AITA for cancelling my phone plan and Spotify off my dad's account after he weaseled out of paying me fairly for cat sitting?

Not the A-hole

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Some background: my parents asked me to cat sit for their elderly, deaf cat while they were away. It's not a light job, twice-daily visits, pilling her meds, scooping litter, getting mail. We'd previously agreed on a day rate ($25/day, and I have this in writing from earlier this year). This time around I did 32.5 days total.

After the job, I called my mom to Venmo me for the days I'd done. That's when I found out my dad had apparently decided, without ever telling me, that I shouldn't be paid at all this time because "they pay for my phone and Spotify." He was supposed to bring this up with me directly (his words to my mom), texted me about availability beforehand without mentioning it, and just never said anything until I asked to get paid.

I felt like this was disrespectful, so I quietly moved my phone number and cancelled Spotify off his account without saying anything, and started my own plans.

He found out and asked to get a beer to talk. I agreed. In the conversation, he led with blaming "crossed wires" between him and my mom, then got surprised/defensive that I'd already cancelled everything, then couldn't remember that I'd offered years ago to pay for these things myself specifically so it wouldn't be held over me later, and couldn't remember the $25/day rate even though it's in writing. When I said it felt disrespectful that nobody talked to me directly, he told me my feelings weren't valid, and kept interrupting me when I tried to respond. I called it out twice. He said "it's a two way street," I said it's not a street until you meet me in the middle, he kept arguing, so I got up, thanked him for part of a beer, and left. As I walked away he used this warning tone with my name and said "you'll regret this," same thing he used to do when I was a kid.

My mom, when I told her about it separately, immediately acknowledged the feeling without any pushback. She's hoping the three of us can sit down and talk it out. I don't think that's productive right now, my dad doesn't have a track record of admitting fault or processing emotions, and I don't see this going differently without him doing real work first.

AITA for cutting the financial cords quietly instead of confronting him first, and for not being interested in a sit-down that I don't think will change anything?

Posted Sep 11, 2026, 3:26 PM UTC

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