Dad Slammed for Questioning Cost of Daughter's 'Colossal Mess' at Church

Internet commenters were quick to call out one father who balked at a massive repair bill resulting from the recklessness of his 8-year-old daughter and her friend.

In a viral Reddit post published on r/AmITheA**hole, Redditor u/PaintLicker_2022 (otherwise referred to as the original poster, or OP) said he initially offered to pay for all damages but was taken aback by just how how much money a local church demanded he fork over.

Titled, "[Am I the a**hole] for questioning the damage bill my daughter caused to a church?" the post has received more than 4,000 upvotes and 2,000 comments in the last day.

Explaining that he and his children attended a troop meeting at a local church last week, the original poster said he thought his daughter was off playing with friends, but learned she was up to something more sinister.

"Her and her friend apparently proceeded to clog 3 toilets, put a bottle of hand sanitizer in a urinal...one of them smeared poop with a finger on the toilet," OP wrote. "We were called about it the next day and I told the church we'd cover the cleaning."

Four days later, however, the original poster changed his tune about paying for any damage caused by his daughter.

"There was video evidence of them entering the bathroom and further of them just doing stupid kid stuff elsewhere...so I didn't think much of covering the potential extra expense," OP wrote.

"They sent us the bill for $500 and the pictures of the mess...It would've taken an hour, a set of kitchen tongs and a Clorox wipe to clean this 'colossal mess.'

"I politely asked for a breakdown of the charges and how they came about that figure," OP continued. "I have now been threatened twice by the church to pay it.

"The first threat came in the way of 'we will review past footage and see if more damage was done previously and your cost may go up if you don't settle now,'" OP added. "The second threat was 'pay or we may have to exclude scouts from meeting at the church in the future.'"

Across the United States, parents are responsible for all malicious or willful property damage done by their children, according to online legal resource FindLaw.

But when it comes to the total amount of damages a parent can be forced to cover, figures vary state by state.

In Maine, legal website Nolo reports, a parent's financial exposure is limited to $800. In New Jersey, that figure jumps to $5,000.

In Illinois, it balloons to $20,000 and in Louisiana, parents are liable for all damage caused by their children; therefore, there is no limit on financial exposure.

While certain scenarios call for legal intervention, other damages are settled directly between individuals hoping to move past adolescent malfeasance.

However, when attempts to settle are initially agreed upon and later called into question, once-cordial communication can quickly deteriorate into convolution and conflict, much like in the viral Reddit post.

Throughout the comment section of the viral post, Redditors expressed disbelief that the original poster could argue the damages attributed to his daughter and were adamant that his explanation of "stupid kid stuff" was severely misguided.

"[You're the a**hole]," Redditor u/envy-adams wrote in the post's top comment, which has received nearly 12,000 upvotes. "I can't fault the church for probably wanting to hire someone to clean literal s**t off the facilities.

"That's probably what drove up the price," they continued. "You seem very unbothered by some pretty terrible behaviour...that also makes you more the [a**hole] than them."

Redditor u/MiLeenaLee, whose comment has received more than 5,000 upvotes, offered a similar response.

"Someone had to clean up your child's s**t," they wrote. "Literal s**t.

"You don't need an itemized receipt. You are donating $500 for them not to charge your daughter with vandalism or something," they added. "I would have been mortified and would have paid them double already."

In a separate comment, which has received more than 3,000 upvotes, Redditor u/QuackLikeMe took issue with the original poster's assessment that his daughter's "colossal mess" could have been taken care of easily and at little cost.

"If you think you can fix 3 clogged toilets and clean a wrecked bathroom with just 'a set of kitchen tongs and a Clorox wipe,' then you are delusional," they wrote. "A cleaning company and plumber fixing the daughter your damage and her friend caused could easily come out to $500.

"You're lucky they are still letting you meet at the church at all and didn't escalate this further from the start," they added.

Newsweek has reached out to u/PaintLicker_2022 for comment.