AITA for laughing in my mother’s friends face when she told me to ‘go to my room’?

A Redditor (F, 25) is recounting an interaction with her estranged mother and her mother’s friend. The Redditor had gone to her mother’s house to pick up an important document and, after her mother suddenly realized she had forgotten about a funeral, was asked to babysit her younger brothers.

The Redditor refused, stating she had plans and no relationship with her brothers, and was then berated by her mother’s friend. When the friend told her to “go to her room,” the Redditor laughed in her face and left, making a sarcastic comment about being an adult. Now, her mother is calling her an AH for how she spoke to her friend. Read the full story below.

‘ AITA for laughing in my mother’s friends face when she told me to ‘go to my room’?’

I (25,F) don’t speak to my mother, like at all. I had to go to my mother’s house today to pick up an important document that I left behind when I moved out seven years ago. As soon as I got to the house, my mother suddenly had a massive ’emergency’ and realised that it was apparently her friend’s funeral today and she completely forgot about it.

I couldn’t help but internally roll my eyes, as there is always some drama hence why I have gone no/very low contact. She asked me if I would watch my two younger brothers (7 and 11) whilst she went to the funeral, and I said absolutely not, as it’s my only day off, I have plans, and I have no relationship with them due to my mother stopping them from seeing me for years.

I just wanted to get my birth certificate and leave. My mother asked her friend if she would babysit and asked me to stay for 10 minutes until her friend came. I didn’t even get the opportunity to say no before my mother left the house. I was seething but resolved to wait 10 minutes. My mother’s friend turned up and started berating me for not agreeing to look after my brother’s whilst my mother went to the funeral.

I said ‘I don’t have anything to do with my mother, it’s my day off work, and I’m under no obligation to look after anyone else’s children’. My mother’s friend then told me to ‘go to my room’. I laughed in her face and started to leave the house, and she asked me where I was going.

And I told her, ‘my room, at my apartment, that I pay for with my big girl job. Because I’m an adult, not a child. And don’t ever speak down to me like that again’. And I left. My mother has left me loads of messages and missed calls saying I’m an AH for the way I spoke to her friend. I do admit I look kinda young but I still am not happy with the way my mother’s friend spoke to me.. AITA?

Here’s how people reacted to the post:

[Reddit User] −  NTA. I actually quite admire your refusal to get drawn in.

Fantastic-Focus-7056 −  NTA. The audacity to try and send someone else’s adult child to their room. I would have laughed too.

_ewan_ −  I may be TA because my mother’s friend didn’t know me and may have genuinely thought I was a minor as I do look very young for my age. It really wouldn’t matter. You’re NTA now and you’d have been NTA if you had been a minor – she had no business speaking to you that way regardless.

The fact that adults can quite often get away with behaving badly towards children because children don’t usually have the ability to do what you did here doesn’t mean that their behaviour is good, it just means they can get away with it. She behaved like an arse, and you spanked her.

tatersprout −  NTA. Lol about going to your room. For future reference, you can get your birth certificate at the city hall in the city you were born in. You didn’t need to go to your mother’s house.

ETA: all 50 states do not need to check in here lol. Let me rephrase the above to say: Check with your local government office on how to obtain your vital records. You can get replacements for them all.

WolfMaiden18 −  Absolutely NTA. Your mom’s friend was very inappropriate, and there was nothing wrong with your response to her. I don’t blame you for laughing, either.

mdkroma −  NTA. In fact, I think it would have been impossible for you to respond any better.

This_Grab_452 −  INFO: Did you get your documents?

Is-this-rabbit −  I think you handled it pretty well. Sounds like you Mum was misleading her friend – sounds like the friend had been told you were being mean not helping out with your little brothers, suspect she missed out the fact that you don’t live there and barely know the boys because she denied you a relationship with them.

Megmca −  NTA. Other snappy comebacks include, “I haven’t had a room in this house for seven years. Bye.”

EmbarrassedIncome570 −  I loved how s**age you were😂😂😂

Do you think the Redditor was in the wrong for how she reacted to her mother’s friend? Is it justified to laugh in someone’s face when they speak down to you, or should she have handled the situation differently? Share your thoughts in the comments!