Son gave parents money for his dream company. Now they say he is ‘selfish’

For five years, a young man poured everything he had in the family’s small-town café time, labor, even his college savings. Now, at 26, he turns to Reddit for perspective after reaching a breaking point.

The cafe was a family dream. His parents bought the building when he was 21, and he helped to convert it, install insulation, hang plaster and paint the walls. Then he was in college, juggled studies and unpaid changes.

“I started working here when I went to college. Any time I had free time I would be here and work,” he writes in his post. “None of the time I got paid.”

When money was tight, he gave what he could. He handed over college savings, took out student loans and even gave them their Covid stimulus signs, including the improved $ 600 unemployment payments this week during the pandemic.

“About when I went to college, my family was hard on cash. So all the extra money I had from college got them. I took out student loans, they now pay them,” he says. “One of the requirements for a class was to have a paid internship.”

After graduation, the café became his full -time job. But the compensation remained shockingly low. “I work here 6 days a week for 47 hours a week,” he shares. “I earn about $ 40 in tips every week. And my parents pay me maybe $ 400 per month.”

He lives at home, but his financial support is missing. His car has not been driving for over two years. Although his parents cover the insurance, he cannot afford repairs. He contributes to groceries, buys products for the store with his own money and even entertains his rental properties with equipment he bought himself.

“I cut and maintain all four properties that they own on a lawnmower I bought,” he adds. “They didn’t help.”

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His unpaid work extended beyond the cafe. He helped renovate his parents’ home and built them an addition. Still, when he raises concerns about money, he says he has met dismissal. “They treat me like I’m grateful,” he writes. “They say they pay me very well.”

Eventually he gave them an ultimatum: either he starts getting a proper paycheck, or he goes. “It came to a breaking point where I told them that I either have to get a paycheck or I will look for another job and be done,” he shares.

In response, his parents offered a compromise – to let him renovate one of their buildings to start his own business. But they still expect him to work at the cafe while he launches his company.

That, he says, is not sustainable. “Come June I will no longer work at the cafe,” he wrote. “My parents say I’m selfish, but others say that what I do is more than reasonable.”