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Some parents treat their kids like employees and then act surprised when the kid asks to improve their working conditions.

A teenage college student who’d been helping his father build and renovate houses for years found himself back on a construction site while trying to keep up with his college coursework.

So as his grades continued to slip, he let his father know he needed to step back. But instead of understanding, his father called him worthless, accused him of never contributing anything, and pretty much threatened to cut him off for good.

You’ll want to read on. This one escalated fast.

AITA for refusing to help my dad with construction because it was ruining my college grades?

So, here’s the situation.

I’ve been helping my dad build and renovate houses since I was a kid — we’ve built two houses and renovated two others.

But lately, he feels like the gig is starting to get in the way of the rest of his life.

Here’s the thing: I’m 16 now and a freshman in college, and my dad dragged me back to the construction site.

We poured a decent amount of the foundation, but at the same time, I couldn’t juggle school and construction, and my grades in college went down the drain.

But when he stood his ground, his father immediately started guilting him.

So one day I refused to help him — I’d never turned him down before, unless I was sick.

I said no, and he started yelling at me, saying, “What kind of son can’t help his father?”

He dismissed all my contributions — all my effort and time — as worthless.

His father continued with his cruel tirade.

He said I hadn’t done a dang thing for the family and that I was just a lazy bum who couldn’t even get off my behind, and he even set a condition that if I didn’t help him, I’d have to earn the money for clothes and college tuition myself.

I agreed to those terms, and a few days later he brought it up again, asking if I’d really thought through my next steps.

I told him yes, I had, and that I’d now pay for the tuition and my clothes myself.

But he changed the terms and said that now I also have to find my own apartment and earn my own food.

Now the two are at a complete standstill.

Now, because he’s such a rotten person, I refuse on principle to help him.

So here’s the main dilemma: who’s in the wrong here?

Either I’ve gotten too full of myself, or my father, who doesn’t know how to appreciate hard work and literally doesn’t see me as his son.

Sounds like neither party got what they wanted from this argument.

Redditors chimed in with their thoughts.

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This user calls the father out for being a cheapskate.

The law is definitely on the kid’s side here.

Clearly the work ethic is already there, so he just has to find someone to appreciate it.

Ultimately his father had one job — and that was to appreciate a kid who’d been showing up to construction sites since he was old enough to be useful. Needless to say, he failed miserably.

At a certain point, every kid needs to spread his or her wings and fly the coop, but parents like this don’t make it easy.

It’s clear this student has the work ethic to succeed at any job he chooses — he just needs to find a boss that’s better than his dad.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who rejects a low contract offer and leaves the company instead.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.