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Family favors can become complicated when people take free help for granted.

The following story is about a man who was asked by his sister-in-law to fix a broken appliance.

When he was inquiring about the details of the problem, he was suddenly dismissed.

Her family had also previously implied that he would not be able to diagnose the problem.

Now that they had bought a new dishwasher, they were expecting him to offer free labor.

Wow! Talk about entitled family members, eh? Let’s take a closer look!

AITAH for refusing to install my sister-in-law’s new dishwasher after she dismissed my help earlier?

My wife’s sister lives on the family farm owned by her brother.

She doesn’t pay rent and doesn’t contribute financially.

She generally seems to have a long-standing sponsorship arrangement with the rest of the family.

New appliances, computers, cars, etc. appear around her like she’s a minor royal.

This man started asking questions about the dishwasher.

Recently, she came over to the office on the farm where I work out of.

She started complaining that the dishwasher at the house had died. She needed a new one urgently.

Now, I’m pretty handy. I fix a lot of things myself.

So I started asking a few questions to see if maybe it was something simple.

Before everyone declared the appliance deceased and held a state funeral for it.

His sister-in-law snapped at him and emphasized that the dishwasher was indeed broken.

She instantly snapped at me and said she’d already spoken to technicians and it was broken. Fair enough.

Then their mum got involved, was already in a foul mood, and started making comments implying I wouldn’t be able to fix it anyway.

At that point, I decided my role in the Dishwasher Inquiry had concluded.

Fast forward, and her brother has now bought and paid for a brand new dishwasher.

Suddenly, there are hints floating around about whether I can install it.

He didn’t flat-out refuse, but he decided to be petty.

Interesting career turnaround, considering 48 hours earlier I apparently wasn’t qualified to diagnose a blocked rinse cycle.

I never directly told them no.

I only told my wife privately that after the way the conversation went, I wasn’t interested in donating my time and labour.

Today, my wife said, “I know you said you won’t, but what sort of person do you want to be?”

I said, “Honestly, in this situation, I’m very comfortable being petty.”

Now, he’s wondering if he’s being the bad guy.

The thing is, they’ll probably just get my brother-in-law to pay a plumber anyway.

So nobody is going to be forced to wash dishes in the creek like it’s 1850.

For me, it’s more the principle of the thing. I do feel kind of bad that he will pay for it, though.

If someone dismisses you, acts like your opinion is worthless, and then circles back once free labour is required, am I wrong for deciding they can keep that same energy and hire someone?

Or am I just being a stubborn jerk over a dishwasher?

Honestly, it’s understandable for OP to decline after being made to feel unqualified when he was just asking questions to know the whole situation.

Then, when free labor was needed, his sister-in-law approaching him doesn’t really look good.

Some people just don’t understand the principles of favors.

Let’s check out the comments of other people on this story.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Here’s another honest opinion.

This one makes a valid point.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about siblings who don’t think they should have to give up their own sports’ seasons to help with their younger siblings.

Another one chimes in.

Finally, people are siding with OP.

If you don’t trust someone’s skills, don’t expect their free labor later.