I was on a pseudo-trip recently to Chicago. I say “pseudo” because I actually live in Chicago, but I had family visiting, so we stayed in a nice hotel and did all the touristy things I never do because I actually live here.

As we went around taking in sights and experiences, I was struck by how many people around us were doing almost nothing but taking pictures. Over and over, glamour shot after glamour shot, posing and posing then busily huddling around the screen to assess. It felt sad and frustrating to me that at no point did most anyone actually *experience* anything.

“I hope those pictures are good,” I thought to myself, “because they will be literally the only memory of this place you ever have.”

That’s all I could think about as I read this story.

AITA for not smiling in vacation photos and upsetting my grandma?

I (F19) am on vacation overseas with my family, including my grandmother.

We visited Greece and are now in Turkey.

My grandma is obsessed with taking pictures.

No matter how anyone is feeling; sick, tired, or just not in the mood…she insists we stop and take multiple posed photos, and she expects everyone to smile every single time.

Fairly relatable so far, right?

Everybody has the family member who wants to take lots of pics.

But it gets darker.

Last night, after dinner, we went for a walk and she saw a random spot she liked and told us to take a group photo.

I didn’t feel up to it but went along anyway.

She had us take several pictures, and in a few of them, I wasn’t smiling.

I’m no mathematician, but I think “a few” of “several” means there were some of these nearly identical photos in which she WAS smiling, no?

But that wasn’t enough.

When she looked at the pictures, she immediately got mad that I wasn’t smiling in some of them.

She started lecturing me in front of everyone, saying I “ruined the vacation,” that I was acting like a child, and that I was purposely trying to upset her and my parents.

I started crying, and my mom stepped in to defend me.

She reminded her that I have epilepsy, and the medication I take for it affects my mood—and that stress can actually trigger seizures.

My grandma didn’t care.

She said epilepsy isn’t an excuse for being “moody,” and that other girls have worse conditions and are still “better people” than me.

Yes, she said that.

Mood disorders are actually a pretty good excuse for being moody.

Being awful? No. But moody? Yeah mean, that’s gonna happen sometimes.

But it didn’t stop there.

A few minutes later, she stopped all of us, told me to stand in front of the entire family, and publicly scolded me again.

She repeated the same things: that I was disrespectful, manipulative, ruining memories, and that I should be happy no matter what.

She said I “control” my parents and siblings and that “happiness is a choice,” so I should just smile, even when I’m not okay.

This is absolutely unhinged.

I stood there sobbing while she basically listed every way I’d disappointed her.

I wanted to stand up for myself, but I stayed quiet because I didn’t want to escalate things further.

It honestly felt humiliating and degrading.

Now the vibe is off, and I feel like I’m being treated as the problem, just because I didn’t fake a smile for some pictures.

So AITA?

Let’s see how the comments responded:

Some absolutely went for the jugular:

Just because your generation lied to themselves doesn’t mean I have to.

Good on you for breaking the norm.

Just a lot of yikes.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.