His Uncle Took the Wrong Day Off, So His Family Expected Him to Make a Six-Hour, 4 A.M. Airport Run to Fix It—And Called Him Selfish When He Said No
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It’s frustrating when someone else’s scheduling mistake suddenly becomes your problem to fix.
One recent college graduate is dealing with that after his uncle realized he took the wrong day off for his wife’s airport pickup.
Now, the family wants him to help with a six-hour round trip that would start in the middle of the night.
He suggested that his uncle ask to move his day off, but his uncle doesn’t want to inconvenience his coworkers.
Meanwhile, his sister has offered to drive but thinks he should come along because he currently has free time.
Keep reading to see what you would do.
AITA for refusing to drive 3 hours each way at 4am to pick up my uncle’s wife from the airport?
I’m 22M, recently graduated, and currently have some free time.
My uncle’s wife is flying into Düsseldorf Airport on Tuesday at around 4 a.m. My uncle mistakenly thought she was arriving Monday, so he took Monday off work. Now that he knows the flight is Tuesday, he’s asking family members to pick her up instead.
I live about a 3-hour drive from Düsseldorf, so this would mean roughly 6 hours of driving in the middle of the night.
At first, he tried suggesting something else.
I suggested that he could ask his manager whether he could move his day off from Monday to Tuesday. He works at a job where him not coming in suddenly wouldn’t be THAT big of a problem.
He doesn’t want to inconvenience his coworkers, which I understand, but I don’t think that means the inconvenience should automatically become mine.
The thing is also, he didn’t try and get rejected. He just said he doesn’t want to ask because “he can’t do that to them” in a kind of embarrassing kind of way rather than because of company policy.
His sister offered to help, but only if he rides with her.
My sister (21) has offered to go pick her up, but she’s angry that I don’t want to come with her and says that she isn’t quite sure of her skills to drive there alone.
She says that because I’m free and have no work commitments right now, it’s basically my responsibility to help.
The thing is, I simply don’t want to spend my free time driving 6 hours at 4 a.m. I’m SUPER recently graduated and would like to enjoy some of my time off and prepare for my own flight abroad the day after.
But that’s not the only reason he doesn’t want to do it.
There’s also some history. My uncle has had some problems, and I’ve lent him money multiple times to help him get out of problem-related debt. He’s paid previous loans back, but the most recent loan was quite high. So I’ve already gone out of my way to help him financially quite a bit.
I’m not saying he owes me a favor because I lent him money, and neither do I use this against him. I’m saying this situation feels frustrating because I’ve repeatedly helped him, and now I’m being made to feel selfish for declining one more favor.
I understand that he doesn’t want to burden his workplace. But I don’t think that means I’m obligated to take on the burden instead.
AITA?
Wow. It does sound like his uncle expects him to help with everything.
Let’s see if the readers over at Reddit would break down and give in to his favor.
It sure seems like this.
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For this person, he owes no explanation to anyone.
It doesn’t sound like he offered anything.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who gets fed up with her son not working and puts him in charge of nightly dinners.
According to this comment, it’s the wife’s problem.
He shouldn’t feel bad for refusing.
A six-hour drive in the middle of the night is a huge favor, especially when the whole problem started with someone else’s scheduling mistake.
And he’s right. While his uncle may not want to inconvenience his coworkers, that doesn’t mean the inconvenience should automatically fall on him.
He’s already helped plenty. This is one favor he’s allowed to turn down.
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