Families have problems – it’s fairly common. When you have brothers and sisters who have children, you want to do your best for them and love them as your own. But it gets difficult when those children are problematic and cause problems in your own life. Such is today’s story of a man whose nephew stole his engagement ring.
The Story
Reddit user, missingring_, shared his story on AITA (Am I the A**hole?) to ask the community whether he messed up or not by telling his brother and his family to get out of the house. He wrote:
“The reason I (26M) know is because I literally caught him in my room going through my things. And it’s on freakin camera. My nephew is 9 and has a habit of stealing things. They’ve gotten in trouble a few times at stores because he’d leave with something in his pockets.”
“But ofc because he’s a kid they usually just say he forgot he had it. Even at school my brother has told me they have had to come talk to the principal aim a couple occasions. Doesn’t seem like they’ve done anything to stop it.”
“They had to come stay here with me because my brother lost his job and they weren’t gonna make it with all their bills including rent. He’s doing Uber rn while he searches for a job and they can move out. I didn’t want to because of my nephew specifically but family is family I guess. A month ago I finally bought an engagement ring for my girlfriend that I was planning on proposing to soon but now I don’t know.”
“It’s a $4k ring that I spent over a year saving up for. It’s been hidden in my room under one of my drawers. One time when I found him snooping in my room I told my brother to control his damm kid, then got one of those cheap spy cams in my room just incase. Then last week I noticed it was out of its box, after checking the cam it showed he was in there again when I wasn’t home. My brother and his wife have yelled at him.”
“He says he left it by the tv in the guest room but it’s not there. They looked through all their stuff and his too. I know for a fact he’s lying about not having it because that’s the same thing he said about one of my watches he took then ended up finding it. By the second day my brother tells me they can’t find it at all. And I told him either they find the ring or he repays me the $4k I spent on it, if not they can’t stay here anymore.”
“My brother got really upset, he told me I know how their situation is right now, and yeah it’s a tough spot but I couldn’t ignore the fact that his kid he can’t parent took something extremely important to me that costed a lot of time and money. They were given a week to leave my house if they don’t find the ring. They’re having to stay at a cheap motel but my brother won’t stop begging to come back because what they’re paying right now each night is coming directly out of their savings. He won’t stop calling me heartless about letting something like this come between helping them out through a difficult time and my nephew keeps saying he’s sorry.”
“It’s just hard right now to want them around. Don’t even know what to do about the ring and every time I think about it it just makes me so mad that it’s hard to care about their situation. Does that make me an a**hole?”
After a while, the ring was finally found! He published another post telling everyone where his nephew had hid the ring. He wrote:
“Yes I found the ring!! It was a stressful day doing a deeper search in my house trying to think like my nephew and looking in places where I think he’d hide something if he really didn’t want it to be found. And the decision was if it really wasn’t found and my brother wasn’t able to get him to talk, or they wouldn’t be able to pay back what I’m owed then the police would get involved. He did beg me not to but I told him then you better pray I find it or you come up with the money to pay me for it.”
You can read the update post in detail on Reddit here.
The Responses
Reddit’s community supported this man for doing what he did. Here are some of the top comments:
CaliforniaJade wrote:
“It wasn’t in the sink, it was in the drain pipe, OMG. I’m so happy for you that you found the ring and got your brothers family out.”
“Amazing update.”
Deferon-VS said:
“Congrats on finding it and on not letting the thiving trio back in.”
AtomicBlastCandy commented:
“Never let your nephew into your house again, my guess is that he’ll steal something or ruin something out of spite. My guess is that his parents haven’t been talking good about you so he will find a way to justify it.”
What’s Your Take?
What’s your take on this man’s situation? Comment your take below!
Sources:
No your not an A**hole. Your brother needed to do something the first time it happened especially b/c your kind enough to take them in. It’s disrespectful and didn’t seem like they were doing anything about it. I’m glad you found the ring. Sorry about the entire situation. It’s just crappy all around b/c he’s your nephew.
Everyone is upset with me because I no longer allow my thieving granddaughter back. The last item she stole was a dang cigar (blunt). What it was is beside the point the point is if she’s comfortable enough to take something from me without asking what will she not take.
Im so happy you got the ring back. I have zero tolerance for thieves no matter who they may be. Giving them the boot is the best call. Getting the camera great. I also would suggest a lock. I had to when my teenager would snoop in my house. Discipline is definitely what this kids needs and a consequence to repay the disrespect. Yard work, car washing for a particular time frame. Wishing this could change bad behavior. This generation is a scarier one then generations past.
No you’re not wrong at all they should learn how to parent. Are is going to wind up worse he’s going to wind up in prison. Thank God you found the ring.
You are NTA! Your brother and his wife are the A’s for NOT controlling the kid. You don’t have to justify anything to anyone. It’s your home. It’s their hard luck. Every place I can think of is hiring. Go to McDonald’s or Wal-Mart.
I would imagine this boy is a lot like his father…and you don’t OWE them anything. I’m so glad you found it. My guess is put it down the drain out of meanness.
That kid needs professional help, right along with his parents who aren’t parenting… Brother and family stay out until they either learn how to take care of their little terrorist…