You know that movie, “How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days”? Well, what this man’s parents did is one way to lose a son.
They kept telling him to get a “real job”—meaning, a physical labor job—or move out and would not budge even when he tried to explain that his remote job was, in fact, a real job.
So he decided to comply with what they said.
Let’s read the story.
About 2 weeks ago my best friend (22) had called me (23) asking if he could be my roommate if I find a place.
I was looking for a place to stay while going to college, so I told him: “Sure, but why?”.
He said he’d tell me later.
We both met up a few days later and drive about an hour away from our hometown to move into the place.
We spent a few hours setting everything up and unpacking yet he never said anything about why he wanted to move in with me so suddenly; after we were done, he sat down and explained the situation at home.
He and his parents had been at each others’ throats recently because he had landed a remote job after our summer internship and they thought he was “wasting his life playing on the computer”.
His parents didn’t even try to understand his career.
His parents have always done factory and physical labor jobs and look down on people who work from their computers because “they don’t know what real work is”.
(Sidenote: his dad actually does his auto shop’s taxes and other functions from his office and rarely does any mechanic work himself, so it’s kinda hypocritical).
He continues to tell me that the day before he called and asked me they had a huge blowout that resulted in his parents giving him the ultimatum of “Get a real job or get out” and he says he just went to his room and started packing.
He probably felt better about sharing this story.
I’m guessing even if I said no he was moving out regardless.
That brings us to him telling the story to me, when he was done he looked so relieved, I believe the reason he kept so quiet during the move was because he was holding it in and trying not to go crazy.
After that, we both spent the rest of the day hanging out to try and keep his mind off of things.
It’s not an easy situation to be in. But he powered through.
Fast forward 3 days later, his parents call him asking why his stuff’s not in his room.
They were gone a few days to “give him time to come to his senses” thinking he’d give up his roughly 4 years of college and internships to get a job as a mechanic starting from scratch.
There’s nothing wrong with mechanic or people who work labor jobs but he’s been working a lot these last few years only for them to basically tell him to drop all that and get a job they want him to get.
I leave the apartment to give him and them some privacy and take a quick walk.
Things were about to get interesting.
When I get back, 20 minutes later, he’s got a wide smile on his face and he tells me the long and short of it.
He apparently left a few details out before and this time told me the whole story: roughly around the time we started working at that paid internship, his parents have been charging him rent ($350) every month as motivation for him to get a “real job”.
The blow-out they had was about him being able to pay it, despite not having a “real job” they had picked out.
They said he needed to grow up, get real work experience, and even went as far as accuse him of stealing to get the money so he had had enough and packed up while they were gone.
Wow. This is baffling. But he was going to stand his ground.
The phone call they had was him basically telling them he can’t go back home because he’s not gonna change his major, current job, or career path so he was staying at the apartment with me.
I asked him if he’s gonna be okay, and he assured me that he already explained everything to his other relatives and that they’re gonna try and talk to his family to see if they can convince them to understand why he wants this job and how computer work is still work.
This is gonna be our last 2 semesters and the tuition is already paid off so we’re good at the moment, as the only thing we gotta worry about is the rent, which we can both cover pretty well.
Everything worked out with the apartment.
Honestly, I was gonna ask him to split this apartment with me regardless because I found a good apartment complex that had a shuttle to our college and had 2 rooms open, but I’m still glad I could help him.
He says he’ll eventually start talking to his parents again, but I don’t think that’ll happen until after they come to their senses or else they might lose their only son.
How To Ruin A Relationship With A Great Son 101. Yikes.
Let’s see what Reddit has to say about this.
A reader shares their thoughts.
Someone makes a suggestion.
Some people are clueless.
A commenter shares their point of view.
Another reader chimes in.
Some people never learn.
He can either leave or tell them to get with the times.
If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.
