Amidst the tangled feelings, a rare treasure arrived, its value far beyond mere money, symbolizing both the innocence of a child’s wish and the complexity of forgiveness. Yet, as tears fell and pleas echoed, the question lingered—who truly holds the power to heal when love and justice collide?
Back before Christmas my (24 Non binary ) credit card went missing for a few hours. Come to find out, my cousin (14f) took it to buy a big order off the Pokemon center site. I was furious, told her mother she owed me and scolded my cousin who simply tried to blame her autism.
Since then I’ve cancelled the card.
Here’s the thing, I like Pokemon so I didn’t cancel the order, but come to find out, the stuff she ordered was Limited Edition and they’re sold out. It came in the mail today and I took a picture of the stuff and sent it to my aunt saying thanks for the gifts!
XOXO!
Now my cousin is a crying mess because she really wanted that stuffed animals and figures but I won’t budge. My aunt was the one who showed her the picture. Aunt is begging me to sell her the stuff now to keep my cousin from crying and throwing a tantrum.
Telling me I’m a huge asshole.
Added info: No my aunt didn’t pay me back when I told her about the theft, she said I would have kept a better eye on my wallet
Added: as to why it came to my address, when I found out she took my credit card I got her to confess what site she bought from and changed shipping to me. Since it was same day order the customer service was able to put my address in.
Conclusion
The original poster (OP) is dealing with the fallout after their cousin used their credit card without permission to make a significant purchase. The OP responded by canceling the card, taking possession of the limited-edition items ordered, and refusing to give them up, leading to the cousin’s distress and the aunt’s anger.
The central conflict is between the OP’s need to establish firm boundaries against theft and the family’s desire to prioritize the cousin’s immediate emotional comfort, especially given her autism diagnosis. Should the OP prioritize financial accountability and boundary setting, or should they yield to family pressure and return the items to soothe the cousin?
Here’s how people reacted:
NTA IF you actually want the stuff and aren’t just trying to collect it for the sake of collecting limited editions.
YATA IF you’re only holding onto it for the sake of spite and capitalism.
IMO sending the pic was petty, but the aunt definitely should’ve known better than to show it to her. That’s her own fault. The autism excuse is a double edged sword. Yeah, some autists have a harder time with known right/wrong from social cues, or might struggle with impulse control. But her mom should’ve made sure she knew right/wrong. The impulse control thing is hard. I feel like if she’s high functioning enough to use her own autism as an excuse, she’s probably high enough functioning to deal with the fallout.
It sounds like your aunt needs to mom up and parent this child
The aunt and daughter are definitely at fault but you should have been a better person. Why did you send the pictures and said ” thanks for the gifts! XOXO ” to your aunt, if you didn’t have to? You’re straight up just taunting her at that point and creating more drama for yourself.
If you should have kept better watch of your wallet, they should be aware of how expensive limited editions can be.
YTA for sending the picture of the items, tho.
>my (24 Non binary ) credit card
For a second I was like, what the ever loving fuck, we’re gendering *credit cards* now??
Do I make sense