Man refuses to support wife’s family after being mocked constantly until he became a success

Sometimes success can change how people see you, but it is not always easy to forget how they treated you before you made it. Something similar happened with a man, u/UXEGbm7tMy, who shared his story on Reddit about how he decided not to support his wife's family due to their previously poor treatment toward him. The man, in his early 30s, married his wife, who is in her mid-20s and grew up in a financially struggling environment. Although her grandfather had some money, her mother and sister struggled financially. His wife, however, was driven and had a strong work ethic, something he admired from the start.

When they met, he was working in trucking, earning $50,000 to $70,000 a year, but he eventually found his niche in a specialized marketing field. With encouragement from friends and full support from his wife, he started his own marketing company. "My wife was fully supportive of this, even after we discussed the financial difficulties we would have for the first year or so due to a limited budget," he wrote. Her family, however, was not supportive. They criticized his decision to start a business, calling him lazy and accusing him of neglecting his family. "They would constantly be bringing up the fact that I 'didn't have a job' because I was always home (working remotely)," he shared.

He further wrote, "[My wife] would defend me, but they would ignore it and continue to call me lazy and a 'deadbeat' for putting my daughter in daycare while I worked from home." Over time, his hard work paid off. In the past year, his income from the business surpassed what he made in trucking, with minimal overhead costs. Their frugal habits from the early days of the business meant they had more disposable income now, but he noticed her family’s behavior shift. "Her family has taken note, and they are constantly asking to go out to eat with us, hang out with us, etc., then get mad when I never pay for the meals, the outing, the vacation, etc. (aside from my part of the tab, obviously)," he shared.

Despite their past behavior, he has no issues with how his wife chooses to spend her money, even if that includes helping her family. He shared that they often invite him and his wife to events, seemingly with the expectation that he’ll foot the bill. But he’s firm on one point, "I make sure that she knows I don't want a dime of my money going to her family since they were very unsupportive of what made us our money and would go as far as to talk down about me for doing what leads to our money."

Many people in the comments overwhelmingly sided with him, calling out the family’s behavior. u/otsukaren_613 said, "You are not obligated to play nice just because they want your money. I would, however, play nice if I wanted my partner to be happy. You can be polite without giving them anything. Especially if they haven't apologized." u/Interesting-Cut-9057 added, "You support those who support you. Some things are hard to walk back. As long as you and your wife are on the same page… that’s all that matters." u/gringledoom commented, "Even without the backstory of them treating you badly, it’s incredibly not cool for them to invite you to things to try to con you into paying for them!"