Ideally, when you give someone a gift you give them something you think they’ll actually want. Otherwise, what’s the point?
In today’s story, an aunt sends a gift but seems to have an ulterior motive. Her nephew thinks it’s probably best to return the gift, but now he’s wondering if he messed up.
Let’s read all the details to see whether the aunt or nephew are in the wrong.
AITA for sending back the gift?
My birthday came and my aunt said she got me a gift. She says that she hopes that I like it.
I told her “great can’t wait to get it and it’s the thought that counts”.
She had some issues tracking the shipment of her gift so she asked me several times if I’ve received her gift in the mail.
I told her not yet.
The gift was definitely a surprise!
Eventually I got her gift and opened it.
It was a scale. It’s a ‘smart’ scale that people use to not only measure your weight but also liseral body fat and other such things.
I was kinda confused because I don’t see myself being excited over a scale at all.
The aunt is requesting pretty personal information.
I explained to my aunt thanks for the gift, it’s the thought that counts.
She replied and said that I should step on the scale get all of my information AND have my wife use the scale too and send BOTH of our information from the scale to her. She will then go over our personal information and explain to us how we measure up to people our age.
As an athlete for many years I can confidently say that I’ve never really struggled with my weight so I’m not even sure where she’s coming from (note that she’s a dietitian).
All of this is done while I was assisting my wife with recovering from a surgery.
Now the aunt wants the scale back.
I politely declined her offer the best way I could and said it’s personal information that I choose to not share with anybody. I then explained that I’m grateful for the gift and it’s really the thought that counts.
Her reply was really snarky.
She basically apologized that I don’t trust her to share my info and that I should send the scale back as she’ll put it to better use.
They decided to return the scale.
At this point it really feels like she didn’t want to give me any gift at all and just wanted personal information from me and my wife.
My wife agreed with me and explained that I should just send the scale back just to put the nail in the coffin and end this whole thing.
So I did.
The aunt seems upset that her gift was rejected.
I spent my money to send a scale back to my aunt.
I then sent my aunt the shipping tracking number in a text and explained that if she could refrain from giving gifts with assignments or further contingencies to where the ‘gift’ will ultimately need to be returned that would be great.
My aunt replied with another snarky text and said that we shouldn’t exchange gifts at all.
I didn’t really agree with what she wanted. I still wanted to send her and my uncle gifts for their birthdays (both of their birthdays are about a week apart).
The aunt returned OP’s gifts.
Anyway about 6 months later I sent my aunt and uncle small birthday gifts from Amazon. Things of maybe $50 each.
I sent those gifts without any strings attached.
My aunt then sent me a text saying that she was disappointed in receiving my gift as it breaks our ‘agreement’ and we shouldn’t send and only send loving thoughts to each other.
She returned both gifts that I sent… I’m totally confused on her priorities and intentions now.
AITA?
This aunt sounds really annoying. I’d probably stop sending her gifts. That’s the easiest solution to the problem.
Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.
This reader would’ve sent a snarky gift to the aunt.
He should stop sending her gifts.
This is a funny idea for a gift the aunt would hate!
She probably had an ulterior motive.
Sometimes it’s better not to get a gift at all.
If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.