One young lady living in the Netherlands follows the tradition of Sint Maarten, where kids sing for candy between 6 and 7 pm.
After the new neighbors showed up late, expecting a treat, things got a little heated when the candy ran out and the rules were enforced.
Read on for the story.
AITA for not giving the neighbors kids candy?
I, 21f, live with my parents in the Netherlands.
Here we have a tradition on November 11 called Sint Maarten.
It’s where kids make their own lanterns, go door to door, sing songs for candy.
Kinda like trick or treating.
In my neighborhood we have the rule that the kids (and their parents) can only come to the door for candy between 6 and 7pm.
No sooner and no later.
It’s also a rule that the houses who participate, need to have a candle outside next to the door.
No candle means no songs/candy.
Now we have new neighbors (they moved here 6 months ago, but this is the first time they participated here), with 4 kids between 9ish and 15ish so of course they were welcome to participate.
Got it. No candle, no candy, no exceptions.
Now I was home alone during Sint Maarten, because my parents were with my aunt, who’s really sick.
I was really busy with my projects for college, but between 6 and 7pm I happily put a candle next to the door and prepared a bowl of candy.
Many kids came to sing songs and it was adorable.
At 7pm I blew out the candle, grabbed the rest of the candy to snack on (there were 3 pieces left) and went back to my projects (I had a deadline that evening).
Around 9pm the bell rang.
I opened the door and there were the new neighbors.
The kids immediately started singing songs.
I didn’t know what to do and when they were done I politely told them that the planned hour for Sint Maarten was already over.
The mom said that they couldn’t participate then, because absolutely couldn’t miss her tv-show and that her husband was grocery shopping.
The rules still stand!
Now I’d like to point out that we have a group chat with all the adults in the neighborhood and each year the rules are repeated.
These new neighbors are also in this chat.
I told them that it wasn’t my fault that they had other priorities and that I didn’t have a candle outside.
The mom told me that because I had the decorative lights above the front door on, they assumed that I was still participating.
I explained the rules again and told them that it had to be a candle outside the door to prevent confusion.
She asked me if I was really going to deny her kids candy after they sang me a song.
I told them that we didn’t have anything left and she got even more mad.
I pointed out that even if I had any left, I wouldn’t have had enough for all her kids.
Candy’s gone, and so is your chance to participate!
She demanded that I go find candy for her kids, when I told her that the best that I could do was some fruit, she scoffed and said that I had ruined Sint Maarten for her kids.
The kids started whining for candy and the mom told them that I didn’t have any for them
In the meantime it was almost 9:30, my deadline was for 11 and I still had a lot to do.
I was tired, stressed and had a headache, so I was grumpy.
I still tried to be as polite as possible and told them that I had to get back to my project.
The next day there was a message in the group chat from the mom saying that her kids were disappointed that they couldn’t participate and that she expected better from a neighborhood with so many kids.
So, AITA?
Even though the rules were clear and the candy was gone, the neighbor wasn’t pleased with being turned away and made sure to let everyone know about the disappointment.
Reddit had a few choice words.
This person says the parents absolutely were the AHs here.
Like, the audacity.
This person wants to know what she even expected her to do here??
Guess when it comes to traditions, some people think rules are optional.
This is next level entitled!
If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.