TIFU by leaving a laptop in harms way

Submitted by Dog_in_human_costume t3_zsnwwo in tifu

For the past few months I've been helping at a community center to introduce some senior citizens into the web and mobile apps, since nowadays everything is tied to mobile or email.

It's been a great experience and I recommend it to everyone who has time, those people are nice and it's incredible to actually feel helpful for someone else.

One of the people there is a very nice lady who uses an incredible old laptop (2 gen core I3 with 2gb or ram and windows 7) so I lent her my computer to learn, but she lagged a bit on her own. At first I didn't think it would be much, but for people with limited IT knowledge, going from a quick computer with Windows 11 to an old one with Windows 7 can impact a lot on your learning, from what I saw.

Since she is very nice and brings cookies and cake to us once a week, I went ahead and saved money for a few months to buy her a new laptop.

Dell actually delivered the laptop a few days ago and I was setting it up for her at my house, so we could surprise her this Friday night. There's the Fuck Up.

One of my aunts came to visit, and with her came her "child", a human spawn with 6~7 years that respects nothing.

I take no shit from him, but his mother teaches him absolutely no respect and this cousin does mostly what he wants while his parents think it's adorable.

When they got in my house, he saw the laptop I was setting up and asked to play on it, to which I said no. I close the door to my room and went to the living room with my mother, my aunt and the child.

While I was talking to them, my cousin says he wants to go to the bathroom and disappears.

After a while, since he was taking some time, I got suspicious and went to check. Lo and behold, this problem child was in my room, and was pouring a whole can of Pepsi on the laptop keyboard...

I was never tempted so much to hit a child... but it would be too little...

A lot of shouting started and my aunt got his children and bolted. After calling her and her husband, both say the can't pay for the laptop.

Don't be like me, don't leave expensive stuff at the range of little goblins during this season, since they can destroy it on a whim, and make some good old lady's life harder for no reason.

TL: DR - Problem cousin destroyed a laptop I was going to give to a nice old lady to help her use the internet and learn how to be a digital citizen.

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impairedblur t1_j18unl9 wrote

aint no way on earth that shit family leaves without paying for a new one....

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OfromOceans t1_j190jgm wrote

Honestly a slap was deserved, seems like that kid won't learn/be taught any other way

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Grimdek t1_j19qy2z wrote

Child would've been crying. Would've held him down and poured Pepsi all over his face. Absolutely no way he gets out of my house free

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cstmoore t1_j19sm33 wrote

Poured? Waterboarded!

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impairedblur t1_j1h1tjc wrote

i would pepsiboard that little shit until he pisses himself every time he hears a can being opened...

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crispy1989 t1_j19sw6p wrote

Like you and others have said, court is probably the only way to definitively resolve this and get recompense; but taking family to court is going to be very messy. It's more practical if that wing of the family is so bad that you're going to go low- or no-contact; but otherwise, the social consequences of dragging family through court might outweigh any monetary recompense you might get.

Regardless, the little goblin needs to be taught a lesson, both for his good and for others'. Destroying a laptop like that is just malicious, and may indicate that the child has no concept of what harm to others feels like. Aunt's family says they can't pay for the laptop - sure. Perhaps an appropriate consequence would be to collect enough of the goblin's favorite toys to approximately equal the value, and then give them to you in exchange. If you want to make sure the lesson sticks, you could visibly pour soda all over them, or destroy them/make them disappear in a manner of your choosing. This doesn't fix the laptop, but hopefully would be enough to teach the child a lasting lesson.

And if the parents are still unwilling to cooperate with disciplining their child or otherwise making right the situation; court's always an option.

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thebearinboulder t1_j1bntww wrote

Or tell them that Christmas is canceled this year. The kid got on Santa’s naughty list. Tell the rest of the family - it’s this or court.

If they honestly do that and still didn’t have enough money let it go.

If they sneak in presents (a near certainty) then you can go nuclear. The kid fucked up, there was a natural way to teach him a critical life lesson, and they blew it. So the ADULTS made their own choices where to spend their money - and it wasn’t repaying their debts.

At a minimum you can ban them from your property. They have no right to complain if they don’t respect your very real property rights.

Edit for clarity - the money they would have used for gifts goes to you instead for the computer. If they repay you in full he can still get gifts with any remaining money. If they don’t pay in full AND the brat still gets gifts then there’s a problem.

A nasty variant is that he still gets gifts from extended family - but then has to hand them over to you.

In either case once you’re fully compensated he can get the laptop. It’s only fair, plus the older grades may have classes that can try replacing the keyboard for just the cost of the hardware.

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Redbeard4006 t1_j1azchb wrote

I think anyone who needed to be asked before they offered me replacement cost of the laptop in a situation like that would be barred from ever setting foot in my house again.

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Parttime-Princess t1_j1cwduz wrote

>I was never tempted so much to hit a child...

While it is a good thing you didn't do it, I totally understand that feeling. What a little shit. His parents are doing him a disservice and this is all their fault, but it also makes you and other people suffer.

Good on you for taking no shit from the kid. Sue them, no matter how much it may impact "family relationships".

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bros402 t1_j1a8756 wrote

Any chance you got an accident plan?

also that is your your fault at all - your aunt fucked up by failing to raise her child properly

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FilthyGorilla44 t1_j1bfxtd wrote

Definitely take it to court, they had no shred of responsibility nor discipline of the child it seems.

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SurrealGirl t1_j1bf1ur wrote

Three words, small claims court.

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