Siblings around the world have one thing in common—sibling squabbles. But when does this cross the line from a disagreement to not ok?
After a quickly escalated argument one sibling disrupted things with a way to quickly cool their sister off.
The—now deleted—Redditor turned to the “Am I the A**hole” subReddit for judgement on their actions during a conflict with their own siblings.
They asked:
“AITA for misting my sister with a spray bottle when she was yelling at me?”
The original poster (OP) explained:
“My older sister (25) came into my room while I was studying and yelled/sweared at me for eating her expensive cut of steak (I didn’t). She wouldn’t let me get a single word in for like 15mins so i misted her with the spray bottle on my desk (it was just water).”
”My older brother (21) chimed in saying he didn’t know it was hers and ate it. (My brother thought me spraying her was hilarious btw). My sister says we’re both the AH, but I’m the one who was wrongfully accused.”
”I feel she should be mad at our brother and not me. She told me to apologize but I said I won’t until she apologizes for wrongfully accusing me. AITA?”
“(Just to be clear it was a light mist to calm her down, which worked. I didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t listening to me and she barged into my room).”
The OP asked Redditors to weigh in and rule on their reaction by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
In the end Redditors decided OP was NTA although a couple users felt ESH.
“NTA. You lightly misted her. She full-on sprayed you down with insults and general nastiness. I would say tit for tat, but this was more self-defense. Well done.”~ Feeling-better2day
”NTA- I did something similar a few years back to my then 12y son. We were doing a major clean to have new flooring installed and he was b**ching and moaning nonstop. I stopped to get a glass of water, was drinking and he started up again.”
”I don’t know what came over me but I launched the entire very cold glass of water in his face and walked off. My son looked at his dad and said, ‘Why did mom do that?’ DH’s response, ‘So she wouldn’t slap the sh*t out of you. That’s enough of your complaining.’”
“Now whenever he’s being a jerk, I ask him does he need a glass of water. Works! I don’t think you need to apologize. Sister owes you one.”~titancrisp
”NTA she was being ridiculous. 15 mins? Nobody should have to put up with that. If she wouldn’t let you defend yourself you had no choice.”~Aromatic-Ice-968
“NTA. That’s a hilarious and peaceful way to shock her into calming down.”~newyorkervibes
“NTA – screaming at you without proof is not cool. You literally cooled her down to enable a discussion. She needs to apologize for screaming and yelling and then you can say – sorry I needed to spray you in order to have a normal conversation with you ;)”~HonestCranberry8485
”If someone yells at you for more than a few minutes, with only a few exceptions, that is abusive AF. NTA”~SlickStrick
“NTA. I mean, in any other circumstances, it was a d*ck move, but when someone is in your personal space and not giving you a chance to speak, you have to do what you have to do. She needs to apologise, and only then should you apologize.”~Xenavire
“Very soft ESH. You really shouldn’t have sprayed her, it’s both degrading and disrespectful. BUT she shouldn’t have screamed at you either, so I don’t really blame you for reacting the way you did. Tbh, sounds like y’all have some serious communication issues.”~pernpern96
“NTA. Also, your brother is a jerk. Even if he didn’t know it was hers, he had to know it wasn’t his. ‘Hey look! Expensive cut of steak! There isn’t usually expensive steak in the fridge. Must be for me! Score!’”~Agathawoosmoss
”ESH. She sucks for not letting you get a word in edgewise, and you suck for literally dehumanizing her. ‘(Just to be clear it was a light mist to calm her down, which worked. I didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t listening to me and she barged into my room). ‘ It might have gotten her to shut up, but it DEFINITELY didn’t calm her down.”~TipsyRussell
“NTA, unless you two have a history of eating her food, you more so than your brother, which would have led her to believe you did it (ranting for 15 minutes would not be normal otherwise, but in the case I’m right it would be the straw that broke the camel’s back). Speaking as someone whose food was continuously stolen by her sister.”~MeiSuesse
“NTA. I mean she was being pretty verbally abusive. It’s not appropriate. She’s 25 and should have had an adult response. As in–‘OP–did you eat my steak?’”
“She took a situation from 0 to 100 that never needed to be escalated. If this is a habit, she’s in fr a really rough time in life in general.”~PettyHonestThrowaway
“NTA lmao I’ve so wanted to do this with my kids and can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to do this with my kids. But, I mean, that would just be lazy parenting. But you’re siblings so have at it!”~WifeofBath1984
”Lol NTA that’s just being siblings.”~manofmatt
“NTA. After 15 minutes of being shouted at for doing something you didn’t do, I’d say a light misting to stop the verbal tirade was more than fair. Not to mention, I may have to implement this at work during meetings when people go over time and won’t let others get a word in edgewise. It’s an excellent idea! Ha ha.”~FreezingNote
Perhaps a better, less moist, system of communication would help these siblings work things out in the future.