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College student left stranded as family sides with brother over destroyed contact lenses. AITA?

College student left stranded as family sides with brother over destroyed contact lenses. AITA?

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"AITA: I'm upset because of my brother and my family turned this issue onto me."

To preface, I (20F) am a glasses and contact wearer and I only come home during winter break to see my family, but to also go to refill prescriptions and go to doctors and dentists. I never stay for very long, because, due to situations in the past I don't feel comfortable staying with my immediate family for long periods of time.

It being December, I was on my last pair of contact lenses and my appointment to go see my optometrist is in two days, but once I order my contacts they will not get to my university address until after my semester courses begin.

That said, I had just planned to wear my contacts to the end of the month and switch to my glasses when I head back to school. However, today, my brother (17M) literally dumped out my last pair of contacts and I found the case and my contact solution scattered on the bathroom counter.

Obviously that was my only way to see anything for the remainder of the year so I confronted him and he denied everything even though he was the only other person who had been in that bathroom at that point in the day. Mind you, he has a history of lying to cops and other family members.

Anyway, I started texting him because he needed to give me the money to replace my contacts and he said he wasn't going to give me a dime and then sent the conversation to my sister (23F).

She then started talking unnecessarily loud about how mean she thought I was but conveniently failed to mention that my brother called me various insults including calling me fat because my mother, father, and sister said that about me the moment I got home from school.

At that point, they all started yelling at me saying that my brother is a huge help around the house (keep in mind that he has gotten into trouble with the school and the cops and threw my parents into debt because he caused a car accident) and told me to get over it, BUT I AM UPSET BECAUSE I LITERALLY CANNOT SEE ANYTHING.

I don't even know how I'll make it through the airport or back to school without being able to see. Not only that, but I have a conference and school starting up again soon and if I can't see I won't be able to do well.

But to them, I'm overreacting and I'm "being mean" to him even though they won't address what he has done. Mind you, this is what it has always been like. I end up getting in trouble when people do wrong against me, hence why I don't come home very often.

Here were the top rated comments from readers in response to the OP's post:

NTA but this is a good lesson. Always keep your glasses with you.

Particular-Claim4885 (OP)

I'm realizing that for sure. Just frustrating to get the reactions that I did.

OP, if you can get by with cheap reading glasses or something similar, get those for the duration of your stay. the local drugstore or walmart/target type store should be able to help you.

Silver_Mind_7441

NTA but sometimes when you go to eye doctor, you can explain situation and maybe they can give you a sample set. A lot of places give people that are thinking of trying contacts a sample set to see if they like them prior to spending a lot on something they won’t use.

Particular-Claim4885 (OP)

Maybe I'll try to see if my optometrist does that. I think I remember them saying something about having limited inventory- and that is why I've always had to order my contacts - I use the Biofinity toric version 😭

Why do you go back? Just change doctors to ones near your school. Stop torturing yourself.

swoopingturtle

NTA. And it might be time to get doctors and dentists and eye doctors near your university.

annielizbeth

NTA, but call your optometrist and ask for a trial pair of contacts. That's what I do when I run out of contacts, and my insurance won't kick in for a month or two. Most doctors have prescription lenses in the office for people to try. Hope that helps!!

(OP)

Hopefully that works out! I just have to see if I can go in after Christmas— my fear is that they'll be busy since a lot of the people my age in my hometown use this time to get annual doctors/dentist/optometrist/etc appointments out of the way.

CoverCharacter8179

Why didn't you bring your glasses in case of emergency with the contacts? And why do you say in paragraph 2 that you planned to switch to your glasses when you got back to school, and then say in paragraph 5 that you are going to do badly in school because you won't be able to see?

I mean, obviously, all kinds of crappy behavior by the various family members. The glasses are a suboptimal solution because they cause eye strain and headaches. NTA.

(OP)

Sorry, this was all typed quickly because I made the post while I was pretty peeved and typing fast. For paragraph two, I meant that I had left my glasses at school. They're an okay backup option, but they have caused me a lot of eye strain and I choose to wear my contacts because of that.

I feel like I will be unable to focus on school because the eye strain that I get from using my regular glasses has contributed to the already excruciating migraines I get and I don't feel that I would do well to have to chose my less preferred option just because my brother is prone to causing trouble and inconveniencing me.

If any more information is needed I would be happy to share! There is a lot of context to exactly why I was so upset. All stuff that my family knows about and still reacted the way they did.

So, what do you think about this one? If you could give the OP any advice here, what would you tell them?

Sources: Reddit
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