Zeraph

I have the unfortunate position that I am the only technical savvy person in my immediate family. This leads me to doing many projects for them. The problem comes from telling the difference from when they are being lazy and guilt tripping me into doing it for them, and when they genuinely need help. My sister is the problem in particular. She is slightly younger than me, but acts like she is way younger than me. She still basically throws tantrums when she doesn’t get her way and treats me like crap. I could ignore her but our mother of course cannot. Can you see were this is going?

So the problem is my sister was trying to install a ceiling fan, she tried in one session (hour or so), ran up against a problem, and had an emotional fit. She refuses to work on it anymore, even though I fixed the problem (an aligning problem with a screw). So now my mom is trying to get me to do it for her (install the rest of the fan, even though my sister has it in her ability to do it) because she doesn’t like seeing my sister like this. If I don’t help, my mom will call in a professional to install it which costs around $100. I personally hate spending money for things we can do ourselves, and that amount of money would be somewhat expensive for my family. But I feel if I do it for her, which I don’t like doing for many reasons only one being the way my sister treats me, sister will continue this pattern of giving up at the first obstacle and getting someone else to do it.

I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. If I don’t do it I feel guilty for not acquiescing my mom’s plea, and the money it will cost her (my sister won't end up paying for it), but if I do do it, I feel crappy because I’m helping someone I don’t want to and possibly continuing her bad habit.

Any advice?