It can get really old when the same people keep mocking you for the same things.

So, what would you do if family members kept treating you like the target in every conversation, acting like their comments were harmless jokes, even though you were the only one who ever seemed to be the punchline?

Would you stay quiet? Or would you eventually fight back?

In the following story, one man finds himself in this situation at every family dinner.

Here’s what he did.

AITA for snapping back at relatives who mocked my unemployment and now call me arrogant when I don’t laugh at their “jokes” anymore?

I am a 24M app developer. After two startups that I worked at shut down (funding issues), I was jobless for a few months this year.

At every family gathering, my relatives openly taunted me, “Why are you working at startups?” or “When will you do a proper job (for them, a proper job is when you work at MNCs)?”

They also kept telling my parents to force me into an MBA or a government job, even though they know nothing about tech.

Now, he has a job, and they can’t say anything.

Then, they taunted my parents behind my back, saying, “Since he doesn’t have work, how are you going to buy a new house and all?”

My dad is retiring soon, so my parents were stressed and vulnerable.

Now I have a stable job again. At family events when the same relatives make their usual “jokes” about my career, I give short, sharp replies.

He refuses to take it any longer.

They get offended and complain to my parents that I’ve become rude and arrogant.

My parents have been scolding me lately, telling me to laugh it off or stay quiet because “they’re elders” and I’m creating unnecessary tension in the family.

I feel I’m just refusing to be their punching bag anymore, but my parents think I’m being disrespectful and should keep the peace even if the jokes are at my expense.

AITA?

Yikes! It’s easy to see both sides of this, but his family should really lay off, too.

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

Here’s how this person would handle it.

This comment thinks the family is being ridiculous.

For this person, he’s making all the right choices.

This person reminds us that life is short.

His family needs to let it go.

By now, he’s heard it all and doesn’t listen anyway.

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.