Cousin should have offered to pay full price, but OP is also being a jerk.

If an outdoor recreational item is left at a beach house in a “hey we all borrow stuff” sort of way, any reasonable adult would assume it’s the kind of thing where if it breaks, NBD and you replace it. No one would suspect that a freaking boogie board—a $20 item at Sunsations—would cost close to $300.

That’s as stupid as leaving a pair of Manolos in someone else’s closet. If an item is that expensive and that freaking precious (an irreplaceable color scheme, really?), you don’t leave it at someone else’s vacation house where you know darn well that people use other people’s stuff.

Like, the cousin was probably 100% prepared to pay $50 for a new boogie board, max. And here comes a $275 price tag, which is beyond stupid for a recreation item left at someone else’s house. Don’t be absurd.

They should have paid you the full replacement value. They did and it's done.

But sorry, eyeroll to you on your continued annoyance because the child picked out the "special" color and now that color is not available anymore. Really? Tell your kid to pick another color.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#firstworldproblems

We live in a first world country. So what is the issue?

We can't complain because we arent in Sierra Leone?

Okay, fine, I’ll change it to #richpeopleproblems. It’s akin to “omg I haven’t slept for DAYS because I’m up all night stressing over whether or not I picked the right tile for my backyard pool.” Sorry, I don’t feel sorry for you.

OP can afford a $275 boogie board. The “good ones” are $40-50 and you can get them as cheap is $5. Does a $275 boogie board operate that much differently than a $50 board? Doubtful.

Op has access to a FREE beach house for family vacations.
Op didn’t want to put forth the effort of bringing said expensive boogie board home or storing it in her house all year. Does it suck that it got broken? Sure. But this whole post reeks of privilege and entitlement.

Sure, this is the best of DCUM. OP and her cousin are super entitled. It doesn't change the fact that OP's cousin is a d*** and a mama's boy to boot!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#firstworldproblems

We live in a first world country. So what is the issue?

We can't complain because we arent in Sierra Leone?

Okay, fine, I’ll change it to #richpeopleproblems. It’s akin to “omg I haven’t slept for DAYS because I’m up all night stressing over whether or not I picked the right tile for my backyard pool.” Sorry, I don’t feel sorry for you.

OP can afford a $275 boogie board. The “good ones” are $40-50 and you can get them as cheap is $5. Does a $275 boogie board operate that much differently than a $50 board? Doubtful.

Op has access to a FREE beach house for family vacations.
Op didn’t want to put forth the effort of bringing said expensive boogie board home or storing it in her house all year. Does it suck that it got broken? Sure. But this whole post reeks of privilege and entitlement.

Just because something is free doesn't mean all manners and rules go out the window. The cousin and guests also got a free week, that doesn't mean they can trash the place and break things that aren't theirs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:#firstworldproblems

We live in a first world country. So what is the issue?

We can't complain because we arent in Sierra Leone?

Okay, fine, I’ll change it to #richpeopleproblems. It’s akin to “omg I haven’t slept for DAYS because I’m up all night stressing over whether or not I picked the right tile for my backyard pool.” Sorry, I don’t feel sorry for you.

OP can afford a $275 boogie board. The “good ones” are $40-50 and you can get them as cheap is $5. Does a $275 boogie board operate that much differently than a $50 board? Doubtful.

Op has access to a FREE beach house for family vacations.
Op didn’t want to put forth the effort of bringing said expensive boogie board home or storing it in her house all year. Does it suck that it got broken? Sure. But this whole post reeks of privilege and entitlement.

Anonymous wrote:One of the owners is my husband's father. The other 2 owners are the dads brother and sister (cousin's mom).
The boogie board was $275.
The child that broke the board wasn't staying at the house, but they were all at the beach at the same time.
We have other things at the house that we allow others to use and these are in the main shed or in the house. I disagree with some of you about just letting this go. The rules of the house were clear. We have not had issues in the past 12 years that we have been using it. If it was me who damaged something, I'd replace it, and we did this once when we bought a new beach umbrella when the old one another cousin contributed broke as I was opening it.
Glad the cousin finally agreed to compensate us and annoyed his mom is getting in the middle.

If you can afford $275 for a goddamned boogie board for a kid you can also afford to not sweat this. Holy Moses.

Anonymous wrote:Agree that this is totally petty, but also understand why you're upset. In reality though, I think you share just as much responsibility for the broken boogie board by leaving it there, as your cousin does for letting his friend's child near it.

Just as much? No. And if your kid breaks something you don't get to assign a random value to it. Offer to buy a replacement or pay for it.

Agree that this is totally petty, but also understand why you're upset. In reality though, I think you share just as much responsibility for the broken boogie board by leaving it there, as your cousin does for letting his friend's child near it.

Wait - they WANTED to see how durable it was and that's why they jumped on it? Yeah, they should replace the whole thing.

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised they only offered to pay 50% of the board. We have waterfront property and often host family. We have had family members break or loose items and they always offer to pay to replace, but never offer just 50%. Though these items aren’t special, just cheap blow up inner tubes so I don’t care as much and tell them not to worry about it.

I agree with OP and would be upset if I spent time shopping for a special item that was a couple hundred dollars, only used it a few times and was locked away in an off limits shed.

Agreed. I'm in a rental right now and my daughter broke a decorative candle holder. It's probably years old but has the price tag on the bottom. I immediately told the owner I'd pay her the full amount and took a pic of it. Your kid breaks it, you buy it.

Anonymous wrote:#firstworldproblems

We live in a first world country. So what is the issue?

We can't complain because we arent in Sierra Leone?

I’m surprised they only offered to pay 50% of the board. We have waterfront property and often host family. We have had family members break or loose items and they always offer to pay to replace, but never offer just 50%. Though these items aren’t special, just cheap blow up inner tubes so I don’t care as much and tell them not to worry about it.

I agree with OP and would be upset if I spent time shopping for a special item that was a couple hundred dollars, only used it a few times and was locked away in an off limits shed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the cousin broke something he was not supposed to touch and only offered to pay 1/2. After reluctantly agreeing to pay up, ran off to his mommy complaining to get you in trouble because he did not get his own way.

Cousin didn’t break anything. Cousin’s friend’s kid broke it and cousin conveyed what the friend was willing to pay. Then OP is a jerk to cousin who did nothing wrong. I can see why cousin complained to mom.

Have you read the entire thread? Cousin used the boogie board when he wasn't allowed to (it was in the special shed. Not the "everyone can share these items" shed. And one of his friend's kids broke the boogie board.

How do we know the rest of the family isn't talking about the cousin and how cheap THEY are and not respectful of the rules?

When you are the beneficiary of such a nice situation, it pays to get along and graciously overlook annoyances like this.

When you are the beneficiary of such a nice situation, it pays to follow the rules and not borrow items you know are not to be borrowed. If you break the rules and the item gets broken while in your care, you offer to pay full amount for item. Cousin had a free week at a beach house too. They can replace the boogie board at full cost.

Especially, don't go running to Mommy and complain. Should OP's DH now run to his Daddy and complain?

I did read the entire thread. OP posted that it was cousin’s friend’s kid, not cousin. OP never stated that cousin was present when friend was at the beach house. All we know is that cousin conveyed the reimbursement offer and the aftermath of that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Team OP. The DH and the cousin have equal right to the house. DH’s father is a co-owner. The cousin had a nerve offering to pay 50%. He should replace what broke as a result of him healing himself when he shouldn’t have. According to the social norms of the house, he should have asked first. I OP’s husband could have asked him to replace it and that would have cost the full amount. Aunt needs to butt out.

+1. You break something, you replace it, at whatever price it will cost to repurchase the item.

+2 this

+3 Duh!

It’s moments like this when I realize I am in a wildly different income bracket than DCUM. My response is WTF would you leave a $275 item at a house that’s not yours????