We need to talk about the difference between a “dad joke” and emotional abuse, because apparently, some parents are struggling with the definition. A dad joke is groaning when your father says “Hi Hungry, I’m Dad.” It is annoying, but harmless. What one father on Reddit did to his teenage son, however, wasn’t a joke. It was a calculated, two-year-long con that ended in humiliation, and frankly, if I were this kid, I would never trust my father again.
Our narrator is a 17-year-old guy who has been playing piano since he was eight. By the time he was 15, he was burnt out. He wanted to quit lessons to focus on other things, which is a totally normal teenager thing to do. But his parents, who are admittedly “well off financially,” didn’t want him to stop. So, the dad proposed a deal. A massive, high-stakes deal.
The terms were simple: If the son stuck with piano until he reached Level 10 of the Royal Conservatory of Music—which, for the record, is an incredibly difficult, near-professional level of achievement—and kept his grades up, his dad would buy him a new car of his choice. The son agreed. He shook hands on it. And then he spent the next two years grinding. He practiced hours a day. He studied. He passed his exams. He held up his end of the bargain perfectly.
Now, we have to talk about the dad’s personality, because it is the villain origin story of this entire mess. The son explains that his dad loves “loopholes.” He loves winning competitions on technicalities and then laughing about it. His catchphrase whenever his son complains about fairness is, “Life isn’t fair.” Keep that in mind, because it is about to come back to haunt him.
So the big day comes. The son has passed his exams. It is his birthday. He heads downstairs, and his dad tells him there is a surprise in the garage. The son, who asked for a BMW X5 plug-in hybrid, runs out expecting to see his reward for two years of hard labor.
Instead, sitting in the middle of the garage floor, is a 1/24 scale toy model of a BMW X5.
His dad bursts out laughing. He hits him with the “A deal’s a deal!” line. When the son, heartbroken and confused, asks if he is serious, the dad gaslights him. He tells him he couldn’t “seriously expect” a brand new BMW for a 17-year-old. He claims he fulfilled the deal because the son “never said the car had to be full size and drivable.” And then, he dropped his favorite line again: “Life isn’t fair.”
I am vibrating with rage. This man watched his son work his azz off for two years, knowing the entire time that he was going to pull the rug out from under him on his birthday. That isn’t a lesson in fairness; that is a lesson in cruelty. It is a betrayal of trust so profound that it changes the way you view a person forever.
Now, the dad is trying to backtrack and offer a “reasonably priced used car.” But the son is refusing. He says he is not interested. He has his own savings, and he feels that accepting the “consolation prize” now would be letting his dad off the hook for the lie.
And you know what? He is absolutely right.
Is the son the ahole? No. Not even a little bit. He is a young man with a spine. His dad didn’t just break a promise; he mocked his son’s effort. He turned a major life achievement into a punchline. By refusing the used car, the son is teaching his dad a new lesson: “Actions have consequences.” The dad wanted to play games with technicalities? Fine. Technically, his son doesn’t have to forgive him. Life isn’t fair, Dad.
NTA but your car !! Every time he looks at it it’ll remind him of his failure . Even if he doesn’t admit it !!