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Was she right to call the police?
By Dan O'Reilly — Written on Feb 09, 2022
You can’t pick your family, though Reddit user u/Vincerevelmori69 certainly wishes she could.
The Redditor posted a story on r/AmItheAsshole in which recalls how her aunt convinced her uncle to take her box of silverware without her permission. Now she’s wondering if she’s in the wrong for calling the police and getting her uncle arrested for the theft.
She is worried she went to far by sending the police after her thieving uncle.
It all started when the woman had an issue with her plumbing which she, by her own admission, was ill equipped to fix. Lacking the skills and tools necessary, she called her uncle for help.
In her post the Redditor says that she tries to live frugally, only buying things that she really needs, rather than having a plethora of things to weigh her down, saying, “I keep to a very minimalist lifestyle so I don't actually own very much at all, but what I do own, I like it to be a good investment for the long run.”
While most people would say that this approach to finances is quite wise and disciplined, the aunt did not approve.
According to the woman, when her aunt tagged along with her uncle and arrived at her apartment she did not approve of it, “She comes and complains that it looks like I am dirt poor. That I have minimal funishings and that it looks ‘uptight’. I say I'd rather make memories than have stuff and leave it there”
The Redditor also alleges that she and her aunt had had issues in the past when her aunt had pretty explicitly taken a ring that had belonged to the poster’s grandmother and had been willed to her.
While her uncle and aunt were at her apartment, her aunt started asking questions about a box that contains the poster’s silverware, a nice set that she had saved money for over the course of a year.
The Redditor tried to move past the issue but she claims that her aunt was insistent, saying, “She keeps on, as she does, and I say it's heirlooms (not true but still). She keeps on and on and I break saying it's flatware.”
The woman’s aunt keeps pressing before asking if she could borrow the set, to which the woman responds with a firm “no.”
Once her uncle had determined what the issue was and that he would need tools that he didn’t have with him to fix it, the two leave, leaving u/Vincerevelmori69 to discover that her box of flatware was missing. The woman was thoroughly upset.
Not knowing what to do next, she decided to call the police, having had enough of her aunt’s behavior. The woman was also worried that her flatware might “disappear” if she tipped them off or called them out, similar to what happened to her grandmother’s ring.
The police arrested the uncle for theft.
The woman's aunt was incensed and called her a hypocrite over the issue, saying, “I thought you wanted memories? It's just stuff.”
The woman hung up the phone but is now wondering whether or not her aunt is right. She thinks that maybe she overreacted by calling the police.
Ultimately, it’s the principle that matters, the woman firmly said that her aunt could not take the silverware, her aunt ignored her and either took the silverware from her apartment herself or convinced the uncle to do it. You can’t steal from people, family, or otherwise, not to mention something valuable and effectively irreplaceable.
Dan O'Reilly is a writer who covers news, politics, and social justice. Follow him on Twitter.