Should I Charge my Aunts for Smoking their Thanksgiving Turkeys?

Smoking a Thanksgiving turkey sounds like the kind of family flex that should come with applause, not awkward money talk. But this year, one college student got pulled into a very specific drama, his aunts asking him to smoke turkeys for their Thanksgivings.

Here’s the twist, two aunts, mom’s sisters, have been offering to pay him more and more since he started smoking in high school. This time they want him to do the full process, brine for 12 hours and then smoke for 5 to 6, and they’re also supplying the turkeys. He figured $20 each is fair, but his mom thinks charging family is insensitive, and even offered to pay him so he wouldn’t ask them for money.

Now OP has to decide if $20 is “help yourself” money or “you’re doing this for free” family pressure.

Original Post

Two of my aunts (mom's sisters) have asked me to smoke turkeys for them for Thanksgiving. I started smoking in high school about 3 years ago and since then more and more people have reached out to me offering to pay in exchange for me smoking for them.

I told my mom that I would need to be paid considering I have to make a brine, brine the turkeys for 12 hours, and then smoke them for 5-6 hours. Overall, it is a very labor-intensive process.

One thing to note is that both of them are supplying me with the turkeys. I wouldn’t be charging them much, just something like $20 each.

My mom thinks that it is insensitive for me to charge them because they are family, and she even offered to pay me just so I don’t ask them for money. TLDR - aunts want me to smoke them turkey, mom thinks it is insensitive for me to charge them.

Edit: these turkeys are for their own Thanksgivings; they will not be at ours.

Edit 2: I am a 20-year-old college student and don’t want to charge them a bunch of money, but $20 is definitely a lot of money to me.

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This is a lot like the workplace mess where you would be stuck deciding whether to train your best friend’s ex.

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While OP is calculating brine time and smoker time, his aunts are acting like the turkey favor comes with a built-in budget.</p>

Then mom steps in, saying it’s insensitive to charge her sisters, and tries to solve it by offering to pay OP herself.</p>

The complication gets even messier because OP is only charging a little, and the turkeys are for the aunts’ own Thanksgivings, not his family’s table.</p>

At 20 years old, OP is weighing how $20 each actually feels in his pocket against the “family means free” vibe from his mom.</p>

How would you handle this situation? Let us know in the comments.

Nobody wants to fight over turkey money, but that’s exactly how this Thanksgiving started.

For another compensation clash, see what happened when an employee demanded a raise in front of everyone.