After a 40-year marriage ended, her ex-SIL demanded the return of a coffee maker she gifted in 1987. When told it was gone, she demanded a new one

The audacity of asking for a gift back is one thing, but asking for a replacement 40 years later is another. A woman who goes by u/littleredbird1991 shared a bold request her aunt received from her ex-sister-in-law. Her uncle and aunt decided to get a divorce after 40 years of marriage. When her ex-sister-in-law found out, she made the most ludicrous demand ever. The post was shared on July 24, 2026 and it received 4,100 upvotes and 368 comments.

'Gone to the dump'

The author revealed that her uncle and aunt's divorce was going well, until her ex-sister-in-law contacted her. She asked the author's aunt to return the gift she had bought for them when they got married in 1987. It was a coffee maker. To no one's surprise, the aunt said that the coffee maker had stopped working a long time ago and had "gone to the dump." You think the sister-in-law would stop there. Instead, she asked if she could buy her another one to replace the one she had thrown away. The author suggested getting her an old broken Mr. Coffee, but the aunt decided to be the bigger person. She told her ex-sister-in-law to talk to her brother/husband if she needed anything, and then blocked her.

Gift budget

There are certain rules one must follow while giving gifts, and asking for it back is not one of them. Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute explains that once a gift is intentionally given and accepted, it belongs to the recipient. A separate study found that gift-giving usually creates an expectation of gratitude or a future gesture in return, not an obligation to keep the original item forever or replace it decades later. Put together, asking for a new coffee maker after 40 years is less like normal gift etiquette and more like pretending the present came with a lifetime replacement policy.

Boss-level petty 

Netizens were shocked that the ex-sister-in-law requested the first place. u/Sufficient-Lie1406 wrote, "Wow, that's next level. I don't even remember what I got our friends for their wedding 20 years ago, much less 40." u/ScreenOwl5 added, "Sounds like a troll, alright. I'd tell her that the coffeemaker is the major holdup in divorce proceedings because they both want custody, and neither side can afford to buy out the other."

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