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When you are just starting a small business, you need all the help you can get, but you also need to make sure you are getting paid for the products you sell.

What would you do if you sold a product to a friend of your mother’s, so you had your mom deliver it on your behalf, but mom didn’t take payment before making the delivery.

That is what happened to the woman in this story, so now she is mad at her mother for not taking payment but still delivering the product. Her mom says that she is too worried about money and that she will get paid eventually.

Personally, I think it was a mistake to ask her mother to do the delivery, but Mom really should have gotten the payment. Read through the full story to see what you think.

AITA for expecting my parents to conduct a business transaction on my behalf properly regardless if it’s their friend?

I (F31) recently got a 3D printer and am hoping to try my hand at starting an online shop for some of my designs.

That is great that someone wants to buy one.

As part of a Mother’s Day gift this year I printed my mom a Steelers themed Koozie that my mother really liked.

While she was away for the weekend with a friend of hers, let’s call her Stacy, a few weekends ago her friend noticed her koozie and is also a Steelers fan. She called me to ask me to make her one and we agreed right there on a price of $10 for it.

This all seems pretty simple, so far.

I printed the Koozie and it’s been sitting on my desk in my office for a week or two now. My mom did mention she would give it to Stacy next time she saw her, which happened to be this July 4th weekend.

When I came home from work last Thursday, I noticed the Koozie was gone from my desk. When I talked to my mother on Friday I asked her if she took it and she said yes she was bringing it to Stacy.

It isn’t a big deal to wait a bit for payment, but only if that is agreed upon.

By Sunday I was on the phone with my mother again and casually asked if Stacy liked her Koozie and she said yes.

I asked her if she got the $10 from her. My mom explained that Stacy didn’t have any cash on her at the time and she assured me I would get the money.

This lady is not to be trusted.

I don’t particularly like this friend of my moms. She has always seemed like a walking red flag to me for reasons I won’t get into here.

But I will say that my mom has complained every time they go out to the bar she volunteers my parents to buy her the first round of drinks and pressures them in a way that makes them uncomfortable.

It was a mistake to involve her mom in this process at all.

Remembering this about her I started to get a little upset at how my mom handled this. I told her on the call that I personally would never have given a product away without receiving the payment for it.

My dad chimed in and both of them started berating me telling me I’m making a big deal out of nothing and I’ll get my money when I get it and she won’t screw me over.

Any business, and especially a small business, is all about the money.

I told them it’s just the principal of how proper business transactions should go and I would expect them to get the money first before giving it away.

They told me I cared too much about the money and started shunning me for “acting this way”.

Nope, she is taking her new business seriously, just as she should.

To me, it’s just common sense that you get paid for a service before you provide it. I’m not in the business of hunting people down for IOUs.

So am I someone who just cares too much about money?

AITA?

She is not wrong to expect payment before a product is delivered. It likely wasn’t smart to have her mother handle the delivery process, though. Especially knowing that this customer was her friend.

Read through the top comments on this story to see what other people have to say about it.

This is a lesson learned. Fortunately, it didn’t cost her too much.

Here is someone who thinks Mom should pay the $10.

This is certainly one option.

Her parents are making this a big deal.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a friend who is upset they missed out on cheap festival passes due to her pal’s indecision.

This commenter thinks she should cut her mom off is she doesn’t get payment. That is a bit extreme.

It is not about the amount of money, it is the principal of the thing. She should continue to follow up with the friend for payment.

More importantly, however, she needs to make sure to never use her mom to delivery products like this again.