Woman Cheered for Humiliating Her Friend To Prove a Point: 'Sick of Her'

A woman has won the backing of the internet with her quickfire response during an argument on the topic of parents charging their adult children rent.

It's not uncommon for parents to provide some form of financial support to their adult children. In a survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted by savings.com, 50 percent of parents with a child aged 18 or over admitted to paying to support part of their offspring's lifestyle.

However, in instances where the adult child still lives at home, the idea of them returning the favor by paying rent remains a contentious one for some.

That's certainly the case for a Reddit user posting as One_Eggplant_1080, who claims to come from Brazil. According to her post, during a previous dinner party with friends, the topic of charging adult children rent came up.

"I'm not American and if I'm being honest I didn't even know this was a common thing," she said. "I told my friends that in Brazil this would be looked down upon and that I didn't know a single person who paid rent to their parents."

The woman said she has three grown-up sisters who live at home and "no one pays a cent." Moreover, she said she would "never charge my children rent if I wasn't struggling."

Her comments were met with a stinging rebuke from her friend Amy who told her "someone from a third world country wouldn't understand." Amy also hit out at the woman's sisters for trying to "freeload" off the parents.

Though the Brazilian woman insisted it was "common" for adult children in Brazil to live at home until they are married or have a partner, Amy told her that her "culture is backwards."

Rather than get offended, the woman said they would "agree to disagree." Fast-forward to the present and during another dinner party where Amy was present, the woman announced her sister was engaged.

According to the post, Amy then asked if the sister was "finally going to grow up now, or if mommy and daddy will pay rent for her elsewhere."

"Sick of her" comments, the woman fired back, "no, my sister is buying her own condo with my brother-in-law" and told Amy "maybe she could do the same soon if her parents didn't charge her $1,000 + utilities every month."

A fight erupted soon after, with the dinner cut short as a result. Several friends now think the woman "should apologize to Amy to keep the peace," but she is unsure.

Those commenting on social media were inclined to agree she did little wrong.

In a response with over 14,700 upvotes, Prairiemountainzen commented: "Amy was being insulting and rude, and she's the one who owes an apology to you." Vegetable-Bee-7475 went further, writing: "So this 'friend' has been racist on multiple occasions and you kept your mouth shut. But because you finally fought back against her racism, you need to apologize?"

Another user, conchitu, who claimed to be from Argentina, added: "In Latin America, children live with their parents, and parents would never ever charge rent to live with them until they move out."

Pleasant-Eye-61 also noted that in Europe "it's normal for adult children to still live at home, and there are plenty of Asian cultures that it's normal to live with multiple generations in the same home."

But while plenty sided with the Redditor, mediator and parent coach Amy Armstrong told Newsweek: "It is a BIG problem when parents allow their children to live in the home without any expectation that the young adults contribute anything for the good of the family."

"ALL young adult children should contribute to the household—but that may or may not be in the form of cash," she explained.

"Parents and children can create expectations for who is cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, and other household tasks. It is absolutely appropriate for a young adult to have some form of financial commitment, even if it is just to pay for filling up the family car with gas or buying a few bags of groceries every week."

Newsweek reached out to u/one_eggplant_1080 for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

Are you and your friend stuck in an argument? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.