One woman has outraged the internet when she revealed that she'd refused to babysit her nephew after her sister-in-law went into labour.
Taking to Reddit, the user Jessica explained that she and her husband never babysit relatives' children and do not have children of their own.
When Jessica's brother Ben asked if she would watch her nephew when his wife went into labour, Jessica outright refused.
Writing on Reddit, she said: "I work a lot and my husband goes out of town for his work. Knowing this, they hired a sitter."
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However, disaster struck - Ben's wife went into labour two weeks early and the arranged babysitter cancelled.
Despite this, Jessica wouldn't budge.
Jessica continued: "The sitter had Covid and couldn’t come…they begged me to watch my nephew, but I said no.
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"My husband was out of town, and I had work that entire week, and didn’t know how long this was going to take.
"They said it was an emergency, to which I reminded them 'a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine'.
"My brother ended up having to leave her at the hospital to watch my nephew."
Unsurprisingly, Ben and his wife have not been too happy with Jessica as a result and have criticised her to the rest of the family.
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Jessica wrote: "They’re now saying I’ll never get to meet my niece, which IDK [I don't know] why they think that’s a threat, I’m not exactly a fun aunt.
"I don’t see why I should be a babysitter just because my brother has poor planning."
Reddit users did not take sympathy with Jessica and blasted her for her lack of sensitivity.
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One user commented: "As part of a child-free couple, I get it, kids can be a lot if you’re not used to them. But the lack of empathy here is disgusting. This was an emergency. What an absolute clown to do this to your family."
Another fumed: "It doesn’t take a genius to know that an emergency can’t be planned for. There is no possible way to have a backup plan for every possible emergency that might happen."
A fellow Reddit user noted: "They did plan, you yourself admitted they planned. Their plan fell through for a legitimate reason.
"It was incredibly cruel and heartless of you to make your brother have to miss the birth of his child because you wanted to be petty."
Ben Thompson