Man snaps at aunt who pressures him to take disabled cousin for ride in his Mustang.

The truth can set you free, but it can also kick off an awkward and hurtful situation. It all depends on the context and what the truth at hand is.

In a popular post on the AITA subreddit, a man asked if he was wrong for telling his aunt why he won't let her son ride in his car. He wrote:

"AITA for bluntly telling someone why their disabled son isn't allowed in my muscle car?"

I 26m work full-time as a driving instructor. Due to the location of my school, the bulk of the people I work with are from a rehab center next door. This has sadly led to my current situation with my aunt over her disabled son(14m) who attends a day program they host. It started a month ago when I picked up the Mustang I had pre-ordered through a dealership.

Upon seeing it she began to ask if I could take her son for a ride in it. No matter how many times I would tell her no she refused to accept it and would try to guilt trip me. Things peaked this week when I bluntly told her that I work fifty hours a week and don't have time for her s#$t.

When she kept pushing things I snapped and told her that her son is the last person I want near my car. I then went on to tell her all the reasons why he would never be allowed to ride in my car. These reasons are that he can't control his bladder/bowels and that his stimming may break things.

When I told her of this it only made things worse as she only got more upset and pushy with me. I wound up having no choice but to cut contact with her however it only made things worse. I now have several other family members from her side coming after me over all of this. I do not believe that I am the AH here however I would like an outside opinion. AITA?

People kept it real in the comment section.

_gadget_girl wrote:

NTA her son is not “owed” a ride in your new car.

“No matter how many times I would tell her no she refused to accept it and would try to guilt trip me.”

Sometimes people are just really dense and push and push and push until being overly direct and blunt just bubbles out. I’m also guessing that if her son damaged something she would also be the type to make excuses and not want to pay to have it fixed. Please stand firm on this.

You have every right to want to protect an expensive item from getting damaged by a child who you don’t trust to not damage it. That’s reasonable.

One additional thought. Maybe you should have told her yes as long as she was willing to put a $2000 deposit down first to cover any potential damages. My guess is that would have shut her up quickly. We both know that she is well aware how capable he is of damaging things but will willingly minimize it when it doesn’t belong to her.

Selling_real_estate wrote:

NTA, I want to point out that people like her will not care about the deposit, because the check she gives you will bounce. You truthfully called it out, from your prospective, and don't get me wrong there are people that do give these types of rides to the disabled, they also have a car set up for it. Just because it can become a vomit, p**p or some body fluid issue.

They also have a ton of the safety padding for prevention of the child hurting themselves. You might also remind all the callers that they can volunteer their hot rod muscle car or new car when she calls.

MurderClanMan wrote:

NTA, understandable. You tried to be gentle, she made it awkward. She forced you to say what you had to say. I doubt she serves dinner on the fancy plates at home.

Uppity-Eldian wrote:

NTA + what the hell is up with these AH voters being suddenly okay with trampling over someone's "No"? After being told politely no several times?

Here's an INFO for the thread: How many times do you need to tell someone NO before they get the hint? Once? Ten? A hundred? TIL No means, "Pester the f#$k out of me until I concede." 🙄🙄🙄

Crazybutnotlazy1983 wrote:

To all those that say use pads under the child. I am the sole caregiver for my elderly mother. Padded underwear and pads on the seat are not 100% protection. After taking my mom to urgent care I spent a few hours getting my car cleaned out and it took a long time to get the smell out.

OP is NTA here, this was just an awkward situation all around.