Family dinners can descend into madness pretty quickly. One minute, you’re all smiling beside a freshly carved turkey, and the next, you’re leaping across the table with the electric carver poised to slice. At least in my family, a semi-volatile collective of well-intentioned folks, career advice can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. While families often have our best interests in mind, relatives often have a terrible way of showing they care. 

In this family, a group with strong opinions and even more secrets, the topic of career choices ultimately brought the family dinner to a standstill. When a young accountant, focused on her career and making money, was roasted for her boring paper-pusher job, she finally snapped. Not because she disagreed with the sentiment, understanding that her career was reliable, but because her freeloading sister wouldn’t back her up. This came as a shock, of course, because it was this same freeloading sister who would happily collect $2400 every month to cover her bills. 

Money talks much louder than secrets, and when this family tugged the thread of the money trail, it unraveled the entire sweater.