Reddit Is Totally Siding With Teen Who Thinks They “Abandoned” Parents On An Island

Imagine being 18 years old on a cruise with your parents. If you’re imagining your parents monitoring your every move or constantly reminding you of the rules of the cruise ship, you’re probably not alone. This feels like a fairly typical scenario for teens traveling with parents. Not so for this 18-year-old Redditor, who worries that they “abandoned” their parents on an island when they missed the cruise departure time. The teen was all about being responsible and aware of the cruise rules, while their parents... well, it didn’t seem like it was a big deal to them.

The recent high school graduate took to the sub-Reddit “Am I The A**hole” forum to share an uncomfortable situation that came up when their family took their first cruise together. “We usually stay at all inclusive resorts but I have always wanted to go on a cruise. I told my parents it was different and that if we went on excursions we had to follow the schedule no matter what,” the teen wrote on Reddit, going on to explain that their parents would not head back for the scheduled departure during one of their excursions. “They were busy shopping and bargaining with the locals. I finally said that I was heading back to the ship. My mom waved me off.”

Their parents missed the departure time. “By a lot. Like 45 minutes. They got ahold of me through WhatsApp. They wanted to know why I didn’t get the boat to wait for them. I wanted to scream that they were not going to inconvenience 3,998 people because two could not understand what a schedule was.” The parents had to pay for a very expensive flight to meet the ship at the next port, and are making their son feel “miserable” that the ship left without them.

Reddit users really sympathized with the 18-year-old who was just trying to stick to the schedule. Especially considering how high the stakes are for cruise ships. “If the ship doesn’t depart on time the company faces massive fines and will be delayed to the next port and it’s a massive knock on effect. It’s all explained when you board and every time you disembark,” one user wrote, while another noted that the teen actually saved their parents a third expensive plane ticket. “And if op gave up and stayed behind with them that would have been an extra plane ticket, so even more money down the drain. They should be relieved that their kid has a good head on their shoulders but no, they’d Rather blame them.”

Several people thought the parents were probably embarrassed and taking it out on their teen. “I expect they are just very embarrassed that an 18 year old was smarter than them and are taking it out on them,” wrote one person. Another Reddit user wondered if this is a bit of a habit of the teen’s parents. “I notice that OP put in a line about telling their parents they’d absolutely have to stick to the schedule which leads me to think that OP’s parents do this a lot and are some of those entitled people who think schedules are for peasants and they’re too super special and better than everyone else to bother with such things.”

Some other people also wondered if this behavior was something of a pattern. “Let me guess. As a kid, were you made to wait at and hold up a long line at the grocery checkout while your mom is still shopping? Parents like yours drive me up the wall,” wrote one person, while another concurred. “Omg anxiety memory unlocked, my mom would leave me in line after unloading everything from the cart to ‘grab one more thing’ while I stood in complete fear that she wouldn’t return in time to pay.”

Hopefully the teen will be buoyed by the support they were given by Reddit.