Some people really love to prank other people and tell jokes, to have fun and to lighten the mood.
But unless everyone involved thinks it’s funny, then it’s not a prank; it’s bullying, pointed out the members of the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITAH) subReddit.
Redditor Ood_Weenus17 already didn’t have the greatest relationship with her sister’s boyfriend, but the more harmful pranks he performed, the more uncomfortable she became.
But when he went so far as to prank her about her living situation, the Original Poster (OP) felt it was time to speak out about how he was treating other people.
She asked the sub:
“AITAH for reporting my sister’s boyfriend to his job after he pranked me with fake eviction papers?”
The OP didn’t have a good relationship with her sister’s boyfriend, Nick.
“I feel this blew up way more than I expected, and now my sister is p**sed at me.”
“I (26 Female) live in an 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 (28 Female) has been dating Nick (30 Male) for about a year.”
“He’s one of those guys who thinks he’s the funniest person in the room, but he mostly just makes people uncomfortable. He tells weird jokes that just aren’t tasteful, performs pranks, and thinks of himself as an ‘alpha male’ type. Trust me, I wish I were kidding.”
Nick made a frequent practice of pranking people.
“He’s 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 (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.”
“I’m not too sure why HR didn’t do more, seeing that his coworker had a literal health condition that could have been worsened by his ‘harmless prank.'”
Nick was also critical of the OP’s living situation.
“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 come 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 a**, you wouldn’t have to take people’s leftovers.'”
“I looked at my sister, shocked, like, what the f**k? She just told him to knock it off. He just shrugged and went off into the living room.”
But then Nick took things too far.
“A couple of days later, I went to check my mail and saw an envelope in my mailbox. It was an official notice of eviction.”
“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 the letter again: I saw 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 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.”
The OP discovered the truth behind the letter.
“I kept thinking about that moment in my apartment and how odd it was, plus the company that had served me matching up with Nick’s job. And how surprisingly unfazed Emma was when I told her abt 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 nonetheless. 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?”
“It is crazy, because again I pay rent, I work, and my dad offered the apartment to 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.”
The OP decided to report Nick the way she felt he deserved.
“This is where I might be a bit of an a**hole. 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’ he had done.”
The OP’s family was divided over what the OP 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 that ‘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 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.”
“AITAH?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some reassured the OP that she was right to report her sister’s boyfriend.
“NTA. Obviously, you’re not the a**hole. He used company stationery to send a false eviction notice. He has a habit of this kind of behavior with 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’ a**. What a dips**t.” – TheCityThatCriedWolf
“This dude wouldn’t have been fired if it hadn’t been for all the other ‘pranks’ at work that had been reported previously, and tolerated. This was just a ‘three strikes and you’re out’ kind of situation, and it’s all on him and his juvenile behavior.”
“To be honest, I’m shocked the coffee thing was allowed to stand. That could have killed someone. Can you imagine the liability?!” – Organized_Khaos
“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.” – eeyorethechaotic
“I would look the mom and the rest of the supporters in the eyes and ask them the good old, ‘Explain the joke to me. What was funny?'”
“And when they try to keep up the ‘he was just pranking’ explanation, ask them again. ‘I still don’t get the joke. Explain it. What was the joke of me having a panic attack? Or me thinking I was losing my home. Or what’s the punchline of almost giving a man a heart attack?'” – Dangerous-WinterElf
“The sister needs to go, too. She knew what was going on. And instead of protecting her sister and letting her in on it when the bf said he was going to do it, she kept quiet.”
“And mom trying to protect him? What the f**k? I bet the sister is spinning it a lot differently than what actually happened. If not, maybe mom needs to be low contact until she can pull her head out of her a**.”
“And OP was nice about reporting it, she could have easily gone to a lawyer and threatened legal action against the company.” – quandjereveauxloups
Others also urged her to stay as far away from this guy as possible from now on.
“OP needs to simply refuse to have any interactions with this person. He should not be invited to her home, and she should refuse to attend any family events if Nick is present.”
“His behavior is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. We need to normalize completely cutting people off when they behave like this.” – Mirabai503
“Nick is not a safe person to be around.”
“Pranks are only funny if the recipient of the joke thinks it is. And, by his own admission, this was NOT a simple prank. He was trying to ‘teach OP a lesson.’ That IS abuse of power at his job.”
“He does not have the character or ethics to be in such a position that he could pull this ‘prank’ off if he would even consider such a thing.”
“YOU didn’t take it too far, OP; he did. And he is just mad he has to finally face the consequences of his s**tty behavior. Hopefully, HE is the one who learns a lesson. But I wouldn’t hang around to find out.”
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. NTA.” – Lazy-Instruction-600
“To be honest, he should have been fired when the coffee ‘joke’ happened. If he hadn’t literally broken the law, leaving his employer liable because of his misuse of the letterhead, he wouldn’t have been fired…”
“He was 100% already on notice from his employer and STILL hadn’t learned his lesson.”
“He was absolutely in no place to teach OP one damn thing. He’s lucky he’s not faced charges or massive medical bills yet. The ‘coffee prank’ was the definition of poisoning, and the coworker could have died if their heart condition was undiagnosed or worse.”
“Dad needs to explain to Mom, in great detail, how what Nick did was fraud and could have been highly expensive to his employer, via the court system.” – trinlayk
“Oh no, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions…”
“To borrow a phrase from Nick’s dictionary, the OP has simply given him motivation to learn and stop being a d**k.”
“I think there is actually more to it than your sister’s boyfriend being an a**. He works in property maintenance, and you rent at a discount from your dad and have your grandmother’s furniture.”
“I wonder whether he wanted the house either because of the discounted rent (he’d know the property value) or to manage for the commission. There is definitely something deeper going on.”
“Either way, ‘Oh no, Nick has anxiety now.’ Great. Now he knows how everyone else felt from the pranks he pulled. He got a taste of his own medicine.”
“Also, your mother and sister are enablers. Straight up ask your mother why Nick’s mental health is more important than your own, and where was she when Nick was pulling these pranks. Your sister could have ended the matter with a simple ‘It was Nick.'”
“NTA.” – Jynx-Online
“He’d probably abuse his power over others as well, and most likely already has done it. He was a MAJOR liability to the company he worked for. I’m extremely surprised they didn’t fire him after the decaf thing. Guy is such a lawsuit waiting to happen.”
“I would cut Nick, sister, and maybe even Mom if they didn’t have my back here. What he did was an abuse of power and abusive. What a loser.” – Free-Flower-8849
Pranks are one thing, but the subReddit insisted that this eviction note and coffee swap were something else entirely. Nick was clearly the one who needed to learn a lesson, and if he wasn’t willing to change his ways, there would continue to be consequences.
In the meantime, it was best for the OP to stay away from Nick, her sister, and her mom, who all seemed to have his back.