July 22, 2025 at 1:20 pm

Her Parents Expected Her To Be Their Personal Assistant Forever, But When She Finally Said No, They Acted Like She Was The Problem

by Heather Hall

Woman stressed out at her desk because of her father

Pexels/Reddit

It’s easy to take people for granted when they’ve been doing everything for years without complaining.

So, what would you do if your parents always expected you to handle their paperwork, phone calls, and tech issues just because you always have?

Would you keep doing it for the sake of family?

Or would you finally draw a line and refuse to be their lifelong personal assistant?

In the following story, one daughter finds herself dealing with this very thing and reaches her breaking point.

Here’s how it all went down.

AITA for refusing to help my parents with admin work.

So, I’ve basically been my dad’s personal assistant since I was a kid.

I handle everything: bills, emails, forms, applications, phone calls, translating, password resets, you name it.

Every time there’s an issue, it falls on me.

Need to call a government office?

I’m the one on hold for an hour.

Can’t log into an account?

I’m the one resetting passwords and troubleshooting.

And if he doesn’t know his email password?

Forget it, now we’re spending the next three hours trying to get into everything.

It’s not just time-consuming, it’s mentally draining.

The father doesn’t even try to help himself.

What annoys me the most is that my dad doesn’t even try to do it himself.

He’s just like, “You handle it,” and expects me to drop everything.

Zero awareness of how much time or energy it actually takes.

English isn’t his first language, sure, but we’ve been in an English-speaking country for over 15 years.

He can speak it well enough.

He’s just completely unwilling to engage with anything even slightly technical or bureaucratic.

I get that they’ve been through a lot, and I’ve always tried to support them, but I feel like I’ve been forced into a role I never agreed to.

I’m not a kid anymore, and I can’t keep being their full-time admin assistant.

It’s exhausting.

AITA?

Eek! It’s always good to help family, but this does sound like a lot.

Let’s see what advice the fine folks over at Reddit have to offer.

Here’s a really interesting perspective.

Family Business 3 Her Parents Expected Her To Be Their Personal Assistant Forever, But When She Finally Said No, They Acted Like She Was The Problem

This person asks a great question.

Family Business 2 Her Parents Expected Her To Be Their Personal Assistant Forever, But When She Finally Said No, They Acted Like She Was The Problem

Excellent advice.

Family Business 1 Her Parents Expected Her To Be Their Personal Assistant Forever, But When She Finally Said No, They Acted Like She Was The Problem

Generally, people can do what they set their mind to.

Family Business Her Parents Expected Her To Be Their Personal Assistant Forever, But When She Finally Said No, They Acted Like She Was The Problem

She should rethink this.

Rather than quitting, it may be better to just ask her father for a paycheck.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.