I[24M] caught my sister[26F] trying to steal a watch of mine, and now my mother[51F] wants me to apologize to her.

A man recounted an incident where he caught his sister trying to steal a valuable watch during a housewarming party. When confronted, she denied it, leading him to discover the watch in her purse after an escalating confrontation.

Despite her history of theft, their mother is demanding that he apologize for humiliating her in front of the guests and even lie to clear her name. Feeling frustrated and unsupported, he’s seeking advice on how to handle the fallout with both his sister and mother.

‘ I[24M] caught my sister[26F] trying to steal a watch of mine, and now my mother[51F] wants me to apologize to her.’

So last night I had some people over to to celebrate moving into my new place. I had some family and friends, including my sister and my mother.
When I was growing up with my sister, she would often steal from myself and other family members.

Money from my mom’s purse or dad’s wallet. She’d sneak into my room and take things. Steal money from our grandparents, etc. We aren’t very close because of this, and I always try to keep an eye on here when she’s around.

Despite this, I decided to invite my sister over because she doesn’t live to far away, and I know my mom would have been upset if I didn’t. I put all of my watches and valuables in my safe, but I left out the watch I had planned on wearing that night(but ended up not wearing it and leaving it on my dresser)

At one point during the party my sister asked me where the bathroom was and I pointed down the hallway and told her the bathroom was on the left. A couple minutes later I went to go grab something from my room and saw her come out of my room as I was walking down the hall.

She gave me this startled dear in the headlights look and said she was looking for the bathroom and walked away really quickly. I immediately got worried and went to do a quick look around my room. I immediately noticed the watch missing from on top of my dresser.

This isn’t some cheap $20 watch, I paid over 30k for it earlier this year. I left my room and went straight to my sister to confront her. I pulled her off to the side so it wouldn’t cause a scene, and told her that I knew she took my watch and if she gave it back right then I wouldn’t call the cops.

She got extremely defensive and started yelling about how she didn’t take s**t from me, and how I’m an a**hole etc. At this point, a lot of people were staring and listening us. She told me she was leaving and started heading toward the door.

I knew if she left I might never see my watch again, so I grabbed her purse from her and dumped everything on the ground. Sure enough, there is my watch right there on the ground with the rest of the stuff from her purse.

My sister screamed at me and called me a f**king a**hole and scooped up most of her stuff and ran out of my place. My mom followed her out and ended up not returning to the party. So after an awkward rest of the party, I got a call from my mom.

She was mad at ME! I got some long lecture about how I “didn’t need to humiliate my sister in front of everyone at the party”, how she couldn’t help herself, and that my sister is crying and upset now because of the “scene I caused”

She also got mad at me for going through my sister’s purse and told me that I should never look in a ladies purse and that it was a complete i**asion of privacy. First of all, I tried to pull my sister off to the side.

She was the one who started yelling at me and causing a scene that made everyone look over at her. I also wouldn’t have had to go through her purse if she didn’t STEAL FROM ME and deny it and try to leave.

I’m not just going to risk losing a 30k watch because I “shouldn’t look through a ladies purse” So now my mom wants me to not only apologize to my sister, but to tell all the guests that were there that it was a big misunderstanding and my sister didn’t take anything.

I’m really not sure what I should do about my mom. There is no way I’m going to apologize to my sister. She should be the one apologizing to me. And I’m certainly not going to lie to my how guests to get my sister out of the awkward mess she created for herself.

I also don’t know what to do about my sister. At this point I’m pretty much just done with her. I think she should be the one apologizing, but I doubt she will ever do that.. Thanks in advance for any advice!.

Let’s dive into the reactions from Reddit:

TheGreatAvocado −  “Mom, [sister] was about to steal $30,000 from me. That is not some small thing. I would have sent her to jail for that because any sister that would so callously just steal from me is no sister of mine. By asking me to apologize to her, you are enabling her behavior and making it seem like she got a pass.

You need to understand that I don’t owe her anything; SHE is the one that needs to apologize. I love you, but I am not bending on this and I will end any future conversations about this by leaving or hanging up. [Sister] does not deserve sympathy for being embarrassed; she’s lucky I’m not reporting this to the police.”

TheTableDude −  “Okay, Mom. I’ll apologize to her for embarrassing her when she tried to steal a $30,000 watch from me. But first I’m going to call the cops and report it. OR she can apologize to me and I won’t call the police. Which would you prefer?”

[Reddit User] −  If you want to be snarky, you could point out it’d have been even more embarrassing for your sister to have been arrested. Honestly, I don’t have good advice for handling your mom.

As far as your sister goes, it’s time for the kid gloves to come off. If she steals from you again, treat her like the theif she is and call the cops. Edit: Don’t bother lying to the guests. That’d be enabling.

[Reddit User] −  I know I’m missing the point of the story, but you’re 24 and you can afford a 30k watch? Holy f**king s**t.

KamehamehaSockpuppet −  “Sis, I’m sorry you are a criminal, a t**ef and a l**r who has been enabled by our delusional and irresponsible mother for years but I’ll be fucked if you’re going to rob me of something I worked hard to pay for. I’m done with both of you. Count yourself lucky I’m not reporting this to the police. I will do if it ever happens again.”

[Reddit User] −  She’s a 26 year old woman and still has her mother fighting her battles. This is stuff teenagers do, if it was me I’d report it to the police still after the way they’ve treated you. Your sister needs to grow up and your mother shouldn’t be treating her like a 10 year old.

Doughchild −  Sounds like both your mom and sister are banned from your house from now on. Your sister can steal your moms things all she want, she doesn’t get to steal yours. If you have other valuables in the house, you should look around. Things like a checkbook can hide in a backpocket.

cordsniper −  She would get an apology over my dead body. Never, ever, ever! It serves her right to be publicly humiliated. I wouldn’t let her back in my house again and I would tell my mom to p**s up a rope if she is going to defend your sister, no wonder she constantly steals. Your mom feeds into it being acceptable.

SayceGards −  Explain to her the whole situation. She probably got sister’s fucked up version of it. Tell her she came out of your room looking suspicious and uir watch was gone, you pulled her to the side as to not humiliate her,

and when she tried to run away, you got your watch back. Also explain how rxpensive this watch is. No matter what you do, do not apologize to either of them. Don’t do it

[Reddit User] −  Damn dude what do you do at age 24 to be able to afford a 30k watch? Why has your sister always been stealing? Is it some mental disorder or does she just not make enough money or something?