• FAIL Blog
  • Employee
  • Workplace
  • Horrible Bosses
  • Neighbors
  • HOA
  • Family Drama
  • Parenting
  • Customer Service
  • Entitled People

  • Links
  • About Us
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Terms
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • DMCA Policy
    • search email community favorite this article chev-right latest posts article list comments tags video article login twitter facebook menu pinterest whatsapp

    Update: 30-year-old woman lets 3-year-old destroy her 25-year-old sister's $2,000 gaming computer setup because room wasn't "baby-proofed": 'If she does not pay up, I'll take her to court'

    Author image for Remy Millisky
    Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
    Oct 7, 2025 11:00 AM EDT
    Hand in pink and white plaid shirt with fist placed on keyboard of old computer

    Photo via Getty Images for Unsplash+. The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    Two sisters are in an escalating argument over a demolished computer setup, and they might have to battle it out in court. 

    You give some people an inch, and they take a mile. It's not enough just to help someone out — some people are so ungrateful that they'll take your help with a smile before insisting you aren't doing enough for them. 

    This sister knows that all too well after a lengthy, drawn-out battle with her sister, brother-in-law, and their toddler. This 25-year-old graciously let her 30-year-old sister and her 3-year-old nephew stay over for a night. That was especially kind because their apartment was being fumigated, so if she didn't let them stay, they would've had to bug other family or friends (pun intended) or possibly even cough up some money for a hotel stay. 

    Instead of being grateful and making breakfast for the host or cleaning up fastidiously throughout the stay, the sister did the exact opposite. She let the kiddo, Max, run rampant throughout the house. What in the world was she thinking?! 

    Add as a preferred
    source on Google
    Advertisement
    • වර 50 3
      via AHMED HINDAWI on Unsplash+

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    • Advertisement

    • The sister let her “little chaos goblin” run rampant, doing a lot of damage in this person's computer room. Her actions were totally infuriating: after the kid destroyed this gaming monitors, she didn't seem to care at all! The child went absolutely wild, cracking one of the monitor screens, yanking out individual keyboard keys, and coloring all over the gaming chair with bright red permanent marker. As kids do, the chaotic little boy “fed” the computer some apple juice and crackers, too. 

      Now, doing that to any type of furniture would be bad, but doing that to a computer setup is devastating. What if this person had hundreds of hours of gameplay lost forever, or numerous personal projects that couldn't be recovered after that type of damage? 

      Not only did the sister seem to feel zero remorse, but she was also refusing to pay for it, while simultaneously turning other family members against her own sister. 

      This person provided numerous updates throughout — without the support of her brother-in-law, as well as the good people of the internet, she might have never gotten justice for her destroyed gaming setup. 

    • 'Am I overreacting for threatening to take my sister to court after her toddler destroyed my $2,000 gaming setup because she said I should’ve “baby-proofed my apartment”?'

      Hi Reddit. I'm F25 and I'm honestly at my breaking point. with this one. I need outside perspective because my entire family is acting like I'm for standing my ground.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • So, I (25F) am a student software developer and a pretty serious PC gamer in my free time. I live alone in a one-bedroom apartment that I've spent years making
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • cozy and functional. I saved up for a long time to build my dream PC setup ... triple monitors, custom mechanical keyboard, ergonomic chair, the works. Altogether,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • my rig is worth a bit over $2,000, and I take care of it like it's a child. Last weekend, my older sister (30F) asked if she could crash at my place
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • for one night because her apartment was being fumigated, and her husband was out of town. She has a 3-year-old son, Max, who's... let's say "spirited." I
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • Cheezburger Image 10561350656
      via Daniel Dan on Unsplash+

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    • love him, but he's a little chaos goblin. I hesitated, but she swore she'd keep an eye on him and that it'd just be for one night.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • They show up Saturday afternoon, and immediately it's clear she wasn't kidding about Max being a handful. Within ten minutes of arriving, he'd pulled four books off
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • my shelf, thrown my houseplants on the floor, and spilled juice on my area rug. I tried to stay chill, he's three, I get it ... but I asked my sister politely to please keep him out of my
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • office, where my PC setup is. She rolls her eyes and goes, "He's just exploring, he's curious, it's normal." But she closes the office door anyway.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • Cut to Sunday morning. I wake up to screaming. Max had apparently woken up before his mom, managed to open the office door, and decided my setup was his new
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • jungle gym. He pulled down one of my monitors, cracking the screen. He stuck crackers into the PC tower's ventilation slots (I'm not kidding), yanked
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • out my keyboard's keycaps, and had colored on my chair with permanent marker. The cherry on top? He poured apple juice INTO the tower. INTO IT.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • When I tell you I went silent... I mean de d silent. My sister comes in, sees the damage, and just says, "Oh nooo," in this incredibly flat tone, like someone
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • knocked over a cup of coffee. I start freaking out, and she has the AUDACITY to say, "You should've baby-proofed the room if it was that important to you."
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • I lost it. I told her that 1) she KNEW he wasn't supposed to be in there, 2) this is my space, not a daycare, and 3) baby-proofing a $2,000 gaming setup is not a
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • standard requirement for adults living alone. She told me to "calm down" and said that "he's just a kid, and stuff is replaceable." I told her she could
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • replace it then. She said she didn't have the money right now, but maybe in a few months she could give me a few hundred. I told her that wasn't acceptable and that
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • she needed to take full responsibility. She left in a huff and now my whole family is blowing up my phone. My mom says I'm being "materialistic" and
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • should understand that my nephew didn't mean it. My dad said I should've "locked the door" if it was that important. My brother actually said, "Why do you
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • PERLEE www wwwww wwwww
      via Raphael GB on Unsplash+

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    • even need three monitors anyway? That's kind of overkill." I've filed a claim with my insurance but there's no guarantee it'll be covered since
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • it was technically "guest damage." I also told her that if she does not pay up, I'll take her to court for what happened. Now I'm getting texts from my sister
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • demanding an apology for "blaming her kid for being curious." I told her I'd drop it if she covered the cost of repairs and replacements ... or at least met me
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • halfway... and she BLOCKED me. So... Am I overreacting if I take my sister to court over this?
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • UPDATE: Wow. Just wow. Four hours later, I wake up from my nap to this. Thank you guys, it'll take a bit for me to read all of this.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • My sister still has not unblocked me, but her husband reached out to find out what happened. I'm sorry I don't have more to tell yet, but I'll update again when I do.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Seriously, thanks for the insights everyone. My head is a lot clearer now
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • UPDATE2: Hey all. My sister's husband reached out as mentioned earlier, and we're working out a solution if possible. He's been really understanding as have all of you.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Also, to clarify the office situation: my one-bedroom apartment is on the smaller side (33m2/355sq ft?), so the landlord converted an old ex- clothes cabinet into
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • a makeshift 'office.' It's weird, but the building is from the 40s, and ig they had to get creative with the space with an old tenant or something. So its living room (sister
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • and her kid slept there) + kitchen (i slept there) + the 'office.' Thanks for all the support. And the award. I really don't have the words for
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • how nice people have been in both DMs and the comments.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298

    • Here's the first of several updates:

      Hey again. Just wanted to post a quick update since it's been a little under a week and a few people asked what happened next. Things are
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • better, pretty weird, and still ongoing, but here's where we're at. Last Saturday, my brother-in-law (BIL) came over to check
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • out the damage himself. He actually brought Max (toddler) with him, which I was almost livid about at first, but he had a reason. He asked Max to try opening the
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • office/closet door. The kid couldn't do it. The door was too heavy for him. You probably can guess where this is going. :=)
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • BIL offered to take my PC to the store that originally built it for me, just to see what was fixable. I agreed, but asked for something in writing just so I had some peace of
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • mind. We put together a little agreement that he'd be responsible for it while it was with him. Yeah, yeah, it was just a formality and would not hold much merit
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • anywhere, but it helped me feel a bit more in control. On Monday, he dropped it off at the shop and gave them my number so they could keep me
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • updated. He also told me he confronted my sister about how things played out. I sent him my original Reddit post too, he read the comments and apparently
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • showed them to her. She still hasn't unblocked me, and from what I've heard, was not happy about the fact my BIL is actually listening to me.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • I also shared the post and some comments with my parents and brother since no one really believed me before. My parents still don't fully get it, but they've at least
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • stopped pushing back. My brother is more understanding now, though for some reason he mostly wanted to talk about how many people saw the post. I don't think either of
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • those three still care, really, and I'm fine if they see this. Do better. Anyway, I went to see the PC today (wednesday here). The shop said it's
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • mostly salvageable. It needs a very very careful internal clean and a few fans replaced, and some wiring fixed, but overall the main parts survived somehow. BIL told
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • me he'll cover the cost of the repair, no hesitation. When I brought up what my sister said about not being able to pay even $200, he said she's lying.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • He also said he's not sure Max actually did all the damage. He thinks the door was left open on purpose, or that my sister might have even done some of it herself. Based on
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • the height of the tower and where the crackers ended up, it didn't quite add up to a toddler acting alone. Apparently, she's been telling him I
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • have a "gambling addiction" (I did get a bit hooked on Genshin like 4 years ago I guess?) and that maybe this whole thing will "wake me up," which is... new. She used
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • to be supportive or at least indifferent. No idea where that switch came from. So yeah. That's where we're at:
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • ● My PC is being cleaned up and fixed, and BIL is covering the cost. • Sister still has me blocked and won't talk to me. Still tempted to start something with her
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • tbh, especially if she actually did all of this on purpose. • Still not ruling out . small claims court depending on how things go.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Thanks again to everyone who responded to the original post. Seeing how many people understood what happened really helped me hold the line with my family when I felt. like I was losing my mind.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • One thing I've been turning over in my head lately is what if my sister did do something to my setup on purpose? I don't want to believe that, it feels like a stretch, but the more I think about it,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • the less so, I guess...? But then I remember how she acted when I asked her to keep Max out of the office. The eye-roll and the "he's just curious" comments like she didn't take any of it seriously...??? And now hearing from my BIL that
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • she's been saying I have a "crippling gambling/gaming/whatever addiction" and needed to "grow up"???? It's just... weird. She used to be cool about it. Never super into games herself,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • but she got that it was important to me. If something changed, I don't know when or why. And if this was some weird way to make a point or "teach me a lesson"... that's messed up. You're not our mom. How about
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • talking first instead of this? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but the more I think about it, the less it makes sense that Max could've done all of that alone. It's sick if she blamed her own son for it.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • So yeah. Not accusing anyone outright, but that thought is there now. And if you're my sister reading this... Which I'm guessing you are, because. I bet you'd love to look at the comments that are on
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • your side a lot. :))) I don't know why you blocked me. I don't know what shifted in your head about all this. But if you actually had anything to do with damaging my setup. whether it was on purpose
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • or just through complete carelessness... F . You. You know I worked hard for that. You know what that rig meant to me, and you know I would never do something like this to your stuff.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • And if Max really did all of it on his own... I hope you're paying closer attention now. Not for my sake, but for his. Read the comments on my first post again, from other parents and people with younger siblings who CLEARLY
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • know better than you. That's all. Thanks for reading, those who did.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298

      This person added more information in a comment about what the kid did: apparently he took a red permanent marker to the furniture, which she has decided to live with instead of replacing it. Despite being a janitor, she hasn't quite figured out the correct cleaning products needed to get it all removed. The cracked monitor still needs fixing, as does the keyboard with missing keys (she couldn't even find them all!). 

    • Advertisement

    • 6 months later, here's another update:

      It's been a long while since I last posted, and honestly I wasn't sure if I wanted to give another update at all. A lot has happened over the past six months, some of it good, some of it really heavy, and some of it that I'm still struggling to process. But I know a lot
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • of you followed the whole thing from the beginning and my direct messages have been full of so many awesome, supportive people, I feel as if I owe all of you a final update before letting this matter go.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • First, the positives: My PC is alive and well and has been for a while. The shop did a miracle job restoring it and it's running beautifully again. It almost feels symbolic now, like after everything blew up in my life, at least this one thing that mattered to me is still
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • standing. xd I've also gotten closer to my brother-in-law (well, ex-BIL now, I guess, though it feels weird to call him that since he's still family to me). He has full custody of my nephew, and that little kid is thriving. He's calmer,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • happier, and honestly just a joy to be around in ways I didn't even realize before. And he turned four after all the court stuff ended, so we could have his birthday in peace!!! :) My BIL has his own family helping him, and I've
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • been pitching in too whenever I can. It's exhausting at times, but I don't regret a second of it. My nephew deserves stability, and my BIL deserves support after everything he's had to go through. Watching him step up as a single dad has been inspiring.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • Now for the complicated part: my family. When things first went down, my parents were still on my sister's side, and I was basically the black sheep. But something happened during the legal proceedings that made
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • them realize she wasn't well and that I hadn't been exaggerating about any of it. For the first time in what feels like forever, they stopped defending her blindly. They actually reached out to me, apologized, and admitted they'd been wrong... well, kind of. But I couldn't be
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • asked to escalate it again. It's been slow, but they've been trying to rebuild things with me. Part of me resents that it took them this much to finally see the truth, but I'm also relieved not to be completely estranged from my parents anymore. I'm still trying to
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • decide what kind of a relationship they deserve to have with me after all of this. As for my sister... I don't even know how to start. During the custody battle, she completely broke down. A lot of stuff came out, including the
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • fact that she had broken and damaged other people's things in the past (friends, her coworker's stuff), intentionally. She admitted she did it because, in her words, BIL "owed her more" as the mother of their child, and destroying things
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • was her way of "making him notice her." She also said something. else that stuck with me: that when she broke things, she felt powerful. She said people underestimated her, ignored her, treated her like she was just "a mom."
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • But when she destroyed something, she knew she couldn't be ignored. It forced people to react, and it sure did. I know some of the people witnessing this in real time still pity her, which... I don't know how to feel about it.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Still, it explains so much of her behavior, not just with the PC, but with her marriage, with our family and how she's spiraled. She wanted to feel like she mattered, but instead of asking for help in a healthy way or seeking support, she turned to control and destruction.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • And when that wasn't enough, she escalated. Writing that out makes me feel so sad, honestly. It's like everything I suspected about the PC wasn't just a suspicion. And to think all of this could have been avoided if she sought help or
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • accepted going to couple's therapy properly. Apparently my BIL had suggested it a few times to her, but she declined. After she lost custody of my nephew, things spiraled fast. She had a complete breakdown, and
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • long story short, she's now in jail awaiting transfer to a psychiatric facility. I don't want to go into every detail, but it's safe to say it'll be a long time before I see her again. Or want to see her again.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • And here's the part I can't quite make peace with: I feel bad for her. I know that might sound crazy after everything she put me through, after how she tore our family apart, and after what she did to her own son. But she's still my sister.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • There's this ache I can't quite get rid of, because I don't know if the person she is now is who she always was, or if something in her just snapped along the way. I look back on our childhood and teenage years and wonder if there were signs that I missed,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • if there was some pattern of behavior I brushed off as moodiness or sibling rivalry that was actually something worse. What complicates those feelings even more is everything that happened after my posts started spreading. I never
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • expected them to blow up the way they did. I just wanted an outside perspective because my whole family was gaslighting me, making me feel insane for protecting my own belongings. And then, suddenly, it was everywhere. On Twitter,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • YouTube, Tiktok, even some news article was made about it. Someone tagged me to let me know that Smosh had even featured my story, which was surreal and honestly sort of humiliating in its own way. (Even though being noticed was kind of cool, I guess?)
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Strangers were debating my family like it was some kind of reality TV show, and I had no control over it. At first, I was grateful for the validation, but over time, it started to eat away at my conscience. Keeping my posts public turned out to be a mistake.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • I know hindsight is 20/20, but I regret not locking them down sooner. By the time BIL's lawyer told us it would be best to hide everything, the damage had already been done. My sister had already seen the comments and the full force of the internet
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • turned against her. And she hyperfixated on it. That is not just me speculating either, one of our cousins told me she would rant constantly about it during the legal proceedings, always bringing it back to the posts and how I had
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • "publicly humiliated her." Apparently, she would spend hours scrolling, trying to dig up my posts, looking for new comments, even after I hid them. It was like pouring salt in a wound, and she couldn't stop picking at it.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • I keep asking myself if I made things worse by letting it all stay up as long as it did. If I gave her more ammunition for her paranoia orr if I pushed her further toward the breakdown that ended with her losing everything. Part of me feels like I failed her, like
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • maybe if I had been more careful, she wouldn't have spiraled so badly. But then another part of me reminds myself that it wasn't the internet that broke her, it was something already inside her. The posts didn't cause her to smash my PC, or to lash out at BIL,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • or to neglect her own child. Those were choices she made long before Reddit ever came into the picture. I realize there's no point in deleting them. Even if I scrubbed my entire account clean, the internet never forgets.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Copies are out there somewhere, archived and dissected on forums I'll never even see. I can't control that, no matter how much I might want to. What I can control is how I move forward, how I take care of myself, my nephew, and the family I still have.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • The truth is, moving forward has been a mixed bag. On one hand, my daily life feels lighter without the constant chaos of my sister's presence. I'm not coming home to find something broken, I'm not waking up to accusatory texts, and I'm not walking on
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • eggshells waiting for the next outburst. That alone has been a kind of freedom I didn't realize how badly I needed. On the other hand, there's this strange emptiness where she used to be. Even if her presence was destructive, she was still there, part of the fabric of
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • my family, and now there's just this jagged hole. My nephew asks about her sometimes. He doesn't fully understand what happened, of course. He just knows "mommy is sick" and can't take care of him
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • right now. BIL and I try to keep our answers simple, but the truth is, I don't know what kind of relationship, if any, he'll be able to have with her in the future. I think about that a lot, because no matter how much I've been hurt by her, I can't help but imagine what it'll
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • feel like for him one day when he's old enough to learn the truth. How do you explain to a child that their mother did what my sister has done? How can it ever make sense to him? I don't know what to do when the day comes that either BIL or I have to explain what happened.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • As for me, I've been in therapy since all of this started (recommended by some of the lovely people in the comments and in my direct messages, thank you.) At first, it was just a way to vent, but it's become essential, to be honest. My therapist keeps reminding me that
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • none of this is my fault and that my sister's choices were her own, that I didn't "ruin her life" by posting about the PC, and that it's not my job to fix her. I hope to one day believe everything that my therapist is telling me.
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • As for my sister, I don't know what the future holds for her, or if she'll ever get better. But if anyone else has problems like this, maybe be a bit more careful than I was. I spent the last months worrying I'd get charged with something
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • for causing emotional turmoil over a Reddit post. On a positive note, the stress caused me to get reconnected with an old hobby, retro electronics! Did you know the 3DS is considered retro now? I didn't! I feel old! I'm the
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • Advertisement
    • same age as Pokemon Crystal!!! Anyways, from now on I will be focusing on graduating and working to help my BIL pay off the debt that accumulated during the legal proceedings/investigation . But now that it's over,
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • it's nice to know that at least for the coming months, things should be peaceful for me and those who matter the most to me. :) Thank you to everyone who followed this from the beginning. >♡e°
      via u/Ok-Jelly-6298
    • 3.
      via AHMED HINDAWI on Unsplash+

      The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

    Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

    Tags

    family drama toddler toddlers gaming computer family brother in law apartment
    Like
    Scroll Down For The Next Article
    Show Comments
    Next Article