Young cashier refuses to give little sister $10 from every paycheck after parents turn her first job into family allowance: ‘Why should I give her my money?’ – FAIL Blog

Getting your first job is a big deal. It’s a step toward independence and responsibility. No one would expect that a family’s first reaction would be an immediate suggestion that their daughter’s new paycheck should be shared with a younger sibling who didn’t earn it. 

The situation is very unfair. Why should part of that paycheck become her sister’s allowance? The parents’ suggestion is confusing because the younger sister already has access to money through them and earns something through chores. So this isn’t a situation where a younger sibling needs help with her necessities. It sounds more like the parents want the older daughter to share just because she is now working as a cashier and earning money. But that’s a decision that the older daughter herself must make. It’s her money.

Besides, earning money doesn’t mean losing the right to decide what to do with it, even if it’s your first job. The cashier explains she had been trying to get a job for a while, and now that she finally got one, she wants to save it for college. Incredibly responsible goals for a young woman. I would have spent it all on food. But she’s already thinking about retirement early, college, and maybe eventually helping her family’s finances.

Helping family can be a really nice gesture when it is voluntary. Buying your sibling a treat, helping with college, or contributing to family needs when you can do it can feel very satisfying. But that’s really different from being told that your paycheck belongs partly to someone else. 

So the cashier isn’t wrong for saying no. Her sister is not entitled to a cut of every paycheck she earns just because she got hired. She is setting a reasonable boundary around the money she’ll earn with her own time and labor. And that’s an important part that her parents are ignoring.