The story is about a woman in her mid-twenties who moved back home with her sister and her sister’s three kids due to COVID. The sister demanded the entire second floor for herself and her kids, leaving the woman to take the creepy, unfinished basement, which she renovated into her own personal space. When the woman discovered her nephew was stealing her energy drinks and messing with her game consoles, she locked the basement, causing her sister to demand that she leave the space open as a family room and ultimately leading to a heated argument.
Source: Reddit
To make a long story short, my sister (32) and I (26F) ended up moving back home at the sametime due to COVID. I’m WFH, and he lost her job. Because she has three kids, she made a big stink to keep the entire second floor to herself and her kids. I got “stuck” with the creepy, musky basement because of her.
Only it turned out to be a dream. I’m very introverted, and nobody wanted to go down to the creepy, unfinished, spider-infested basement. So it worked. I spent every month trying to finish the basement. I finished the floor with epoxy. Fixed the water heater on my own dime. Got a split-unit for heating/cooling. Exterminated. Then I installed some nice track lighting. Got a mini-fridge and foosball table. Now it’s my own personal clubhouse.
Until recently, when I noticed someone was stealing my energy drinks and messing with my game consoles. Nobody confessed. So I bought a lock and key for both doors, gave my dad the only spare (it’s his house), and locked up on Thursday, so I could go to an office meeting. That’s when we found out it was my nephew, because he left his stuffed toy in there and apparently whined all day until my dad got home and let him in. Now my sister is raising hell about how I shouldn’t get so much space for myself since I don’t have kids; that I don’t pay enough rent to justify it; that nothing in this arrangement is fair and she is demanding that I leave the space open as a family room. That was not the arrangement though. The basement is my room, and I’m the one who spent all that time and money fixing it. Nobody wanted to be there until I was finished with it.
Things got heated and I called her kid a filthy brat, because he is. He gets mud everywhere. Never washes his hands. And he’s broken just about every console she’s ever gotten the kids. And now she wants me kicked out of the house. Am I Wrong?
Here are a few comments on the story where it was originally posted:
Quick Update
So after we all cooled down, I did talk to my father. He said he has zero interest in letting the kids down there. When my sister tried to protest, he pointed out to her that the place is still not safe for kids. There are still rat traps. Exposed wood. He pointed out that she, herself, kept screaming about there being “mold” (there isn’t). So he doesn’t want ANY kids down there. And unless she’s willing to pay for an inspector to check (she’s not), she has no say. So that shut her up really quick.
Then she got into it with me for the “filthy brat” comment, and I was about to apologize because I was heated. It was messed up. Only dad hopped in at that moment, and chose to have a serious conversation with her about the youngest not washing his hands. He apparently ruined several leftovers in the fridge last week, and “slimed the butter” (I don’t know. I don’t WANT TO KNOW), which my dad did want to bring up anyway. Because the kid has a problem, and won’t bathe. But I stepped out at that point because it sounded like he was mad. Very few things make my dad mad, than having to throw away perfectly good food. It’s one of his triggers. So. Everything is shaping my way. For now.
