I have quite a large team at work. Over the years we have developed our own company. Women’s company. During the breaks we quite often get together for tea and talk about pressing matters.
Most often, of course, we share problems. Everyone tries to advise and help. It happens that opinions do not coincide, and then there are two camps, one for and one against.
For example, one of the employees recently told us about her situation:
“My husband’s mother needs a very expensive operation and she needs to find a large enough sum to pay for it. My mother-in-law is feeling well so far, doing everything herself, but if the surgery is not done, she may not be able to walk at a later date. This is not a 100% prognosis, but a very possible outcome of her illness, according to the doctors.
My parents-in-law have money savings, they have good pensions, they have real estate. But my mother-in-law, for some reason, decided to ask my husband for the missing amount. She didn’t just ask for help, she demanded money.
They also have a younger son. Only for some reason they decided not to bother him. “He’s still very young, where can he get so much money?” There are other relatives, but my mother-in-law decided that we should be the ones to pay for her operation.
I do not want to give the money, in fact my husband’s mother is a stranger to me. Even though she is my mother-in-law. My relationship with my mother-in-law is not very warm, I would even say rather strained. Hello, goodbye and all, besides, we live quite far away and rarely see each other. Mostly my husband goes to visit them himself.
My spouse is in contemplation, he does not know what the right thing to do. On the one hand – my mom needs help, and on the other hand – we do not have that kind of free money.
No, of course we have a “cube”, but this is the amount we were saving for college, for our son, and I do not want to touch it. Not for that, we were saving every penny to just take it and give it away. I explained all this to my husband, he seemed to understand everything. But he still says to me, “That’s my mom, who else is going to help her?
I reminded him that he wasn’t my parents’ only child. His mom, by the way, has other sisters and brothers. Let them help out too, why just us? Let them sell the apartment they rent, there’s enough money for several surgeries…!
I’d rather give my mother money than someone else’s woman! I started arguing with my husband about it all the time. Anyway, that’s what I told him:
“It’s your mother, so it’s your responsibility. I don’t have to give my money. If you want, you can give her your half of our savings. And I don’t let you touch your part, it’s our son’s!”
That’s the situation. My colleagues were divided into two camps, some for and some against. Most of them think that Alina should give money for the treatment, and the rest strongly advise her not to do it at all.
And what would you do if you were her? Would you give her the money or not?
