A lot of people who try to take advantage of others use lines such as “family helps family.”

But funnily enough, they usually don’t act according to it.

In this story, a man shares about a friend who after growing tired of being used as a wallet by his parents, put their ‘family helps family’ line to the test.

Let’s see how they fared.

Testing the “Family helps Family”

It starts pretty much the same as a lot of the other stories, Greg was the firstborn to young parents (not sure on their ages but early 20s at the oldest) who at the start of his life didn’t have much time for him.

He was consistently at his grandparents’ house, that’s how we met; they live close to us, and we would hang out all the time.

When he was about 7, his parents had a girl named Jane and right off the bat, they told everyone this was the “make-up” kid, the kid who they were going to raise right!

Unfortunately, they weren’t interested in making up to Greg in any way. But he did well anyway.

As they grew up, Greg was a solid student, had a great friend group, and played sports growing up.

We became good friends because we hung out in school and he was always on my teams.

(I found out later in life that it’s because my parents being the good people they are, had actually paid for Greg to play some sports and he was on my teams because that was the only way he could get to games).

This sets the tone. His parents did things for Greg that his own parents wouldn’t.

He started working at 16, saved up everything went to college, then after completing college transferred to a university where is majored in software engineering and met his girlfriend (Sara, graduated in chemical engineering).

After school, they ended up getting good jobs and buying a condo.

Jane, on the other hand, a typical spoiled child, was barely passing high school when she needed to transfer after making false allegations that a teacher asked her on a date, and she rejected him that’s why he failed her.

But that’s not the only one of Jane’s shenanigans.

She has gotten into multiple car accidents, completely writing off 3 cars, still lives at home at the time of this story (she would have been 22) and their parents have paid for everything for her, from new computers to cars, to fast food and vacations.

They continue “raising her right” while still doing Greg wrong.

What led up to this is; for a couple of years after Greg and Sara had moved in together, Greg’s parents would consistently ask him for “loans”.

Being the bit of a pushover he is he would often give them a few hundred here and there, then a couple times it would be as much as a few grand.

It was a constant fight between him and Sara.

His parent’s behavior was putting a strain on his romantic relationship.

The cycle would be, his parents would ask, he would give and not tell Sara, Sara would find out and yell at him.

He would try to stand up to his parents, parents would give him the “family helps family when times are tough” or “blood is thicker than water” lines.

Even though he and Sara knew it was because they were giving so much to his sister.

Masks were about to fall off, though.

Then something happened Greg and Sara found out that they were expecting their first child.

This is where something must have clicked for Greg and he realized that he now has a family he has to worry about (we were at the bar when this seemed to finally click in for him, it was fun to watch).

He had already thought about cutting off his parents, this kind of made the decision for him, knowing he didn’t want people like that in his kid’s life.

Greg was no longer the “pushover” his parents knew; he was a man with an ingenious plan.

So with Sara’s approval, he decided to test their “family should always help out family” line in a pretty fun way (well in my opinion), he also wanted to see if he could get back at least some of the money he had given them.

The two of them started looking for a house once they found out she was expecting, found a place they liked and their offer was accepted.

Once they had all the closing dates and information signed off, he called his parents.

He told his parents he had lost his job and was on the verge of being homeless, he needed to come up with 5,000$ or he would lose his condo and he and Sara would be homeless.

Loving parents would do anything to help… But this was different.

Of course, the excuses started to come out as to why they couldn’t help him.

If he is man enough to playhouse, he should be able to stand on his own two feet (I saw some of the messages, it was like a sports interview with all the greatest hits).

Greg expected all this, and he took it all well, to be honest.

If his parents had given him the money it probably would have been a far more interesting story!

Sure enough, the closing day approached and he tried reaching out to his parents a couple more times, dropping the number he needed all the way down to a couple hundred and still no help.

His parents did not help him.

On the closing day, a bunch of us helped him move, his parents knew the date, he had told them he needed the money by such a date multiple times or he was going to lose the condo and no one showed up to check on him, not even a phone call.

H gave them multiple chances. Now he knew exactly what to do.

After the move, he stopped messaging his parents altogether.

He didn’t block them because he was curious how long before anyone said anything.

It took about two months (and in that time he got engaged) when he got a confused message from his dad, saying they tried to drop by his condo (probably needed something) and there was someone else living in his place.

Some people never change. But some do!

He simply replied, “Thank you for showing me how much family helps family when times are tough, I hope Jane shows you the same support you show me when the time comes. From Greg, Sara (My Fiancé), and soon-to-be daughter”.

Then he blocked them, and he hasn’t reached out to them since.

He did the right thing for him and his chosen family.

Let’s see what Reddit has to comment about this.

True.

A reader shares their thoughts.

This commenter shares their opinion.

A wholesome wish.

Another reader chimes in.

I agree.

Yup.

They showed their true faces.

And it was high time he saw them.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.