Man calls sister 'insane' after she 'poisons' her kids and hubby with MLM oils. AITA?
When this man is truly baffled by his sister's behavior, he asks Reddit:
'AITA for calling my sister an idiot and that she deserves to be divorced?'
I (20M) moved in with my parents for the summer for my job so save money, since the hotel I work is a 40 min train ride from my home town. My sister (29F) has been living with them for the last 4-5 months, because her husband is divorcing her and she isn't allowed to be near their children(2x5M) for now.
My sister fell for an American scam called 'young living' that sells essential oils and in 8 months she spent around 12500 euro, all their saving, on buying inventory that she was supposed to sell.
She hid it in their appartments basement where they never usually go. BIL had to repair one of the kids bikes so he went there to get his tools and found the boxes.
BIL confronted my sister and to her credit she admited to everything, including to secretly mixing the oils in their food. BIL threw her out and filed for divorce.
There was an emergency hearing, because he wasn't allowing her to be alone with the kids, in which the judge decided that my sister is a danger to the kids (BIL showed record of the insane claims the company makes about their products) and she will only be allowed visitation when she sees a psychiatrist.
She has refused to go and is fighting the order. BIL still allows us to see the kid and I even babysat them a couple of times when I didn't have exams and was still in the capital.
My sister and BIL both work as engineers and are well paid, the kids are in kindergarden, my sister mostly morks from home.
Since I moved here last month my sister had been a nightmare, the only things she does is scream, cry or complain, but she doesn't listen to advise, she has changed 3 lawyer. I finished my nightshift at the hotel bar/club and was home by 7 a.m.
My parent had already gone to work and my sister was in the living room drinking coffee. As soon as she saw me she started complaining how unfair her life is. I just wanted to eat breakfast and go to bed and she wouldn't even let me go to the kitchen.
After the 4th minute I couldn't take it and shouted the title at her (the worse than a kid comment is because after googling the anme of the company I found problem with it in minutes) and that she is luck BIL didn't make facebook posts or contact her job(she works with classified information) to get her fired.
She started crying and locked herself in her room. She is still crying and she throwing her stuffed animals(the only thing that is left in her room) at the wall to my room. Also she is late for work since her laptop and phone(it hasn't stopped ringing for 30 minutes) are on the living room table.
FYI The kids are fine. Their only symptom was diarrhea and minor stomachache. BIL had them take a lot of test, there was no damage to their livers and the only concern was with their stomachs, they had some sort of wart-like things in it.( I don’t know what it was exactly and I’m not planning to ask BIL for details.) But it cleared up with time and medication, without the need to operate them.
My sister was never like this before, although she is really competitive. She was first in high school and has won math and physics competitions. She was accepted in the best technical university of our country.
When she was 3rd during her university graduation she threw some tantrums, but we thought that it was because she was getting married and worrying for what master’s degree to apply for.
She used 17 kinds of oils in her and BIL’s cooking, because she thought that they were harmless, but more than half of them weren’t safe for human consumption according to Young Livings labels.(her defense was that the labels were just for show and they were actually safe) AITA for taking my BIL's side?
Let's see what the internet had to say about this crazy situation....
tapeandhope writes:
Nta. She needs a huge reality check. Now many commenters will say you are ta for shouting but I'm working on the assumption that you've tried talking to her about it and got nonsensical dream world answers back mixed with a healthy dose of im the victim.
It is ok to be frustrated with this behaviour. I would apologise for losing your sh*t but follow up with as calm a conversation about this as you can both manage. Watching a loved one self destruct is hard.
babycowGT writes:
Many MLMs focus on 'health' and 'wellness'. Usually they prey on a mixture of 'get rich quick' fantasy and general desperation for a solution to a genuine health issue. A lot of time, especially in the US at least... Those two overlap, as dealing with a chronic and/or poorly understood disease is expensive.
variouscard98 writes:
NTA - I was thinking YTA at her husband for keeping the kids from her but when I read she was putting essential oils in food I changed my mind. I use alternative medicine for myself and my family (as well as mainstream medicine) but ingesting essential oils is completely dangerous so I can see why her husband is denying her access to the kids.