Woman 'ruins sister's boyfriend's career over a joke.' AITA? 'HE is the one who took it too far.'

"AITA for reporting my sister’s boyfriend to his job after he pranked me with fake eviction papers?"

Okay, so I feel this blew up way more than I expected and now my sister is pissed at me. I (26F) live in a apartment complex my dad owns. I pay reduced rent, but it’s still a legal lease, I have a contract, etc. I work full-time and handle my own bills, so it’s not like I’m just mooching my dad just wanted to help me save while I get through grad school.

For context, I’m in my second year of a Master’s program in social work. I work part-time at a crisis shelter, and honestly, things have been stressful. A lot of what I do is literally helping people avoid eviction so that might help explain why this hit me so hard.

My sister Emma (28F) has been dating “Nick” (30M) (Fake names used for obvious reasons.) for about a year. He’s one of those guys who thinks he’s the funniest person in the room but mostly just makes people uncomfortable. Weird jokes that just aren't tasteful, pranks, and he thinks of him self as an "alpha male" type. Trust me I wish I was kidding.

He’s has done stupid pranks in the past too. One time he swapped out his coworker’s decaf coffee for regular as a “joke” and the guy had a full-on panic episode at work (apparently he had a heart condition).

The man reported him to HR, and Nick just laughed it off and said everyone was just too sensitive and that it was a harmless prank. Not to sure why HR didn't do more seeing that his coworker had a literal heath condition that could have been worsened by his "harmless prank."

Nick came over a few weeks ago while my sister was helping me move some furniture. I left them alone in the living room for maybe ten minutes while I ran to get coffee for all of us. When I had came back with our drinks Emma and Nick went quiet. I was a little concerned but my sister said it was nothing.

Emma and I were moving this crazy heavy dresser my grandma had gifted me and Nick had made a comment like "If you just got off your lazy ass you wouldn't have to take people's leftovers." I looked at my sister shocked like wtf. She just told him to knock it off. He just shrugged and went off into the living room.

A couple days later, I went to check my mail and see envelope in my mailbox. It’s an “official notice of eviction,” that looked pretty convincing. My heart stopped. I thought maybe I missed some clause in the lease or something happened to my dad.

I started to freak out and was crying. I called my dad in a panic. He was just as confused and asked me to send pictures. He said he didn’t know anything about it and hadn’t authorized anything like that.

For a while, I honestly thought about all sorts of possibilities. Maybe some stalker or random jerk found out where I lived and was trying to scare me, or maybe there was some kind of error. But something I did notice when I inspected to the letter again, I had seen it was sent out with the same company Nick works for.

A day or two later, I brought it up while getting drinks with my sister and Nick along with a few mutual friends of ours. The second I mentioned the envelope, and my worry that someone could be messing with me, I noticed Nick’s starting to act a bit weird. He stopped making eye contact and engaging in conversation, and started fidgeting with his phone. My sister had also gone quiet.

I kept thinking about that moment in my apartment and how odd it was, plus the company that had served me matching up with Nicks job. And how surprisingly unfazed Emma was when I told her about the eviction notice. Eventually, I had pulled her aside from the rest of the group and had asked if Nick had anything to do with it. After some hesitation, she admitted it was him.

According to my sister she didn't agree with it and, Nick thought the prank would be funny. like a take this as a lesson not to “rely on daddy’s help forever.” He apparently thought he was being funny and giving me some "motivation". I was shocked none the less. I was mad at my sister for even letting it go on and nick for being so insensitive. Who in their right mind would find this funny?

Which it is crazy, because again I pay rent, I work, and my dad offered the apartment me because I help manage the property when he's out of town. Here’s the part that really angered me, Nick had known I’ve been struggling.

He’s heard me talk to my sister about burnout, about feeling overwhelmed with work and school. He’s literally sat across from me at dinner while I vented about clients at the shelter being scared of eviction.

This is where I might be a bit of an ahole. Nick works in property management. Like it’s literally his job to handle leases, evictions, inspections, etc. So this wasn’t just some random prank he had used ACTUAL template formatting from his company to make it look real.

I was livid. My dad was, too. After thinking about it for some time, I reported him to his company’s ethics hotline. I sent them photos and explained what happened. Well they took it seriously. He was fired for inappropriate use of power, and other "pranks" ig he had done. Now my sister and Nick are blaming it on me.

My sister is saying I “ruined his career over a joke." My mom is begging me to apologize because “he was just trying to be funny” and “Nick has anxiety now.” I get that maybe I should’ve just yelled at him or confronted him directly. But honestly I was worried if I hadn't reported him now what other pranks could he have done using his job as a dumb joke.

He had given me a severe panic attack with his "prank," made me question my housing stability, and forged documents that looked extremely real. Just to prove a point? All while knowing I was already struggling. Now my mom and sister are saying I took it too far and made it “a work thing.”

My brother did take my side in this saying "if you hadn't of done it I would have." And agrees that HE is the one who took it too far. I just want this whole thing to be over with and dealing with this crap from my family plus my school/work life has really taken a toll on me.

I just want to know if I'm crazy or not in thinking that reporting him wasn't a mistake. Thank you for listening to my hopefully not to long ramble I just need some advice here.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

TheCityThatCriedWolf said:

NTA. Obviously you’re not the ahole. He used company stationary to send a false eviction notice. He has a habit of this kind of behavior to other employees. Honestly if I were you I would cut out your sister until he either apologized to you profusely or she dumped his “alpha male” ahole. What a dummy.

eeyorethechaotic said:

Of course you're NTA. This wasn't a joke. If it was a joke, he'd never have been fired. It was a misuse of company property. He's literally just facing the consequences of his own actions. He's an immature bully and deserved everything he got.

MotherofCats9258 said:

NTA, obviously. He was probably pretty close to being fired after almost killing a coworker. Companies don't love pranks that open them to litigation.

Organic-Willow2835 said:

NTA. The only response to Nick is: "Dude, can't you take a joke? It was just a "prank". See how funny pranks are? Kind of like when you pranked the guy who almost had a heart attack because you poisoned him with caffeine when his body couldn't tolerate it.

Pranks are REALLY funny aren't they funny guy." Him actually suffering the consequences of his actions might be the only way for him to ever change. And, maybe your sister will see him for who he is.

Soba_Noodle_ said:

NTA. The people that Nick work with also deserve to know he’s a crappy person, not to mention a liability. This wasn’t a funny prank, it was mean. And now he’s mad that his behavior has consequences? I’m surprised he didn’t get fired over the coffee work prank.

Spiritual_Oven_2329 said:

NTA - You did the right thing. It would of started with you and gotten worse and worse for either yourself with escalation of pranks or him thinking he can prank other tenants...(1.)He sounds like a bozo.

(2.) Pranking on company letter head - not ok, you did the right thing. If it was wrong he would not of gotten fired. They were probably waiting for another bozo move. (3.) Sounds like you are the only person to ever stand up to him and he is having to grow up... (4.)Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

armomo3 said:

Your sister has a problem. If she stays with him she may end up in a lawsuit or in jail helping him with his "pranks." And mom needs to rethink what's appropriate. He's not 10 putting frogs in his sisters shoe. He's an adult that could have killed one person and could have ended up in a lawsuit for what he did to you. His company fired him because he was a LIABLILITY.