AITA for going off on an overbearing father?

A Reddit user shares their experience dealing with an overbearing parent at the private school where they work. After a heated exchange about a delayed report card, they question whether their response to the parent’s behavior crossed a line.

‘ AITA for going off on an overbearing father?’

I (25F) work at a private school. I usually have one class of children, the youngest are 3 and the oldest are 5. Yesterday, we were supposed to hand in the children’s marks for the trimester in person to the parents after the class finished. I handed all of the reports except one because the parent and his daughter had already left, and since the parents had been instructed to wait for a couple of seconds so I could hand in the marks, I set this parent’s folder aside and my boss told me that she would contact him.

We’ve had problems with this father specifically in many occasions before. For instance, he complained that the school kept changing his daughter’s substitute teachers every week. We explained that it was because the original teacher had been diagnosed with an illness and that we were scrambling every week to find teachers who were able to cover that class, but he wasn’t having it and deemed it “unacceptable”.

Another thing was that he was demanding a discount when he enrolled his daughter because he used to be a student in the school years ago, which of course my boss did not let slide.

However, this morning he came in to collect his daughter’s report card and he went off on my boss claiming that we were unprofessional and that everybody else had gotten their reports yesterday. We explained as respectfully as possible that it was because he didn’t wait for me to give him the report card and although it was unfortunate, he had no right to be this pissed considering that the reports were also mailed to the families digitally, and the folders given in person were just a formality.

He was pissed, started threatening that he was going to look for another school and a bunch of other things. He was starting to become unbearable, so I just told him that it was his choice, but that he needed to calm down and that his behaviour was becoming unacceptable.

I also told him that his waiting for any little mistake from the school just so he can b**ch about it is immature, and that although his daughter was happy learning here, it was his choice if he wanted to move schools at the end of the day. He left without saying a thing, and although my boss was on my side, she said that I should’ve been more respectful with my words. I don’t know what to do. AITA?

Take a look at the comments from fellow users:

Dittoheadforever −  You’re NTA. He was pissed, started threatening that he was going to look for another school and a bunch of other things Cross your fingers, light a candle, whatever it takes to make that threat happen.

Bold-Belle2 −  NTA. His fault for leaving when you clearly told them to wait for them. All these issues are so minor, he really needs to get a grip on overreacting, especially on the main issue that was HIS fault.

Couldthisnamebetaken −  That poor kid. If he’s like this to school staff, what’s he like at home??

UnfairEntrance159 −  NTA. You didn’t really go off. You only defended yourself against a super entitled parent. If no one stands up to them, they get confirmation that their behaviour is acceptable.

twentyminutestosleep −  obvious NTA. “I’m going to look for another school!”. “Great, the withdrawal form is online. make sure you fill out every section so we can process the transfer as quickly as possible.”

Emotional_Fan_7011 −  NTA. He needed to be put in his place. Someone needed to tell that AH the world doesn’t revolve around him.

Midnight_Rosie −  NTA in the slightest. makes me wonder why he was even in a rush to get out of there. he sounds SUPER dam entitled. imagine asking for a discount for your child just because you went to that school before.

janus1979 −  NTA. People like him deserve to be slapped down. If they think they can go around acting like dicks then it shouldn’t come as a surprise when they encounter people unwilling to put up with their b**lshit.

kimba-the-tabby-lion −  NTA. Calling him immature is an insult; probably could have skipped that, but everything else is 👌