My brother [22m] Pushed Me [23f] Into a Pool and Ruined my Electronics. He is now upset I returned his birthday gift to pay for everything.

A Reddit user shares their frustration after their brother’s reckless prank left them with damaged electronics and a fractured wrist. Despite being told to avoid pranks, her brother pushed her into a pool while she had over $1,200 worth of electronics on her. The family intervened, giving her his birthday gift to replace the ruined items, but now he’s angry and claims his birthday is ruined. The user wonders if they handled the situation fairly or if there was a better approach. Read the full story below for more details.

‘ My brother [22m] Pushed Me [23f] Into a Pool and Ruined my Electronics. He is now upset I returned his birthday gift to pay for everything.’

I lied, this is Tammy. I am 23f and I have an ‘Irish’ twin, Brock [22m]. Brock is an i**ot, sometimes. He can be really fun to be around, but he tends to not listen to things. If J**kass could be the life philosophy of anyone, it would be Brock. There is a reason we don’t hang out much, because he always does stupid stuff. Even when I have sat down, explained in detail what I need from him, he is always saying “he forgot.”

To be honest, at this point, I go out to a mall to hang out with him because he doesn’t do stupid stuff in public. He just does it in other people’s homes. Which is f**king annoying. If he wasn’t my brother, I honestly don’t know if I would want him around. But I love the fucker and at the moment do not want to sever contact because of stupidity, though that is not out of the question as I get older. Right now, I guess, I am hoping he grows out of it. Hope being a delicate word.. The point of this?

Over Labor Day weekend, I went to my mom’s home to see the family. We had ribs, visited, and had a great time. I went inside to change for the gym, because I had work in two hours and my mom is right down the street from my gym. So I was going to go there, change for work and shower after.

I had my phone, iPod, earphones, and Fitbit on me when I went to say goodbye to everyone. My fitbit is white and i had my huge earphones around my neck. Brock even commented on how I have ‘way too much stuff to exercise with.’ I was saying goodbye to my sister (who was in the pool with her son) (30f and 7 male). Brock came up behind me and pushed me into the pool. Not only did all my things get destroyed, I hit my wrist on the side of the pool and had to miss work. He destroyed over $1200 worth of things.

My mom yelled at Brock and he was asked to leave. I went to Urgent Care and I cracked the bone. My mom told me she was sorry it happened and my sister has now told Brock he is not to come to her home for a while or see her son, because she thinks he is dangerous in the name of a joke. Brock is really upset because he was supposed to take Nephew camping.

People have been giving Brock a lot of talks about being responsible and paying your debts. Brock has told me he is sorry, but my wrist hurts and I am really angry about what happened. He has been told not to do anything ‘funny’ to me because I hate it. I hate pranks because of him. I hate surprises because they always seem to be cruel. I have not spoken to him and told him I want those things replaced ASAP. He gave me $400 and told me to “take a joke.”

My mother came over earlier today and gave me a wrapped box. She had the receipt for the PS4 and a ton of games. She said everyone in the family pitched in because Brock wanted one, but since he destroyed all my stuff, I should return it to buy a new phone and FitBit. My phone, alone, cost about $400, so the rest of the things still had to be paid for. The total cost of the gift was about $800 (with games and accessories.)

I thanked my mom, and told her she didn’t have to pay Brock’s debt. She said she understood Brock would never pay it and this would be a better lesson. So I returned everything and have a new phone, iPod, earphones, and fitbit. Now Brock is furiously sending me texts about how his birthday is ruined because I guilted Mom into “giving up his present.” He claims he was going to pay me back ASAP, but I told him that I shouldn’t have to wait months to get my things paid for because he didn’t want to pay up right away.

I told a few friends what happened and its 50/50. Some people said it was wrong to take his gift, as birthdays shouldn’t be about getting even and he was an adult. I could have gone through small claims court. Another friend said I should cut my brother off. I am not sure, I just wanted to get other people’s opinions on how to handle this. I am not really in the best frame of mind, as I have been typing with one hand. What do you think is the best way to handle this?

Tl;dr: Brother shoved me into a pool while wearing my electronics, my mom gave me his Bday present to cash in to pay for the items. Brother is now pissed off it happened.

See what others had to share with OP:

bahhamburger −  Brother shoved me into a pool while wearing my electronics, my mom gave me his Bday present to cash in to pay for the items. Brother is now pissed off it happened. Your mom is awesome for suggesting this because this is more likely to teach him a lesson than anything else will. He’s not really an adult, he’s an immature man-child so it’s fitting that he didn’t get his toy. Also he is incredibly lucky that he injured a family member otherwise he could have major legal problems. You can’t go around cracking other people’s wrist bones…

[Reddit User] −  Hes ruined pranks because they arent funny, they’re cruel. Then he ruined your electronics because HEY LOL. Its time he grew the f**k up and realize his s**t has consequences. He has to pay debts and accept consequences. He wont pay you back? He loses gifts. He comes off as cruel and mean? His nephew doesnt go camping with him. Stand your ground with your parents. Either he gets a hint and starts being decent, or shoves off and you guys get to have less stressful lives.

[Reddit User] −  A 22 year old man should have more self respect than to voice his outrage at not getting “a PS4 and a bunch of games” for his birthday. He should be mortified he acted this way.. You are entirely in the right.

arcxiii −  Well if he had the money to pay you back, he can spend it on a PS4 for himself. I’m glad your mom is wising up and not enabling his entitled behavior. Tell him you’ve lost respect for him and now the debt is paid, even if your relationship with him is repaired.

GoingAllTheJay −  He’s learning a harsh lesson for a beyond egregious act of willful destruction on his part. If he wants you to ‘take a joke,’ you got him to ‘take his medicine’. I think you did the right thing. You expressed that you didn’t want to ruin his birthday (even though he was the one that did so), and relented when you mother said it would be his lesson. If this was anyone outside of the family he’d be looking at *much* more serious repercussions.

He claims he was going to pay me back ASAP If that’s true, then he’ll have no trouble paying for his replacement PS4, and he doesn’t have any grounds to make a stink over this. If he, in fact, doesn’t have the money to do so – then this is double lesson in safety *and* honesty.

managedImplosion −  Sounds to me like a fair resolution all around. Brock needs to grow up.

diego_montoya_jr −  I think you mom had a great solution with his punishment. Obviously it’s bothering him and that’s not your problem. His behaviour brought appropriate consequences. You’re really getting a 50/50 split about this with your friends? This seems so clear to me.

Iamanarteest −  Even if he had shelled out the $1400 right then and there, he isn’t a magical healer and he can’t unhurt your wrist. He doesn’t deserve to be responsible for your 7 year old nephew.

TheDigitalRuler −  If he was going to get the money together to pay you back anyway, then now he can just use that money to replace the PS4. Don’t see why he’d have a problem with this, unless of course he was planning on keeping the gifts and never paying to replace the stuff he ruined…

pandasaurusrex −  I’m sorry that your brother is a d**k. Mine was similar, he grew out of the painful “pranks” at about 25 or so, but is still occasionally a tool. In your shoes, I’d say “Hey, you still owe me $800 for the rest of the damaged items. If you give me that, I’ll go get everything back that I returned.” He’ll never do it, but it’s something. Alternately, I’d say “Yeah, it really sucks that you don’t get your birthday toys. What sucks more is that your prank cost me $1200 and a cracked f**king bone.” And then shrug while walking away. I’m just happy that the peak of my brother’s assholery was before personal electronics were a thing. Sorry that you had to go through this, man.