Some people have totally tranquil, loving relationships with their parents.

Others? Not so much.

This can be for many reasons, from a simple clash of personalities to emotional or physical abuse or neglect from one side or the other.

But whatever the reason, it’s never pleasant for anyone involved.

And for the student in this story, their unreliable mother has been a sudden cause of intense stress.

Read on to find out why.

AITA for trying to get to work on time?

I live in York for uni and my aunt lives in Leeds. She’s gone abroad for a wedding, but takes care of three foster kids that can’t be left home alone while she’s away for ten days.

My mum offered to stay at my aunt’s place to look after these kids; for reference, they’re all young women between about fourteen to seventeen years of age.

I have dreadlocks and my mum offered to retwist them for me, since she’s only a thirty minute drive away.

We rainchecked last weekend because we couldn’t find enough time between responsibilities to get it done, but she picked me up and did it yesterday.

Let’s see how the situation at home affected the hair arrangements.

According to my mom, these young ladies can’t stay home on their own without her there (I don’t know if this is a legal thing or a rule my aunt put in place).

So as a result, my mum picked me up when they were all out with friends. I got my hair done, all good – I also wanted a trim, but that had to wait until the next day.

I have work today at 4pm. I got a new job last week as a bartender, and I expressly said that I didn’t mind staying overnight and getting a haircut so long as I was back in time to get to work on Saturday (today).

I also have exams in less than two weeks and would like to be at home to study/revise in peace. Basically, I want to go home. I don’t think I’ve ever lasted more than two hours around my mother before an argument has broken out, and that’s what I was trying to avoid. Of course, life doesn’t care.

But when it came to going home, this student was put in a really difficult place.

My mum said she’d drop me back home when the girls went out with their friends today, but two of them didn’t want to go out.

No problem, but I needed to get home before 4pm (really before about 2pm, because I needed to shower, get ready, and walk to work – and walking to work alone takes me 45 minutes).

I asked my mum if the girls could get in the car with us so we could get going, but she says they didn’t want to do that either.

We have an argument about how she thinks I’m being disrespectful for trying to “circumvent the rules”, but I really just wanted to go home.

Then, the mum got aggressive.

During this argument she said, “you look like you want to slap me, so slap me. I’ll stand in the living room in front of the girls so you can do it”.

Firstly, she does this almost every time we have an argument. Secondly, who even does that?

Of course I refused, but she then told me to stop shouting because the girls could hear us. But I wasn’t shouting, I was completely calm, I was just bored and wanted to go home.

She then went upstairs because she didn’t want to talk to me.

Read on to find out how the student managed to try to get back in time for work.

I knocked on one of the girl’s doors and ask her if they’d be ok with staying in the car for thirty mins while I got dropped off. My mom looks at me like I’d killed someone.

Push came to shove and eventually she gave me the money for a bus fare and train, and essentially told me she’s not dropping me off so I should find my own way back. We went grocery shopping yesterday and all my groceries are still in her car, which she said she’d drop off “when she can”.

Now I’m sitting at a bus stop in a city I’ve never been through trying to find my way home in time for my shift… which starts in 90 minutes. Great.

AITA?

This student was quite clear when they needed to be home so that they could go to work, and yet their mother was intent on keeping them behind.

That is completely unfair.

And her behavior during the argument? Well that was downright abusive.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person thought that the mother was exhibiting some quite abnormal behavior.

While others encouraged the student not to count on their mother any longer.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought the student was partly in the wrong too.

Sure, she was doing her kid a favor, but to not mention that she wasn’t going to be unable to drive them back home and basically holding the groceries hostage and potentially costing them their job is completely unfair.

The mother is supposed to be acting like a mother here; instead she’s proving herself to be totally unreliable, and quite emotionally manipulative too.

It’s really unfair.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.