Imagine graduating from high school with good grades and being accepted into a great college. Would that be reward enough, or would you expect your family to buy you a present?

In this story, one teenage girl was hoping her dad would get her a present. He kept telling her he didn’t buy her anything which made her feel pretty sad.

Later, when he gave her a small gift, it made her even more upset.

Now, she’s wondering if she messed up because she knows she was rude to her dad.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for saying this to my dad?

I (18F) got into a fight with my (58m) dad about something said over my graduation day.

Basically the day I graduated I had expected at least small gift (which might have been awful) but I worked my butt off all year to graduate with good grades and get into a good college.

I have also given my dad countless money (think thousands) from a job I work at to fund his ‘projects’ (old cars).

She was really disappointed.

The entire day my dad and sister told me that I would not be getting me anything which made me feel pretty bad.

I felt that I had worked so hard and given so much that I could have gotten at least something.

Eventually towards the end of the day they ended up giving me flowers.

She was hoping for more.

I was extremely hurt at this point and had fully believed that was all they had gotten me because that’s literally what they told me.

So I had said “well I guess it’s the least you could do for your graduating daughter”.

I know I probably should not have said this but I was hurt that this was all I had gotten for dealing with everything (for context my mom died in 2019 and the pandemic hit some months after, plus I had to deal with other things such as a grandma who hates me).

They waited until the last minute to give her one more surprise.

After this had happened at like 11 at night my sister told me that my dad and her chipped in $200 to get me a laptop for college.

I thanked them for it, but my dad yelled at me today for my original reaction.

I don’t know exactly what to think because they literally convinced me that the flowers was all I got and I’ve given so much of what I don’t have to them.

So was I a jerk for my original reaction? I feel like I could have been less passive aggressive in my response but at the same time I feel that it’s hypocritical that my dads mad when he’s said worse things to me before.

They should’ve just told her they got her a laptop. Quit playing mind games. This is what I hate about surprises. It’s not a fun surprise to make someone think you didn’t get them anything just to surprise them later. All you’re doing is making them upset.

It’s the same with surprise parties where friends and family act like they forgot it was the person’s birthday which only makes the person feel bad all day.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This is a good point.

This person calls out her and her dad.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who had to sprint to the bathroom the moment he got home, then emerged to find his partner upset he didn’t greet her properly.

Another person points out that it was probably a pretty emotional day.

I think her dad messed up by asking her for money to fund his hobbies. She really should’ve saved that money for college. He also messed up by lying her to and saying he didn’t get her a gift when he actually did. If he wanted it to be a surprise, he could’ve just not told her what it was.

Sure, she had a bad attitude, but she has been through a lot.