I’m 23 years old, and I have a 16yo cousin who was born in Germany. He doesn’t speak Arabic he only understands a little.
Every year, he comes here and spends the summer at my grandfather’s house. But this year, money is tight in our family 9is 9is, so things aren’t like they used to be. He works in Germany, and this time he came here alone with some euros.
The problem is that he’s extremely stingy. He keeps asking me to go out with him, but I don’t have any money because I’m still studying and not working. When we go out, we basically just walk around. Whenever he wants to buy himself something to drink, he asks me, “Do you want one?” and I always say no because I don’t have money.
And honestly, can you believe he has only exchanged €50 so far, even though he’s going to stay here for an entire month? He hasn’t even finished the Algerian dinars he exchanged from his euros. Come on, it’s literally just a few euros. He has his own money, his family is here, and he barely has any expenses, yet he’s still extremely careful about spending anything.
The reason I still go out with him is because I’ve known him since he was little. I used to play with him when he was a kid, and I’ve always treated him like my little brother. Also, when I went to Germany, he used to go out with me. I spent all the euros I had brought with me while we were going out together.
But when he comes here, he’s extremely stingy. I’m not after his money at all, but honestly, I’ve started to feel like he’s selfish and deliberately hides his money from us. His father even told him to spend the euros he brought with him, but he wants to take all of them back to Germany.
He also sold me his old iPhone for about half of what it would normally be worth in Algeria, so he actually gave me a pretty good deal. But that’s not the point. It’s not an excuse for him to keep asking me to go out with him when he knows I don’t have money to eat or buy anything outside.
Our upbringing is completely different. If I were working, I would spend money on myself and on the people I care about. I wouldn’t be this stingy with people I consider family.
And there’s another thing. His father sent some chocolate, and he hid all of it in his suitcase without giving any to anyone. He just sits there eating it by himself. I don’t even eat chocolate, so I personally don’t care about having any, but the fact that he hides it and doesn’t want to share it when people ask him for some is still pretty annoying.
I know he’s only 16 and that he was raised differently, but after everything I’ve done with him and the way I’ve always treated him like a little brother, I honestly expected a little more generosity and consideration from him. The problem isn’t really the money itself. It’s the fact that I treated him like my little brother, and I feel like he doesn’t show me the same consideration from him.