Accepting a present you don’t truly desire is often simple. It prevents you from making a scene, and if you do not desire it, you may dispose of it without offending the gift giver. In this story a niece couldn’t manage to achieve that with her uncle’s present. However, she declined and returned the gift. In this dispute, the two are at odds, dividing the family. She doesn’t think it was improper to return the books, but her father is making her doubt herself. Read the story and let us know whether what she did was right/wrong.
Source: Reddit
I’m 16F, my uncle is 38M. He used to be my favorite uncle so this really pisses me off.
He HATES the fact that I read young adult books. Like he makes a HUGE deal out of it every time he sees me reading. It’s always the same “when I was a kid we didn’t have young adult books, we just read adult books” and “you should be reading books at a higher level, these books are just brain candy” and all that cringe sh&t. He makes fun of some of the books when he reads the cover details.
I love reading and idk, I like young adult books. I don’t get why it bothers him so much that I’d rather read about people my own age and stuff that’s relatable to me instead of stuff like Stephen King, or those endless fantasies where every woman has to be violently traumatized. Like sorry that I’m not into trauma po*n? Sorry I read enough to know what I like and don’t like? Sorry that I actually LIKE diversity in what I’m reading (EVERY single book he has EVER told me to read has a white cis man as the main character……) I’ve told him before that I don’t like the books he recommends and asked him to stop.
So two or three weekends ago I was reading the Good Girl’s Guide To Muder series. He came up and asked me about it. He just laughed and shook his head when I told him. So then the next day he comes over and he has a ton of books with him and it’s all this Sherlock Holmes stuff. He tells me that I should give it a try, it’ll expand my mind and help me.
I finally had it and stood up and dumped the books and told him I don’t need to read books about some crusty old coke head to “expand my mind” and that I’m happy reading books that I LIKE and he needs to stop shaming me for it.
I said that he NEVER treats my brothers like this, he’s happy to just sit there and play video games with them without criticizing everything they’re doing but somehow everything I do is wrong. He told me that I just have a hard time taking any suggestions bc I’m stubborn. I pointed out that I watched a really popular old show, Veronica Mars, because my mom said I would like it.
He got pissy and was like “Stop trying to make this into a gender thing, kids your age are OBSESSED with gender” and told me I was being a bratty little bit%h and to forget him ever giving me anything ever again. My dad heard about it later and said I came across kind of ungrateful for the books and that I could have just taken them and said thanks and let them get dusty. I said I’d rather he have them if they mean that much to him. Did i overreact?
SORRRRRYYYYYYYY I called Veronica Mars an old show, I know how sensitive people are to aging nowadays!!!! But if you love it you should be happy bc it aged well for the time it was aired in!!! Like some of the race stuff w/ the latinos was a little weird but it was a great show!!!
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