Mortality sucks big time, but life moves on for everyone else who isn't in that predicament. And as soon as folks pay their last respects to those who are no longer with us, it’s back to reality. A reality that includes all of the formalities that follow a funeral, like the will.
One Redditor has recently shared a story of how his aunt handled her mother's—his grandmother’s—dying wish to give all of her money to the youngest daughter, another aunt to OP. Mind you, she is known in the family as an enormous mooch and “parasite”, so the method of money delivery had to be special.
More Info: Reddit
Getting your inheritance is always bittersweet, but sometimes it can turn into an entertaining plot through some malicious compliance
Image credits: Jessica Merz (not the actual image)
So, Reddit user u/JoeMondo, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for an interview, went to the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit to share a story of his grandma, his family, and how the spoken will was executed.
You see, OP had an immigrant grandmother who had to leave school when she was 12 after her own mom had passed away. As the eldest, she took care of the younger siblings, so education wasn’t a priority. Hence, while she did marry, have kids, and even a job outside the house, it was only enough to help make ends meet.
Of her own children, Joe explained that they were very reasonable people, except for one—the youngest daughter, his aunt, who was considered by the family a bit of a parasite. This was so because she had no problems with taking everything from the grandmother, even having her co-sign debts and just bolting.
One Redditor shared a story where his aunt was asked to pass on $700 to the "mooch sister" as her inheritance from her late mother. Nobody said how, though
Image Credits: u/joemondo
The story goes that the grandmother loved her kids unconditionally, but there was one daughter who took advantage of it big time
Image credits: Rick Kimpel (not the actual image)
While the grandmother was said to be a wise woman, to her children, she could never say no. And so the mooching continued without any restrictions, to a degree where it felt like she was using her.
Sadly, the venerable woman fell ill with cancer. Everyone except the youngest daughter came in to take care of her. But even then, the grandmother was worried about the youngest. As her dying wish, she asked if the oldest daughter, OP’s other aunt, could pass on the $700 or so she had to her name to the parasite daughter.
The day sadly came when the family had to part with the grandmother, and this also meant that the oldest daughter now had to respect her dying wish. But that’s when it hit her—she had to pay her sister the $700, but the grandma never explained how.
The sister was very moochy, so much that she would often co-sign credit cards with her mom and then run away from the obligations
But since nobody in the family liked this sister, and the oldest was in charge of handing her the inheritance, she decided to do it in installments...
Image Credits: u/joemondo
...$10 monthly installments for 5 years and 10 months, to be precise
So, to make sure the “vampire of a sister” got her $700 without actually feeling like she got it, the oldest decided to send the money in installments. Of $10 a month. Across 5 years and 10 months. “I always admired my older aunt. She knew how to hold a grudge,” concluded Joe. Pretty clever, if you ask me.
"I don't think it was revenge at all. I think she was in what seemed like an impossible position because to fulfill the request (in at least the most obvious way) would also dishonor her mother by participating in what she would have considered misuse of her mother," explained Joe the motives behind the interesting tactic. "One reason I admire her clever solution is that she was able to find a way to honor the request, but in a way that did not violate her own values. In addition, it's hard to say giving her sister the money in installments was revenge. She did give it to her, she did her no harm."
Image credits: Moolanomy (not the actual image)
Once the story got out, folks flocked in to admire OP’s aunt because nobody likes a parasitic mooch. And this also gave Joe a chance to provide some context.
From his replies, we also learn that the youngest of the sisters attempted to mooch off of others, but that didn’t work out for the most part. OP’s dad fell victim to one of her credit card schemes, costing him $10K, but that also meant she was cut off completely.
We also learn this happened back in the '90s, and that the $10 monthly sum was because it was a very reasonable sum to guarantee that it would be paid off. And also small enough to annoy the living heck out of the sister, when you think about it.
Lastly, to the best of Joe’s knowledge, the eldest aunt gave some info about the money, but not how much. It was the right thing to do as it could have been used against them. And fortunately for OP’s family, nobody really needed to maintain a relationship with the youngest following the grandmother’s passing.
The Malicious Compliance community had a good laugh and thoroughly enjoyed the story
Joe elaborated that he has no idea if his grandmother would have approve of this maliciously compliant tactic, but he suspects that she would have understood it.
"The fact that she still had any money at all means that she was, in her own way, managing her younger daughter's leeching, or there'd have been nothing at all. She could hardly disapprove of her older daughter managing in her own way."
"In addition, my grandmother chose, out of all her kids, the one daughter most widely understood to be the most reliable, the most ethical and also the most sly to manage this. So I have to feel that at some level my grandmother, incapacitated by cancer and narcotics as she was, was handing it over to the person who could handle it best in her absence," added Joe.
The community thoroughly enjoyed the story. Apart from all of the praises and amazement, folks kept asking questions, which OP happily answered, providing more context on the matter. Others debated the different ways OP’s aunt could have approached the topic with her sister, whether even more maliciously, or constructively.
But what about the reactions from folks that are not a part of the MC community, like for example Joe's family? We asked him about it, and he explained that he doesn't really know that. This was all pre-internet times, and he was living far away from the family to know the daily intrigues.
"I'm not even sure how many people knew about it, honestly. There wasn't a lot of benefit in either sister talking it up. I'd guess a couple of cousins who were in their own way as bad as the younger aunt may have feigned sympathy, but they were as self interested as she was so they wouldn't care. Anyone else would understand. And in the end, it's never good to get between a Sicilian woman and what she has decided is her sacred duty," concluded Joe.
All in all, the post got quite a lot of attention, garnering over 15,100 upvotes and a handful of Reddit awards. Incidentally, you can read it in context here, along with all of the responses, and why not also check out other Malicious Compliance stories we’ve covered in the past?
But not without letting us know your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below!