'She says she paid $90 for the cake and she expects me to give her $25': 17-year-old babysitter eats aunt's expensive cake, babysitter's mom refuses to pay for "already stale" cake

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Nov 7, 2024 5:00 PM EST

If you had a $90 cake sitting in your fridge at home, I imagine you'd eat every last bite of it. You can get a fantastic cake for a fraction of the price. This woman just decided to shell out 70€, or roughly $90, for an expensive cake. 

Along with having the money to buy such a pricey dessert, this woman also has a really inexpensive babysitter. Babysitting is one of those jobs that parents want to pay well for: their kid is the most valuable thing in the world for them, and they're buying the peace of mind. They feel comfortable going out to a workout class or a date night because they trust their babysitter. It can be even more beneficial if the babysitter is a family member who the kids have always known, which is the case with this 17-year-old niece. For a while, the arrangement was a win-win: the niece got some spending money to buy coffee, and the aunt got a cheap sitter. Now that this expensive cake is causing a rift in the family, this person is being urged not to let their teen babysit for the family any more… or at least she'll have to raise her rates to pay off that slice or two of cake. As people also mentioned, a two-week-old cake is basically garbage, and the teen should be thankful if she doesn't contract any kind of food poisoning from it! 

Up next, this 22-year-old was thrown a surprise party that they adamantly did not want, and when they fled the shindig, they "woke up to over 50 texts" from surprised family members. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10425456640
    via Annie Spratt on Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    AITA for refusing to pay for cake slices that my teenage daughter ate?
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 03
    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
  • 04
    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
  • 05
    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
  • 06
    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
  • 07
    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
  • 08
    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
  • 09
    (1) I am refusing to compensate/pay my sister for birthday cake slices that my daughter ate that were in her kitchen (2) My daughter ate the cake slices without permission and it was a custom-made cake that was very expensive
    via u/Jaded-Band-5692
  • 10
    YouthNAsia63 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 ideal how good she had it.
    via u/YouthNAsia63
  • 11
    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, shall we say, 20 euro an hour? For every hour? Or whatever the going rate is, or she can scramble to find an alternate.
    via u/YouthNAsia63
  • 12
    Your daughter could make all kinds of money for her Starbucks addiction, working for somebody else. But the bargain sis had- ended when she expected you to fork over 20 euro for stale leftover cake. NTA
    via u/YouthNAsia63
  • 13
    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
  • 14
    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?
    via u/oreganoca
  • 15
    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 the future.
    via u/oreganoca
  • 16
    A 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.
    via u/AdOne8433
  • 17
    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 sister with your child, to treat your daughter with fairness and respect. She failed that trust.
    via u/AdOne8433
  • 18
    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?
    via u/AdOne8433
  • 19
    Your daughter made the mistake of believing that your sister is family. This is not how you treat family.
    via u/AdOne8433
  • 20
    StAlvis NTA 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
  • 21
    [deleted] NTA. Losing safe and reliable babysitting over two week old cake is a weird hill to de on. Your daughter has likely eaten there while babysitting and didn't expect a two week old cake that wasn't popular at the party would be a big deal.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 22
    Ask your daughter how she feels about it. If she wants to continue babysitting, have her deduct it from her next babysitting job. But you shouldn't pay her for the slices.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    Charlotte_Braun NTA. It's two weeks old, and the niece wasn't going to eat it. Chances are, Sis is kicking herself for spending so much/going so far out of her way for a cake her daughter didn't like. Carly brought attention to the fact that there was so much left over.
    via u/Charlotte_Braun
  • 24
    Also, it doesn't matter *now* how expensive it was to begin with. The cake is now a sunk cost; Sis is not going to recoup anything by letting it rot in the fridge.
    via u/Charlotte_Braun
  • 25
    ironchef8000 Was the cake from the wedding of King Edward VIII to Wallis Simpson, circa 1937? Did it cost $29,000? I'm calling your daughter Elaine from now on.
    via u/ironchef8000
  • 26
    That said, she's helpfully babysitting her cousins. It's leftover cake. If the parents didn't want her to touch it, they should've said something. Otherwise it's not beyond comprehension that a family member doing. a huge favor might have a snack. NTA
    via u/ironchef8000

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