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No good deed goes unpunished, as the saying goes, and a stepmom on Reddit is learning just how true that maxim can be. After helping out her stepson’s little girl at a level of generosity totally out of reach for many people, she’s received nothing but vitriol from her stepson, who has very different ideas about how she should have spent the money. Delusional ideas, in fact.

The dad is furious that his stepmom bought his daughter school supplies instead of paying his child support.

Like most Reddit stories, this one could really be solved with one simple sentence, and in this case, that sentence is: Your back child support is nobody’s problem but your own! Okay, we could add a second follow-up sentence, such as: The only words that should be escaping your deadbeat lips are “thank you,” but that’s really putting a hat on a hat at this point.

In any case, the stepmother wrote in her Reddit post that her stepson is “shiftless in employment,” going from odd job to odd job, often out of state. This isn’t exactly surprising in today’s economy, but it means he struggles to make ends meet.

So when his 11-year-old little girl “that he sees sometimes, depending on his work schedule,” needed school supplies, she jumped into action to fill the gap. And it has caused nothing but petty conflict ever since.

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The stepmom spent $1000 on school supplies, but he thinks it should have gone to his $2000 in back child support.

As any parent knows, all the stuff kids need to start school doesn’t come cheap. “My granddaughter called me and asked me to buy her school stuff,” she wrote. “I took her shopping and got her clothes, shoes, school jacket, PE uniform, and supplies.”

The fact that the granddaughter, and not her father, called the stepmom is certainly a telling detail. In any case, all this stuff came to close to $1000 when all was said and done. When her stepson found out, “he was annoyed… [because it’s] half of what he owes in back child support.”

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He’s been about $2000 behind for months now, “and paying enough every month to keep it from getting turned over to enforcement.” Many commenters theorized this is part of why his employment is unstable: The minute he gets a solid job, the authorities will come after him for the money.

Whatever the case, if you’re like most normal people, you’re probably screaming “THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM” at your screen right now. But her stepson is furious “because I didn’t pay the money towards his back child support and let her mom take her shopping ‘because that’s what child support is for.'” Oh, you mean the child support YOU DON’T PAY? That you’re two grand in arrears on? Is that the child support you’re mentioning

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People were shocked by the stepson’s ingratitude.

Times are tough, we all know this. But the stepmom detailed how exactly her son stays afloat: Doing odd jobs here and there, mostly for cash, then leaving the state for four to six weeks to work in construction to catch up on bills, then going back to odd jobs.

It doesn’t sound like there’s an inability to pay child support, but rather an unwillingness. As one commenter put it, “wanna bet that the minute his kid no longer has mandated child support, stepson gets a full-time job?” Sure seems that way.

She also detailed that he’s mandated to pay $750 a month, which is hardly enough to even support a child in this economy. His ex is not exactly living in luxury, is the point, and the fact that it was the granddaughter who asked for this help and not her parents is incredibly telling. Eleven-year-olds are not supposed to know they need help buying school supplies. That is an adult’s job, and she is being set up for a lifetime of financial trauma.

So in a way, it’s not remotely surprising that this stepson is so colossally arrogant and clueless that he not only shirks his duties, but has the unmitigated gall to expect his stepmom to pay his child support and then pitch a fit when she steps up to do for his daughter what he’s supposed to be doing himself.

It’s a testament to how good the stepmom’s heart is that she’s even worried about whether or not she misstepped, but the bottom line is that there’s really no grey area here. As one commenter put it, “You aren’t responsible to clean up his mess. He’s just mad because you are making him look bad in comparison.” 

Exactly. And that’s nobody’s problem but his own, well, that and the daughter he’s selfishly forcing to grow up way too fast, of course.

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John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.