When my startup was struggling, I moved back into my parents’ house, and they financially supported me
Every once in a while, we'd have family gatherings, and I was the only 'young' person there because my cousins were busy earning degrees or working
There was one humiliating incident where my mother secretly handed me her credit card and told me to “pay” for the meal with it, but act as if I were using my own money
Under normal circumstances, I would have refused, but I could see that doing so I would only protect my pride at the expense of my mother’s
My parents were often looked down upon in the hierarchy of the Park family because of our bad financial situation as well as their seeming inability to raise a competent child
Every parent wants to have a child who isn’t a failure, but if you do have one, at the very least it’d be nice if it weren’t so glaringly obvious
So, I remember going up, paying for the meal, and hoping no one would make a big deal of it
Unfortunately, as I sat down, the family members thanked me for “paying” for the meal, but I could tell some didn’t believe that I could actually afford the large tab
It was a fucked-up experience where I felt like a fraud, and I promised that I’d never put myself or my mother in that situation again
That incident really put into perspective that I could be the perpetual loser at family gatherings if I didn’t get my act together; so in many ways, it was a blessing in disguise
Because of small incidents like these, I worked as hard as I could and my startup continued to scale with the hours I put in
Anyways, I recall this story where I fake paid because I’ve recently given my parents my credit card indefinitely
There is no limit on the card, so even when I’m not in the room, I now pay for every single family gathering, and I will continue to do so until I die (or go bankrupt whichever comes first)
Since doing so, my parents tell me now that the other uncles/aunties/etc all treat them with basic respect and some have even apologized for how they treated me/them in the past
It was a therapeutic + amazing feeling when they told me about this
The restoration of my parents' dignity within our extended family is a personal milestone that has helped soothe a thorn in my heart that I’ve had for a long time :)
I don’t know what makes real estate agents in Nigeria assume that POP ceiling is luxury. It is literally just another ceiling style that’s in vogue. You can’t double the price of a property just because of POP ceiling