Some teens hustle to get their first car. Others hustle their parents. And then there's Sally — 18, jobless, and, in her stepmom's words, "an entitled, manipulative young lady."
Her stepmom didn't just say no when she asked to borrow one of her two cars. She told her to get a job. And that, according to Reddit's r/AITA forum, was enough to spark a full-blown meltdown.
The original poster, who shares a 5-year-old son with her husband, said Sally — his daughter from a previous marriage — has spent "her entire life milking the ‘child of divorce' card" to manipulate her parents into competing over who can cave faster.
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"She is now a lazy adult," the stepmom wrote, "has poor grades in school, no perspective, no job, no desire to get a job or do something with her life."
She doesn't blame just Sally. Both bio-parents, she says, are responsible. Instead of working together, they punish each other by spoiling Sally. Dad cuts her off? Mom tosses her cash. Mom grounds her? Dad tosses her the keys.
The stepmom said she asked her husband why their parenting styles were so different — strict and functional with their shared son, but chaotic when it came to Sally. He told her it was because she's a "normal, sane woman" he can actually communicate with.
Whatever the reason, things boiled over once summer hit. Sally's car broke down and suddenly her social calendar was at risk — parties, hangouts, all of it. Neither parent wanted to give up their own vehicle or fork over the money for another. So Sally tried her luck with her stepmom.
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Problem is, that SUV she had her eyes on wasn't just sitting in the driveway collecting dust. It was issued by the stepmom's employer. The second car — a smaller one she uses for errands — was hers too, and she wasn't giving it up.
"I refused and told her she can't use any of my car," she wrote. "She insisted and said I don't need two cars at the same time but she needs one to get around. I told her she is free to use public transportation or get a job and buy one herself."
Sally didn't take that well. She allegedly ran to extended family, claiming she was being "exploited" and "sent to work" like some Dickensian street urchin.
The stepmom wasn't having it.
"I had a good laugh about this with my husband's sister," she said, "but my MIL claims I could have just refused instead of telling her to get a job. I am a little confused what's so bad about telling an adult to get a job. It's not like I sent a 12-year-old to work for her food."
She's not the only one laying down the law when it comes to teens and transportation. According to insurance site Lemonade, more than half of parents with teenage drivers say they've gotten into arguments over driving privileges, making it one of the top household flashpoints. And for those footing the bill, the average annual cost of supporting a teen driver runs a steep $6,480 — which might explain why this stepmom wasn't in the mood to hand over her keys to someone who hadn't earned them.
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Reddit's verdict was immediate and clear: she was not in the wrong.
Commenters came through with a mix of backup plans and blunt advice.
"Hide your keys," one said.
"If one of my cars goes missing, I'm not going to call you to beg you to bring it back," another added. "I'm calling the police and I will press charges."
Someone even suggested disconnecting the battery, just in case.
Another reader took aim at the long-term parenting problem: "Your husband and his ex-wife hate each other more than they love their daughter," one person wrote. "They're not doing her any favors by undermining one another."
And some, while still firmly backing the stepmom's decision, offered a reality check: "She has never had someone teach her responsibility or how to be an adult. These things are not something she is likely to pick up naturally, especially in the kind of family environment you are describing."
One commenter summed it up with a jab that doubled as tough love: "She learned early the fine art of playing one parent against the other and now expects to be a leech. Don't give in."
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