My Sister Asked for a Free Wedding Cake. When I Refused, She Went After My Livelihood.

Pay Dirt Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Artem/Getty Images Plus. Pay Dirt is Slate’s money advice column. Have a question? Send it to Kristin and Ilyce here. (It’s anonymous!) Dear Pay Dirt, I run a small bakery that has done quite well and has an excellent reputation. Recently, my sister, “Randi,” demanded that I make the cake for her upcoming wedding—free of charge. Randi wants a cake that ordinarily runs $2,500. I explained that I couldn’t take a hit that large, but would be willing to charge her $900 for it as my wedding gift to her and my future brother-in-law. But that wasn’t enough for her. My sister pitched a fit and accused me of being “cheap.” And then something worse started happening. Since the dust-up, my bakery has been receiving negative reviews on Yelp. The timing was too coincidental, so I confronted Randi over it. Her response was that things might improve if I were willing to accommodate her “reasonable” request. So she’s effectively admitted to getting people to leave false negative reviews about my business and threatened to have it continue if I don’t bow to her extortion. Now I don’t even want to attend her wedding. I told my parents what she said to me, but she’s their precious baby and they don’t believe she had a hand in it. I’m not sure where to go from here. —Blackmailed Dear Blackmailed, Your sister crossed a line. It’s not bad enough that she’s devaluing your work, calling you names, and demanding your labor—it also appears that she is actively trying to sabotage your livelihood! Even if you were as cheap as she’s accusing you of being (you’re not), this is completely unacceptable. So where do you go from here? Stop negotiating with your sister and start documenting everything. Save every text, email, or record of where Randi mentioned the reviews. If you have messages from her suggesting that your business might improve if you accommodate her request, even better. From there, I would report the suspicious reviews to Yelp. Second, stop trying to convince your parents. Chances are they just want to keep the peace, and it’s going end up leaving you frustrated to get them on your side. And finally, do you attend the wedding? That’s a very personal decision, but I wouldn’t blame you for skipping out on a celebration of someone who is trying to sabotage your business. —Kristin Please keep questions short (<150 words), and don’t submit the same question to multiple columns. We are unable to edit or remove questions after publication. Use pseudonyms to maintain anonymity. Your submission may be used in other Slate advice columns and may be edited for publication. More Money Advice From Slate Our son suffered from a brain injury after a car accident. He is independent but hard to employ, and my husband and I have long resolved ourselves to helping him financially. He met and married “Deb” three years ago. Deb had two girls from a previous relationship. We wanted to welcome her and her girls fully into the family, but Deb had a marked preference for her own family over ours. Despite many invitations, they only visited us a handful of times and never offered for us to visit them. My husband and I were dutiful grandparents—we mailed gifts and cards on all the right occasions and asked about the girls on the phone, but we were never grandma or grandpa. Two years ago, Deb wanted to put her girls in a private school after they went through a series of serious bullying incidents and the public school did nothing. Their family couldn’t afford it, so we stepped up and paid the tuition, along with all the other assorted costs. It wasn’t cheap. This spring, our son broke down and told us his marriage was over. Never miss new Slate Advice columns Get the latest from Prudie and our columnists in your inbox each weekday, plus special bonus letters on Saturdays. Advice Family Personal Finance