'AITA for refusing to give my brother-in-law a free massage?'

"AITA for refusing to give my brother-in-law a free massage even though I own a massage studio?"

So I basically run my own little massage therapy business. I rent a comfy studio, have regular clients, and honestly I work really hard to keep the business moving. It’s my full-time job, not just a side hustle, and it pays my bills.

This weekend, my sister and her husband came over for dinner. At some point, my brother-in-law casually asked, “Man, I’ve been so sore lately. Can you just give me a quick massage while we’re here?” I kind of laughed it off and said, that’s what I do all week you can book a session with me if you want though!”

He looked offended and said he thought family should get freebies. My sister chimed in and said "Yeah, come on, you can’t just do a 20 minutes back rub for him? It won’t cost you anything."

I told them it does cost me time, energy, and the skills I spent years training for. If I start giving away free massages every time someone in the family feels sore, I’d basically be working for free half the time. They got kind of grumpy about it and said I was being stingy, that it’s just a massage and I “should want to help family.”

Now I’m feeling weird because I don’t want to be selfish, but I also don’t think it’s fair to expect me to work for free just because I own the business. AITA for not giving my BIL a free massage?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

ReadMeDrMemory said:

If only he were married. Then his wife could give him a massage.

nolan358 said:

Real family and friends don’t ask for a discount! They pay full price and acknowledge the value of your time and hard work. NTA.

DefiantRadish1492 said:

You are not the ahole. They are. Do they ask their accountant cousin to do their taxes for free? Their painter uncle to paint their house for free?

Unhappy-Quail-2645 said:

NTA. I personally would be very weirded out if my BIL expected a massage from me regardless if I was licensed or not.

dedsmiley said:

NTA. They are TA for wanting free services from you and calling you names for not doing it on demand. How does that sound to you? It sounds really shitty to me, especially from "family."

Your first response was correct, laugh and say if they need a massage that bad, they can book one with someone else. Can you imagine what your evenings and weekends would look like if you started offering free massages to family that already feels entitled to your time and labor?

RefrigeratorFun4676 said:

NTA - you’re 100% right and it drives me crazy when I see and hear stories about how people can be so entitled and so unaware of what they’re asking for. What do they do for work? Do they also want to do it for free whenever someone asks outside of working hours? I doubt it.