Granddaughter defended after accepting money from grandfather for spending time with him
People are used to receiving money from their grandparents for birthdays, graduations, or holidays, but one woman received money from her grandfather just for spending time with him.
In a Reddit post shared to the popular “Am I The A**hole?” subreddit, the granddaughter explained that she showed up at her grandfather’s house where he handed her a jar filled with money that had her name on it and was asked to count the cash inside. It totalled £3,200 ($4,000).
Not knowing what the money was for, the poster asked her grandfather and he explained that it was a game he was playing with the entire family.
“From the 1st of December 2023, to the 31st December 2023, everytime a member of the family visited him, he’d put £100 in their jar for every hour they spent with him. At the end of the month, the person who spent the most time with him would receive all of the money in their jar, and the others would get nothing. He obviously didn’t tell anybody that he was doing this so that no one spent extra time with him to get the money,” the granddaughter explained in her Reddit post.
She ended up winning the “game” by an extra six hours. Although she said she initially didn’t want to accept the money because of the moral implications that came with it, she was convinced to take it after her grandfather claimed she had “earned it.”
“When I got home, I told my parents about the money and explained his game to them. I told my mum where she came on the scoreboard (4th) and she was understandably upset at her father for making us unknowingly compete with each other. Then she told the rest of the family via a group chat,” the post continued.
The granddaughter said her entire family is now upset with her due to her grandfather not being able to afford giving that kind of money away. “I think that if he was willing to play this game then he obviously has no problem with giving the money away, and he did insist on me taking it,” she explained. “Also, he’s always been a weird guy, so although I don’t agree with what he did, I’m not too surprised, so I don’t think I should have had to start an argument with him about it.”
After posting, many people took to the comments section to defend her taking the money because her grandfather can do whatever he wants with his own money. “Probably your family is jealous that you got the money and they are ashamed that they don’t visit him so often? NTA for taking the money. 10x NTA when you spend it for quality time with him... I would give all my money to have quality time with my grandma again... enjoy every second!” one commenter wrote.
Another commenter agreed, writing, “Your family is salty (and jealous) for being indirectly called out on not visiting your grandfather enough. That’s his money to do with as he pleases, and it pleased him to give it to whoever spent the most time with him over the past year.”
“Personally I think this game just shows which people in the family get along with him better/feel a certain closeness and understanding with your grandpa and thus spend time together,” a third comment began.
“Is it a bit rude to put that into monetary value? A bit, but he’s free to do what he wants, though I suspect now he’ll just get many more visits around xmas and he will not give money again next year.”