Cutting off toxic relatives often revealed exactly why the boundary was needed in the first place.

After a woman sent a no-contact message to her sister, she received a suspiciously timed “thank-you” note from preschoolers — clearly curated by the sister she was trying to escape.

So instead of engaging directly, she chose to channel her energy into making charitable donations to an organization she knew her sister wouldn’t like.

Keep reading for the full story!

Sister maliciously complied, so I will give gifts now.

My sister is a piece of work. Picture the most unlikable person you can imagine. She’s worse.

A few weeks ago, she did one more horrible thing, and I finally sent a long-deserved “do not contact” email.

She made sure to keep it firm, but civil.

It wasn’t angry, but very kind—I showed it to several people to make sure I had the right tone of firmness without being unkind.

But her sister’s response showed just how manipulative she really was.

A few days after getting the no-contact email, I received a note in the mail from two preschoolers in our family.

I had recently sent a gift to these children, so my sister wrote a thank-you note on their behalf.

The note was clearly self-serving.

In the note, the children told me how great my sister and her husband are, along with thanking me for the gift.

See? It wasn’t her writing the note—it was a 2- and 3-year-old.

Isn’t she clever? Isn’t she fun?

The timing was quite suspicious.

So, I complimented her on her kindness in sending a thank-you, despite the fact that she had never, in decades, ever responded to any gift I’ve sent to her or her children.

How odd that she decided to respond on these children’s behalf once she got the request for no contact.

So she returned with a “kindness” of her own.

I told her that my husband and I wanted to respond with a kindness of our own—a gift subscription to Ms. Magazine. I explained that all I was asking for was to be left in peace.

In order to turn her disrespect into something positive, I assured her that any future attempts to contact me will be met with more kindness — donations an organization she doesn’t support.

Honestly, I almost hope she does keep bugging me. The organization is a great cause, and it’s a critical time for it.

Using children as your pawns is just plain manipulative.

What did Reddit have to say?

This act of malicious compliance is going against the very rules of no-contact arrangements.

Showing up for someone who never does the same for you is an unsustainable way to live.

Sometimes kindness really is the most savage response.

Turns out the best kind of malicious compliance is the charitable kind!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.