice cream, but you can only do
that so many times before the kids get bored of it.
I've been trying to plan a weekend trip to an
amusement park for so long, but she wants to make
us all work around her daughter's nap schedule. The amusement
park doesn't open until ten, but we'd have to leave
at eleven thirty, so she could go back to the
hotel for her daughter to take a nap. We could

(16:00):
go after she wakes up, so we'd probably get in
around three point thirty. But the water rides close at five,
so my kids would only get to ride one, maybe
two water rides, then another couple regular rides before we'd
have to go back for her daughter to go to bed.
She wants to do something that would be more accessible
to her daughter. She can't go on the bigger rides
or water slides and her happen you take a nap,

(16:20):
would take a lot of time from the rides and
games like the beach and rent a place where we
can do things in the house instead of having to
go out all the time. But my kids really want
to do the amusement park trip. I eventually told her
we're going to do the amusement park. She and her
daughter are welcome to join, but we won't be leaving
early for naps or in early bedtime. She says, I'm
dismissing her daughter's needs, but I think she's refusing to

(16:43):
take anyone else's needs into account. Edit. My girlfriend just
texted me that since I'm unwilling to compromise and find
an accessible activity that everyone would enjoy, she booked a
last minute seven day cruise for herself and her daughter.
So the kids and I can do whatever the heck
we want, but she won't have any part in it.
Take your kids to the amusement park. Girlfriend and her

(17:05):
daughter can join or not. You had two kids before
this girlfriend, they should come first. They won't be young
for long and it would be a shame to miss
this time of doing fun things with them. It's not
their fault. You chose this girlfriend. Don't make them suffer.
I'm not going to call a single mom with a
daughter with heart issues a jerk, but you can have
a backbone and put your kids first sometimes too. Honestly,

(17:28):
who's in the riot or wrong here seems irrelevant to me.
If you can't realistically accommodate your girlfriend's disabled daughter without
sacrificing your own kid's well being emotional included, then this
relationship probably needs to end. No jerks here, I guess eta.
I'm updating my vote to your the jerk based on
the fact which you conveniently left out of your post

(17:49):
and admitted to in the comments, that you're trying to
split the cost with your girlfriend because you can't afford
to take the kids yourself. Did you seriously ask your
girlfriend to subsidize a trip without taking her daughter's needs
into consideration. It's downright cruel to expect your girlfriend to
pay for an experience her disabled daughter can't really enjoy,
and to insist on a group trip that doesn't accommodate

(18:10):
her daughter's needs. Confirm work or I don't get to
do it. Okay, my fiance twenty seven mail and I
work for the same company and this actually happened to
him a few days ago, but thought someone might get
a kick out of it. We work for a trucking
company that has dedicated to contracted work. I found the
job posting, showed it to him, and we both decided

(18:33):
to apply for it. The job posting was listed as
home daily. When we did the joke of a phone interview,
we were told home daily. When we finished our initial
training and spoke to the account manager, we were told
home daily. This was all nearly four years ago. Flash
forward three years, roughly a year ago, and things started

(18:53):
falling apart. The company we work for is rather large,
and the account manager has very little sway over the
contract that the company negotiates with the client. It's done
by a regional manager. So during the yearly contract update
in twenty twenty two, the client makes more demands and
offers less pay. The district manager just wants to keep
the client as a customer and agrees blindly without thorough consideration.

(19:17):
The biggest change that matters for the story is there
were new stores added to the contract to be covered
by the account and two out of four of the
new stores are not home daily. There were many other
changes that happened, that's just the one that most directly
affects the next series of events. Due to some other
changes that drastically messed up the life of the office
workers for the account. The account manager, who had been

(19:39):
working for the company for ten plus years, quits without warning.
We get a new account manager, Sarah. A few months later,
one of the two supervisors, who had been with the
company for over ten years quits without warning. We got
a new supervisor. More on him and a tick. Two
months after that, the second supervisor, who had been there
for over ten years, quits without warning. See a pattern here.

(20:03):
So now the account is left with an account manager
and the supervisor, who both have less than a year's experience,
flailing to figure everything out. Back to the bit about
home daily. About six months ago, my fiance started getting
the loads that were not home daily. It took him
a day and a half to complete one of the
new stores. Day one he would go up to the store.

(20:23):
Day two, he would come back and do a super
short run to conclude his shift before coming home. The
first time he got the new store, he called the
supervisor to ask about it. The supervisor was confused. What
needed clarification, my fiance, Will I be getting home It's
a lot of miles for a single day's run, supervisor, No,
you'll be sleeping at the truck stop about four hours

(20:45):
away from your home, fiance, I thought I was home
daily supervisor who said that the job was posted as
home daily. I was told home daily during the interview,
and I was told home daily by the previous account
manager at training. Well, I don't know anything about that.
I wasn't here for any of that. What I do
know is that Sarah looked at everyone's contracts and nobody

(21:08):
has home daily in their contract. So everyone is expected
to take equal share of the new stores to make
it fair. Okay, but I know there are some guys
who are hired home weekends because they sleep at the
operating center in their trucks and go home for four
days every so often. Yeah, we have some guys who
live out of state, So why aren't they doing the

(21:28):
new stores since they don't need to go home every night.
As I said, everyone is expected to take equal share
to make it fair, and nobody's contract states home daily
or weekend home time or whatever. That was never part
of the deal. Fiance, I have a family. I took
this job thinking i'd have time with them. I wouldn't
have taken the job if I knew it wasn't in

(21:50):
my contract that i'd be home daily. Well, you're free
to get another job if you like, but without ten
days notice, you'll be blacklisted and ineligible for rehire. So
are you quitting or not. My fiance angrily did the load,
thinking it was going to be a once every now
and then thing. Turns out they sent him twice a
week bare minimum. On top of that, most of the

(22:12):
miles for the load are back roads up and down
windy mountainous roads posted at thirty five miles per hour.
We're paid by the miles. He drives an additional four
hours for this new store for zero extra pay. Because
the store is in the middle of nowhere with no
major highways, he takes a major pay loss on top
of the inconvenience of not being able to come home,

(22:33):
sleep in his own bed, and be with his family. Then,
about three months ago, the supervisor messages both my fiance
and I to say that going forward, we will be
expected to confirm all loads and work or we won't
get loads. We receive our work and loads twelve to
twenty four hours in advance, so we do have some
time to confirm them. But it was never a concern before,

(22:54):
and we already had a lot of duties to fulfill
that it wasn't a priority each day to make sure
we typed a message confirmed store one, one, two four
at the end of our shifts each day. The supervisor
called us both out on it and said that this
was an important part of the workflow process. I asked
him why it was suddenly so important. He insisted it
was always important. I told him that I had never

(23:15):
had to confirm loads every day, and I have never
failed to show up for work, and on this super
odd occasion where I am unable to do a load,
it's because of something like a flat tire or a
truck breakdown that I'm waiting for repairs, and I was
always sure to contact the office and let them know asap.
Load confirmations are just busy work that is unnecessary on
everyone's parts. The boss insists once more, it is, and

(23:39):
please just do it. At that point I gave up
the argument. Maybe sixty percent of the time I remember
to confirm loads my fiance even less. Both my fiance
and I receive angry messages on our work tablets stating
that going forward, if we do not confirm a load,
it will be assumed that we are not able to
work the load, and it will be pulled from us
and will be placed on stand by, paid at fifty

(24:01):
percent average day's load pay if we aren't called in well.
Over winter, most of the loads for this new store
canceled because of it getting drowned in snow. Now my
fiance is getting loads for it again. He got a
notification that he was supposed to go to this new
store on Sunday. Guess who forgot to confirm his load
on Saturday. Sunday he wakes up no load and an

(24:23):
angry message from the supervisor. Because of your failure to
confirm your load, it's been taken off of you and
given to someone else who actually wants to work. You're
on standby. Fiance rejoices Tuesday, he's wants more given the
new store and forgets to confirm his load and wakes
up to no load and an angry message that says
basically the same and concludes with call me. So my

(24:47):
fiance calls the supervisor, and the supervisor wants to know
why it's so hard to confirm loads. My fiance just
kind of dismisses it with a shrug and ends the call.
We found out Friday after talking to some other driver
that all previously home daily drivers are now doing the
same thing. Get a store they don't like. Mostly these
two news stores just don't confirm. If we have to

(25:09):
confirm to get to do the store, we just won't confirm.
Am I the jerk for telling my stepsister, I'm not
surprised her kid doesn't get invited to parties. My stepsister, Micah,
and I have daughters a year apart. Micah's daughter, Gemma,
is nine, and my daughter Serena is eight. Gemma has
had behavioral issues since I can remember. When she was younger,

(25:31):
she had constant tantrums, couldn't sit still, and would vandalize
anything she could get her hands on. As she got older,
her lack of manners and destructive behavior made her nearly
impossible to be around. And besides that, she was really mean.
She told my daughter that her modeling campaign photos were
ugly and calls people stupid. Constantly tease my mother's dogs

(25:51):
to the point she isn't allowed near them anymore. She's
just not nice. The other day, me and Micah were
at our parents' house and my stepdad mentions Verena's birthday
and that she was having a small party four girls
from her class for a shopping and spy experience and sleepover.
Micah asked me if I was planning to invite Gemma.
Previous years, Serena had large parties, so we invited Gemma

(26:13):
as a courtesy. I said no, because Serena is having
a small party for her friends this year, and since
the girls are not close, I was not going to
force her to invite Gemma. Micah said I was teaching
Serena to exclude people, to which I said that not
being friends with someone isn't excluding them. This conversation went
back and forth for nearly ten minutes, and I was
getting fed up of trying to be diplomatic because I

(26:36):
know for a fact that Micah is aware of what
Gemma is like. She complains often, so I didn't see
why we were skirting around the obvious. Then Micah said
that I should show some compassion since Serena's party might
be the only party or playdate Gemma is invited to
this year. I just said I wasn't surprised. Micah asked
what I meant by that, and I said that Gemma

(26:57):
is not kind to the people around her and lack
social skill, and she's at an age where kids will
notice that and not be forgiving. Micah seemed taken aback
and said that she can't believe I would be so
cruel about her. She got her things and left and
is apparently not speaking to her dad because he didn't
stand up for her over what I said. She has
also said she won't be coming to any upcoming family events.

(27:19):
My stepdad said I was right, and that while he
finds it hard to be honest about Gemma, it's good
that I was. My mother said that while I was right,
as a mother, it's not an easy thing to hear
about your kid. My husband says that I should have
stuck to saying no to Jemma coming to the party
and left it there because she isn't our concern beyond that,
and I should stay in my lane. I'm kind of

(27:39):
questioning it now because I am someone who generally does
try to stay in my lane and not get involved
in other people's parenting or family business. But the comment
was topical to what Micah was trying to force me
to do, so I'm not sure if I was out
of my bounds to say it. Am I the jerk?
Not the jerk. Micah pushed for answers and she got them.
I'm sure she was just hoping her pushiness led to

(28:01):
an invite, So it's a ah. So it's a mess
around and find out situation. Is it hard to hear
that your kid's behavior is unpleasant? Absolutely? Could this be
a catalyst for Mike to step up her parenting game.
I hope so for her kid's sake. Empathy is hard
to teach, but behavioral consequences should definitely be present. I'm

(28:24):
going with not the jerk. I'm sure she knows that
Jemma is a difficult kid and has social skill issues,
but there seems to come a point in which parents
will start ignoring it and treating their kid like they're
exactly like everyone else, purely for their own convenience. It's
not cruel at all to point out that a kid
struggles socially to their parents. It would be cruel if
you crouched down to Gemma and told her she was

(28:45):
a horrible kid that's going to get bullied for being
so rude. Even then, not inviting someone to a birthday
party is not exclusion. If Jemma truly will ruin the experience,
at the party for your daughter and the others. It
makes perfect sense not to invite her. Am I the
jerk for leaving my sister in another country? For context, me,
twenty eight female, and my sister, thirty three female, planted

(29:08):
a trip from the US to Portugal. I booked the
airbnb and hotel. My sister asked if she could pay later.
I was fine with this, but a week before the
trip is when problems start to occur. She still hadn't
paid me. She owed me about one thousand dollars. I
mentioned it a few times and she sends me half.
She says she'll give me the other half cash as

(29:28):
she's a bartender. Well, we go on the trip and
suddenly she claims she forgot all of her cards and
essentially has no money, leaving me to pay for both
of us to do anything. I don't want to ruin
my trip, so I agree, and I believe she'll eventually
pay me back. Now, she's my older sister and I'm
the youngest. I'm sort of used to my sibling bossing
me around, but this trip she was being absolutely terrible

(29:52):
to me. I've literally never felt so put down in
my life. If we got lost it was my fault.
She was constantly yelling at me. She said she doesn't
pump gas, so I had to pump the gas every time.
One of the places we rented only had one bed,
I had to sleep on the couch. It honestly was
the worst trip I've ever been on. I put up
with it, as I thought arguing would only make it worse. Well,

(30:15):
fast forward to the day we're supposed to leave and
travel to Amsterdam. She hasn't packed, so I try to
wake up early so she'd have time and we can
make it to the airport. She just goes crazy on me,
saying she knows when she needs to wake up and
to leave her alone, then goes back to sleep. Well,
I decide that's it and I get an uber and leave.
I also turn off my phone. Well, not only does

(30:38):
she miss the flight, but she had no money to leave.
She ends up having to call my parents and they
have to help. Well, now my whole family is saying
how horrible I am for how I left her in
such a dangerous situation. I thought I was finally standing
up for myself, but now everyone is upset with me,
and my sister won't even speak to me. It's really
getting to me, so I want outside opinions. Am I

(30:59):
the jerk, not the jerk? I'm sorry your sister is
a jerk. You cannot trust her again. My boss expects
me to work overtime because I don't have kids. I
eighteen female, started a new job a bit ago. For
the most part, I really enjoyed. It's just difficult as
I need time off about once a month for doctor's
appointments that I absolutely can't miss. Recently, my manager has

(31:23):
started keeping my department two hours later than usual to
help with extra work. At first, this was okay. I
didn't mind the extra money, but it started happening every
day to the point where all I did was basically work, shower,
and go to bed. I didn't have time for anything else.
Yesterday I went to my manager and told her I'm
happy to help with extra work sometimes, but I won't

(31:44):
be staying every day. It's over time, which I cannot
legally be forced to do. She said this was okay,
and I thought that was that. Today she came to
me and told me that she needed me to stay
anyway as there were people with families who needed to
go home. I told her I all also have a
family I want to go home and see, and she
told me she only meant people with kids. I told her,

(32:05):
I'm sorry, but I won't be staying later every day,
and parents don't have some rightful claim to leave that
I don't just because they have kids. She told me
that legally there was nothing she could do to force me,
but that it would be extremely selfish of me to
force these people to miss out on time with their
kids and potentially pay more for babysitters and such. I
told her again that I'm sorry, but that's not my problem,

(32:28):
and I also have a life outside of work that
I want to live, as does everyone else. Mine just
doesn't involve kids. She left it at that, but I've
definitely been getting side eyed by people who I know
have kids as I have overheard conversations on our line. Ultimately,
I don't care. I'll still be staying to help about
half the time, but I do need time for myself
as well. Am I the jerk at it. I live

(32:51):
in the United States, we don't have labor laws that
benefit the worker over the corporation. Also, the time I
need off for my monthly appointment is usually the last
two or three hours of the day the appointment is on.
I'm never taking a full day or multiple days off
for them. Support our channel by joining as a member
today and we'll give you a shout out in our
next video. Or come watch this video next. You won't

(33:13):
believe what Karen does in that one.