'Your sis had the golden goose of babysitters': Stingy aunt charges teenage babysitter £20 for eating leftover cake

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Feb 28, 2024 3:00 PM EST

Unequivocally, to me, the best thing about birthdays is birthday cake. It's the thing that turns a regular party with regular party snacks into a birthday party with a centerpiece of deliciousness. It's not truly my birthday until I've had cake. And I'm not picky. Sure, I love a fancy-schmancy bakery cake or a beautiful homemade carrot cake as much as the next guy, but nothing quite tops a grocery store birthday cake. The sweet, refrigerated icing, the soft yellow mounds of fluff, the little balloons made of frosting haloing your sweet message. The good people at Jewel, Kroger, and Sam's Club understand the birthday dessert. They get me. 

So I understand being a little protective over your sweet treat. But definitely not to the point where I would charge anyone else to eat it, let alone my own family. But that's not what happened in this recent story from Reddit, about a babysitting experience gone wrong. As Marie Antionette said, (but probably not) "Let them eat cake."

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  • 01
    r/AmltheAsshole u/Jaded-Band-5692 • 18h AITA for refusing to pay for cake slices that my teenage daughter ate?
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 02
    I (f38) am a single mom with my teenage daughter, Carly (f17). My sister (f36) lives nearby with her husband and two kids, (f9 and m7). Carly sometimes babysits her cousins on the weekends so that my sister and BIL can go out, usually for 3-4 hours. In exchange, my sister gives her €30-€40, cash in hand.
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 03
    Me and my sister do not make Carly babysit, she volunteers to. She likes having the extra money to fund her Starbucks addiction without a part-time job in fast food or retail, plus the kids love getting to see her. I'm glad that she's getting to learn responsibility. I think it's a win all around.
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 04
    Last weekend there was a problem. A couple hours after Carly came home from babysitting, my sister calls me. It was my niece's birthday 2ish weeks ago, and there was some leftover birthday cake in their kitchen. It was a custom-made fancy lemon curd cake and I remember at the party a lot of the kids didn't want to eat it so a lot was leftover. Whilst she was babysitting, Carly had eaten two slices.
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 05
    My sister said that she should've asked before helping herself to the cake, and that it was expensive. I apologised to my sister and told her that I would have a word with my daughter. She mentions again that the cake was custom-made and expensive, and says that we should be compensating her. At first I honestly thought she couldn't be serious, but she did want me to give her money because of the cake.
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 06
    I mentioned that surely the cake is going bad soon if it isn't already stale (I said this light-heartedly trying to lighten the mood) but made it clear IM NOT GIVING HER MONEY. She says she paid €70 for the cake and she expects me to give her €20. I told her I'm not doing that.
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 07
    My sister says I'm being inconsiderate, and that my daughter ate the slices without permission. I feel like she is being petty, and what difference would it have made if all of it got eaten last weekend or at the birthday party? AITA for refusing to pay her for the cake?
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 08
    YouthNAsia63 • 18h Prime Ministurd [497] Pay sis for the two slices of her fancy cake, and tell your daughter she will not be babysitting her siblings without full and comparable to other sitters compensation ever again. And tell her why. Your sis had the golden goose of babysitters, and she obviously had no idea how good she had it. Emphasis on had. If she wants to nickle and dime you, let's go And don't bother to give sister a heads up. She can find out your daughter will be charging her, oh,
    via u/YouthNAsia63
  • 09
    Maximum_Law801 • 17h Agree! If this is the hill sis will die on, follow this!
    via u/Maximum_Law801
  • 10
    stinstin555 • 15h Pooperintendant [69] Honestly I would return the 20 euros in person... BUT it would be attached to an invoice for the amount my daughter should have been compensated for the number of hours she worked x the market rate for babysitting 2 children under 10 in their country. I would then pluck that 20 euros off of the invoice and ask my sister to pay me the balance due to my daughter in cash. Because if you want to FA you most certainly will FO.
    via u/stinstin555
  • 11
    wyzbang 14h ● And add a per diem for food and snacks, since she obviously cannot eat the ones at her house.
    via u/wyzbang
  • 12
    INFO: where in the kitchen was the cake being kept? And was there any previous understanding in place about your daughter eating leftovers while she is babysitting? Unless the cake was in the freezer, at two weeks old, it's well past the point at which it should be eaten by anyone and is a food safety hazard. Maybe some food safety education for all parties involved would be appropriate. If it was in the freezer, your daughter should pay for it. If it was frozen, it was clearly being saved for t
    via u/oreganoca
  • 13
    Jaded-Band-5692 OP • 18h It wasn't frozen, it was being kept in the bread bin. And yes I agree it isn't the safest, eating 2 week old cake isn't something I've encouraged in my daughter lol she will eat anything
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 14
    oreganoca 18h Aficionado [11] Changed to NTA. The cake was being kept at room temperature in a bread box on the counter. After two weeks, it really wasn't even a viable edible item anymore, let alone one with monetary value. Your daughter is lucky she didn't get food poisoning.
    via u/oreganoca
  • 15
    AdOne8433 • 18h Colo-rectal Surgeon [33] NTA. Your sister is being extremely petty. She's upset because her niece, not a random person, ate 2 week old cake. 2 week old cake is garbage. Your daughter is family. Your sister should be happy that the cake didn't end up in the bin. She's has been getting discount baby-sitting from her niece. Tell her that based on her behavior, she's obviously looking for ways to find fault with her niece so she can steal back half her niece's pay. You trusted your s
    via u/AdOne8433
  • 16
    Your daughter should never babysit for your sister again. If she does, it should be for €10 per hour per child, paid up front. Insist on a written contract that states what she's allowed to eat and drink. Is she allowed a drink of juice? Can she enjoy a share of something the kids are snacking on? If they have crisps, how much does each crisp cost? Your daughter made the mistake of believing that your sister is family. This is not how you treat family.
    via u/AdOne8433
  • 17
    SpaceyScribe. 16h Partassipant [1] Plus, it's not mentioned, but often when sitting for family there's an open kitchen rule. I'd like to know if that was the case here. Was the daughter usually allowed to grab a snack or two? And all of the sudden two week old cake is off limits? If that's the case auntie should have explicitly said SO. Regardless, I think Op should follow the advice in the top comment. No more free babysitting for Auntie.
    via u/SpaceyScribe
  • 18
    alien_overlord_1001 - 18h Pooperintendant [55] NTA. I'm guessing, but I think your sister thought lemon curd was a good idea for a kids 9th birthday party - the kids didn't like it, and she was left with a lot of this expensive cake. She hasn't thrown it out after 2 weeks because of the money she spent on it, and now she sees an opportunity to recoup some money to make herself feel better about her stupid birthday cake decision. Don't give her anything. I'm surprised your daughter doesn't have f
    via u/alien_overlord_1001
  • 19
    StAlvis • 18h Galasstic Overlord [1590] ΝΤΑ It was my niece's birthday 2ish weeks ago, and there was some leftover birthday cake in their kitchen. That cake is STALE.
    via u/StAlvis

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childcare cake family drama aita babysitter birthday teenagers reddit story am i the asshole babysitting aunt birthday cake subreddit reddit thread Reddit discourse
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