Turning eighteen is a major milestone that usually comes with a lot of excitement and a healthy dose of teenage entitlement. Most kids hope for a cool gift or a fun party. But some teenagers watch way too much reality television and genuinely expect their parents to present them with a brand new vehicle wrapped in a giant red bow. When that fantasy does not become a reality, a normal person might pout for a day. An entitled teenager, however, will go on a literal crime spree.
One woman recently took to Reddit to share a deeply infuriating story about her eighteen year old cousin, and the level of delusion involved is truly staggering. The Original Poster is a woman nearing her thirties who keeps her distance from her extended family. She recently heard through the family grapevine that her teenage cousin was furious after her eighteenth birthday. The teen fully expected her parents to buy her a car, and when they showed up empty handed, she threw an epic tantrum.
Instead of getting a job and saving up like a normal young adult, the cousin decided to look for a shortcut. She sent a text message to the Original Poster on the Friday before her birthday with an absolutely wild request. She demanded to borrow her older cousin’s brand new, leased Ford Escape. She did not just want to run to the grocery store. She wanted to take the brand new vehicle to the mall and then drive it completely out of town for a weekend road trip with her friends.
The Original Poster gave the only acceptable answer and firmly told her no. A leased car is a massive financial liability, and handing the keys over to a teenager for a road trip is a recipe for disaster. The cousin begged and pleaded, but the Original Poster stood her ground, stating that if she wants a car, she can save up and buy one herself. The teenager immediately turned nasty, calling her older cousin a b!tch and accusing her of ruining her birthday because she already lied to her friends about getting a car.
The Original Poster wisely ignored the tantrum and went about her weekend. She enjoyed a nice, long Saturday sleep and woke up around one in the afternoon. But when she walked outside, she discovered a nightmare sitting in her driveway. Even though her gate was closed, someone had completely vandalized her brand new leased car. The vehicle was covered in dozens of raw eggs and wrapped in five or six rolls of toilet paper.
To make matters infinitely worse, the weather outside was incredibly warm. The intense heat literally baked the raw egg yolk and the wet toilet paper directly into the clear coat of the car, completely destroying the expensive paint job. Vandalizing a leased vehicle is not a harmless prank. It is a massive financial burden that costs thousands of dollars to fix. Fortunately, the Original Poster was not playing games. She had a full perimeter of security cameras installed around her house.
She checked the surveillance footage and confirmed her exact suspicions. Right around nine thirty that morning, the cameras captured the eighteen year old cousin and a group of her friends actively destroying the car. Armed with undeniable video evidence, the Original Poster bypassed the family drama entirely and went straight to the police. She officially pressed criminal charges against her cousin for the severe property damage.
The extended family absolutely lost their minds. The aunt and uncle were completely p!ssed off that the Original Poster actually involved the law. They started throwing out the most ridiculous excuses imaginable to protect their vandal daughter. They tried to claim she is just a kid who was acting out because of the emotional stress of virtual schooling. They actually tried to guilt trip a thirty year old woman for holding an adult accountable for felony level property damage.
If you think the cousin was crying out of guilt, think again. The second the police got involved, the teenager started blowing up the Original Poster’s phone. But she was not apologizing. She was actively taunting her victim, sending text messages stating that the entire situation could have been avoided if the Original Poster had simply handed over the keys to her car. She basically admitted to targeted extortion right there in writing.
The Original Poster then dropped a massive bombshell that completely destroys the innocent kid narrative. The eighteen year old cousin already has a felony on her criminal record for a DUI. This is not a sweet, stressed out student making a one time mistake. This is a repeat offender who drives under the influence and destroys property when she does not get her way.
To top it all off, the aunt and uncle flat out refused to open their wallets to pay for the ruined paint job. They just expected the Original Poster to drop the criminal charges and pay for the extensive repairs entirely out of her own pocket. The sheer cheapness and entitlement definitely explain exactly how the teenager ended up this way.
The internet threw a massive party for the Original Poster and universally crowned her not the a**hole. You do not let an adult with a felony record extort you and destroy your property. Pressing charges was the absolute best thing she could have done. It is time for this spoiled teenager to learn that the real world does not care about your birthday tantrums, and her parents can finally deal with the messy reality they created.