‘Not a single moment of their trip had been about me’: Entitled family living abroad leaves 23-year-old woman's graduation early after ignoring her for majority of their visit, woman decides to call off her trip to visit them in Germany as payback

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
May 24, 2025 6:00 PM EDT

The more you're surrounded by entitled family members who couldn't care less about you or your life milestones, the more you're desensitized to it. Even still, you'd hope that your parents, aunts, and uncles can pull it together for one day to honor your academic achievements, which are no easy feat. They'll likely fail miserably, and that will be your last straw. Instead of continuing to expect anything from them, you accept defeat and retreat back into your bubble, safe from their disappointing behavior. At the end of the day, this is the healthiest place for you to be.

In this next story, a 23-year-old explains that some family members are visiting her from abroad to attend her graduation ceremony. Instead of spending time celebrating her and her achievements, they instead boss her around and ignore her. They even left her graduation early, claiming they were hungry, even though she warned them to eat before the ceremony began. Now, the 23-year-old is refusing to visit them where they live, but her father is caught in the crossfire. Scroll to read.

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement

  • The graduate's father was unable to make the ceremony for specific reasons, and even confronted his wife when he learns about how poorly she was treating their daughter. Though she is thankful for her father's defense, she comes to the conclusion that making the trip to Germany, where her family lives, is not worth the heartache.

  • 600 "I had to miss out on moving my tassel which was really important to me since I'd never experienced a graduation before."
    via Andrej Lišakov For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "AITA For Telling My Parents I Don’t Want to Visit?"

    I (23F) recently graduated college. Both of my parents moved to Germany a few months ago and only my mother was able
    via Additional-Package32
  • to fly back to the states in order to be at my ceremony. I was super excited as I'm the first in my whole family to get a degree.
    via Additional_Package32
  • Unfortunately, she barely spent any time with me and when I told her I really wanted to visit this museum with her, she told me she didn't wanna go because she
    via Additional_Package32
  • had already made plans with her friend. I told her she came here to celebrate me and her response was that the trip was about her too because she missed her friends.
    via Additional_Package32
  • We also had gotten into an argument because I had planned a graduation party over a month prior and my uncle unexpectedly decided to come to the
    via Additional_Package32
  • graduation and he had to sleep on my couch, but it was too late to cancel my party. I didn't even invite my uncle because we haven't spoken since I was 15
    via Additional_Package32
  • and we're not close. My mom told me I should've planned the party for the weekend after, but I snapped back that my uncle was the problem since his only words
    via Additional_Package32
  • since arriving were demanding I get him a cupcake while he sat and watched tv. I told him I wasn't his maid and he began gesturing his hand at me aggressively in a 'give me' motion.
    via Additional_Package32
  • Then, on the day of my actual graduation, I got a million texts once I walked the stage to sneak out and leave early because everyone was hungry and it was
    via Additional_Package32
  • taking too long. My mom, grandma, and uncle are all diabetic, but I made sure to tell them to eat before they got to the ceremony so they could get
    via Additional_Package32
  • through the whole thing. I told them this hours before they came to the venue and they still chose not to. Instead, I had to miss out on moving my tassel which was
    via Additional_Package32
  • really important to me since I'd never experienced a graduation before. I got my GED in high school because I had a lot of family issues.
    via Additional_Package32
  • When I walked out of the venue, most of my family had already left to the restaurant they chose for lunch, so I didn't even get to decide where went to eat.
    via Additional_Package32
  • Cheezburger Image 10507994112
    via Jessica Burnett for Unsplash
  • Everyone then ignored me when I asked to take pictures. All the pictures I have of the day, I took myself and I have none with any family.
    via Additional_Package32
  • After all that, they left to go hang out with my mom's friend. I called my dad the next day crying and told him I wasn't sure why anyone bothered to come because not a
    via Additional_Package32
  • single moment of their trip had been about me. He got really upset and called my mom to yell and he had demanded that she make it up to me and take me to the museum I wanted to go to. She did but it didn't really help because it felt like we were playing catch up.
    via Additional_Package32
  • Once my family all left to go home, I called my dad and told him I really didn't want to go visit them in Germany anymore as my graduation present because my
    via Additional_Package32
  • mom really hurt me and I don't think this is something I can come back from easily with her. He was pretty upset because he was really looking forward to
    via Additional_Package32
  • seeing me and all my siblings are calling me selfish for punishing my dad just because I don't wanna be around my mom. So AITA?
    via Additional_Package32
  • LonelyOwl68 NTA A college graduation ceremony is big deal to those graduating; you mother and your other relatives should have made attending it, regardless of how long it would take, a priority if they were going to be there at all. It's very disrespectful of them to leave before the commencement was over. You even warned them ahead of time that it would take a long time, but they chose to ignore that.
    via LonelyOwl68
  • Your relatives, and particularly your mother, should have taken that one day and attended your graduation and made that day about you. It's a huge accomplishment, and they should have respected that.
    via Additional_Package32
  • That said, you should go ahead and visit your parents, because your dad didn't do this to you, your mother did, and there is no sense in depriving him of your company because of your mother's bad behavior. Tell your father you want to come, but don't want to interact with your mother unless
    via Additional_Package32
  • she gives you the apology she owes you, and does it willingly. Even if she doesn't want to do that, you should go visit your dad at least. You and your mother can be civil to each other, not to ruin the entire visit, and your dad has done nothing to deserve being deprived of your company.
    via Additional_Package32
  • Besides, visiting Germany might be interesting and fun for you to do. Go, have the best time you can, and leave the argument with your mother aside for a while, if you have to.
    via Additional_Package32

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

family dynamics family drama entitled parents graduation entitlement reddit story family feud parenting entitled family reddit thread parent Reddit Parenting Fail parents entitled people Parenting FAILS
Scroll Down For The Next Article