‘I found a piece of chicken breast rotting in my car.’ Guy Asks If He’s Wrong For Demanding His Family Gives Him A Car Until The One They Ruined Is Fixed

This post kind of sounds like one of my favorite episodes of Seinfeld, but when it’s your car that’s “stunk up” and you can’t afford to just buy a new one, things take on a bit more of a serious tone.

OP is grown and has relationships with both of his parents, though they split when he was a kid. His father remarried and has a son, but OP and the half-sibling aren’t close.

My dad left my mom when I was 12. I love both of them but when he remarried within a year of the divorce I knew more than I needed to know.

I live close to both my folks and they both have keys to my house in case of emergency.

My half brother (18) still lives with my father and his mother. He seems like a good enough kid but he is my dad’s son not my brother.

Both of his parents have an emergency key to his apartment and he allows his father to use his car when he’s not home if he needs to.

When OP returned from a two-week trip, though, he found his car absolutely reeking. The source of the smell? A forgotten (raw) chicken breast.

I just went on vacation to Brazil for a couple of weeks. When I got back my car stunk. I almost threw up from the reek.

I found a piece of chicken breast rotting in my car.

I don’t buy raw chicken breast to eat. I hate the way it feels. I buy it prepared and fully cooked.

I asked my mom about it and she had no clue. I asked my father and he told me that he borrowed my car, which he is allowed to do, and used it to get groceries.

OP confronted his father and eventually learned that his half-brother had taken the car, someone had gotten groceries, and who knows but now it stinks.

The car detailing place said he would need the upholstery replaced to get the smell out, and OP told dad he needs to pay for it.

I told him that he had to pay someone to clean my f**king car. I got ahold of a detailing company but they said that the smell was in my upholstery and I would probably need to get it replaced.

I told my dad and he said that he couldn’t afford that. I called my insurance company and asked if I was covered in any way. They said that if my car had been used without my permission I could report it as stolen and they would cover it.

I told my dad and he lost it. He admitted that his son had taken my keys and used my car. And that if I reported it stolen he would get in trouble and it would affect his college admission.

Dad said he can’t afford it, so OP gave them a few options – one of which was him filing a police report so that insurance would cover the repair costs.

I gave my father four choices, pay to replace the upholstery in my car and guarantee the smell was gone, buy the car from me at full market value so I could replace it, give me his car to use until the smell went away, or I would report the car as having been stolen.

Since the only extra money he has is his son’s college fund he is in a bind. I told him I was taking his car until he decided.

I grabbed both sets of keys and left. I also took my emergency key back and changed the locks at my house.

For now, OP traded them cars. His stepmother is upset about having to ride around in a car that smells so foul (heh, see what I did there?) and Dad is having to decide between making this right or sending the son to college.

His wife has been hounding me because they have to drive around in a stinking car. I told her that I could report it as stolen and have her thief son deal with the consequences. She has had to start taking Ubers everywhere because she can’t handle the stench.

My dad is close to cracking and using his kid’s money to pay for my car.

I feel like an a$$hole and that family thinks I am but my car was only a year old and I loved it.

Did OP go too far? Should he forgive and forget, since it’s family?

Let’s hear what Reddit thinks!

The top commenter has questions, but also says this is not OP’s problem to fix.

This person, too, has more questions than answers.

More than a few people pointed out that OP is now a thief, too. Technically.

This comment says they suspect the chicken breast was a prank gone wrong.

Others think it was just an accident – but they still need to set it right.

This is definitely one of the weirder stories I’ve seen on here in awhile.

OP isn’t wrong…but I also don’t think they’re getting new upholstery any time soon.