It’s not easy to admit that we can get a little jealous when someone close to us comes into some money, but unfortunately for one Redditor, his wife’s case of jealousy is really throwing a wrench into their marriage. After all, he did give his younger cousin a lottery ticket that ended up winning $50,000 — but he never expected that his wife would put up a stink and demand that he take the winning lottery ticket back.
It all started at a belated Christmas celebration the Original Poster had with his extended family.
Typically, the custom is that everyone gives each other “stocking stuffers" (i.e. nothing that costs more than $10) as gifts, and every year the OP has given scratch-off lottery tickets to the adults.
“As you would expect, they are almost always trash,” he explained in his post on Reddit's AITA forum. “But every year we have a few hit for extra tickets, $2, $5, even $10. One year my uncle's ticket hit for $50 and everyone went crazy. It's always a good time.”
This year was a little different, however.
The OP’s 23-year-old cousin won — big time.
“He holds his ticket up and claims that it just hit for the max jackpot — $50,000. Everyone rushes over, a couple of my uncles verify — yep this kid just won $50K,” the OP recalled.
The OP was over the moon. He scooped his cousin into a big bear hug “and said, 'Merry Christmas you lucky a-hole.'
“He was screaming and his mom was actually in tears and the whole room was excited,” he recalled. “It was literally one of the top ten experiences of my life.”
Suddenly, the OP felt his phone vibrate.
It was his wife who’d sent him an ominous text: “come out to the car."
“I go outside and can tell by her body language she is p—ed,” he wrote. “She told me there is no way that we are giving my cousin $50K, then starts fussing at me about buying the lotto tickets to begin with.”
In the OP’s eyes, $50,000 is not going to make or break his family. He’s in his mid-40s, he’s been in his career for two decades, and his wife is a stay-at-home-mom by choice. Their cars are paid for, as are their retirement funds and college funds for their kids.
“Our only debt is the house,” he added. “I'm saying this to show while $50k would be nice to have, it's not life changing money for us.”
But for his cousin $50,000, *would* be life-changing money.
He “just graduated from college,” the OP wrote. “His mom is single and was one of those fiercely independent women who refused charity. She took on extra jobs to help him pay for school. He worked at least two jobs himself while going to school full time and still managed Dean's list. But he still had to take out loans.”
His cousin even managed to land a job after school ended but can’t afford a car or to move closer to his office and was looking at a two-hour commute.
“He's also saving for an engagement ring for his sweet girlfriend of three years,” the OP added. “This money would literally change this kid's life and frankly I think it couldn't have gone to a better member of my family.”
The OP tried to explain to his wife that they didn’t give his cousin $50,000 — they gave him a $5 lotto ticket. But she doesn’t see it that way.
“She is now demanding I go back in there and take the ticket back from him, saying maybe we'll give him some of it,” he wrote. “We argued a little bit, I can't get her to explain why she wants this money so bad other than ‘it's ours and you're not giving it away.’
“We fought all the way home and she hasn't spoken more than a couple of words to me since,” he continued, asking if he was being a jerk.
Almost everyone in the comments section was in agreement: His wife was being a grinch.
“Your wife wouldn't want the ticket if it were worth $0 or even the $50 your uncle won would she? She wouldn't demand you'd go back in there and do some taksie-backsies for zero dollars," one commenter pointed out. "Your wife is completely in the wrong. You are right, you have not given away $50k, you gave him a gift that could have been worth $0 at the end of the day for a bit of a laugh and the lucky sod got lucky."
Someone else agreed. "Your wife is wrong. Like you said, you gave him a $5 ticket as a gift. You don't take gifts back when you realize they are worth more than you thought.
"It doesn't matter that you are older and more financially secure, and your cousin is just starting out (although it is nice that it worked out that way)," the person continued. "Sounds like you have a good relationship with your family, do not let your wife shatter it."
A third commenter made a strong suggestion for how the OP should handle things: "OP should send a text to his cousin telling him that watching him win $50K was one of the best experiences of his life and that he hopes he spends it wisely, just in case his wife directly contacts the cousin about wanting the money back. This way everyone will know she's the greedy one."
But at least one person thought the OP's wife was making sense.
That person thought everyone sucked. “But not for the reason you ask about. Your debt is the money you haven't earned yet so that you can be retired TODAY. Unless you are ready to retire today, your retirement isn't funded. Do you understand that? 50K is enough to give you an extra year of retirement. That is life changing money for you too.
"I am happy for the kid," the person continued, "and there is no way you can walk back in there and tell him you are taking that back. Not legally, not morally, not to people you expect to have a relationship with. A gift is a gift, and that is a great story for you all. But moving forward, don't try to justify/explain anything the way you do."
Later in the thread, the OP explained that he was simply blown away by his wife's response.
"This came completely out of left field," he wrote. "She's one of the sweetest people I know and she's actually very charitable. In fact it's really tough sitting here reading people call her all kind of names but I get it all they know about her is this post. But yeah I'm really scratching my head. That's why I included the financial info stuff cause I just can't figure out why she cares so much."
Unfortunately, we all know that money changes people — especially when it's $50,000.
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