When you have expensive things that you use for your job, it is important to take extra good care of them.

What would you do if your sister was house-sitting, and you told her not to go in your guest room because that is where you kept your very expensive costume clothes used for your job, but she went in and grabbed a bow for her daughter anyway?

That is what happened to the woman in this story, and when she told her sister how much the bow cost, she refused to give it back or replace it. Now she doesn’t know what to do.

Her sister shouldn’t have done what she did. While it may not be worth ruining the relationship over, her sister really should pay for it. Read through the full story below and see what you think.

AITA for wanting my sister to pay for a hair bow she gave to my niece while house sitting?

I (24F) am a professional Party Princess.

What an unusual job.

I have a catalogue of fictional characters I dress up as for parties and it’s a job I love and make great money in.

I went to Cyprus for 2 weeks to visit my boyfriend (26M) family. He moved to the UK for his job, which is how we met and we have been dating for a year, this was a major milestone for me to properly meet them.

It was nice of her sister to help out.

I have a lot of plants in my flat, so I asked my older sister (29F) to check in on them while I’m away and keep them watered and alive.

No worries, she agreed, I told her to use whatever she wanted in my flat, but to please stay out of the spare bedroom I use as my wardrobe. It is where I store all of my costumes and they’re expensive and many are delicate. She agreed.

Her sister did a good job. Mostly.

I got back yesterday and I found my fridge fully stocked for me by my sister with the money I left behind for this, and the house in all around good condition and my plants alive and thriving. Brilliant.

I then went into my closet to add some new pieces I’d picked up on holiday that could pair with some of my costumes and found it was not how I left it. Some pieces were in different places, and one of my wigs had been moved off a shelf to the vanity. I began to look around, everything was there, everything except my Snow White hair bow.

She shouldn’t have done this, but hopefully it is no big deal.

I called up my sister to ask why she’d been through my closet and she explained that she’d taken my niece (8F) with her on one of the days and her hair was annoying her due to the heatwave, so she’d been looking for something to keep her hair out of her face and she’d found a bow that worked.

She told me my niece had gotten attached to it wearing it often so she wanted to keep it. She offered to send me money for it asking how much it was, 20? 30?

Ouch! That’s an expensive bow.

I told her it was custom made and cost me £200 and she was welcome to keep it if she paid for it.

My sister didn’t believe me and told me I was trying to upcharge her and I reminded her that I’d warned her the things in my closet were expensive and if she’d wanted a normal hair tie or ribbon she’d have found it in my bedroom.

The sister should just buy a cheap knockoff bow and give this one back.

I told her she could either send me the money now or bring the hair bow back. She has called me heartless after she did a favour for me and asked who would spend that much money on a hair bow.

This is my job though, so I try to make sure everything is to the best standards, which means spending a lot of money on my costumes.

Maybe tell the sister she can repay her over time?

She has told me she’s not paying that for a hair bow and that if I want it back I’m a terrible aunt who would hurt my niece over something “silly”.

Now, could I get a similar one for less? Probably, but I don’t see why I should. Should I just take the loss on this?

The bow is undoubtedly damaged.

I’m worried about the condition it might be in if my niece is wearing it often, so even if I get it back its quality isn’t assured.

AITA?

It would be one thing if the bow was in with a bunch of other hair ties and she just unknowingly grabbed it. Her sister went somewhere she was specifically told not to and took the bow without permission. This is on her, and she should pay for the bow.

Let’s see if the people in the comments agree.

This is all the sister’s fault. And she should pay for it.

I don’t think pressing charges is a real option.

There is no reason she should take the loss for this.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about two kids trying to earn money by mowing grass, and decide to solve their gas issue by stealing some of dad’s.

This commenter says that she should not let this go.

The sister obviously should have asked.

She took the bow knowing it wasn’t hers to take, and that she was told not to go in there. She needs to pay for it.