rSlash - r/Bestof My Brother is Dating a Ghost

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

0:00 Intro 0:11 Job description 3:05 Dating or not 10:12 Work thief 13:36 Divorce Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I've been pulling double duty for six months since our senior dev quits. I'm fixing legacy code, training the two new interns, and generating the weekly client reports, none of which is actually in my job description. Last week, I finally asked for a market adjustment. My boss gave me a 10-minute lecture on budgets and ended it by telling me to focus on the core responsibilities outlined in your contract instead of worrying about money.

Bet, I immediately stopped fixing the nightly build errors, which was not in my contract. I stopped answering the intern's constant slack messages, which was not in my contract, And I definitely did not run the client report this morning. I just got a Slack message marked urgent, asking where the data is for his 9 a.m. meeting. I'm about to reply with a screenshot of the core responsibility section of my contract. Wish me luck.

Then one day later, O.P. posted an update. The 9 a.m. meeting this morning was a disaster for him. He ended up looking like an idiot in front of the director because the client data wasn't ready. He actually tried to throw me under the bus right there on the call, but I had the receipts ready. I just calmly told the director that I was following my manager's explicit instructions from earlier this week to prioritize my contract duties over external projects. Management tried to bring up the other duties as assigned clause in my contract later that afternoon. I pointed out that other duties doesn't mean permanently absorbing a senior dev's entire workload for zero.

extra pay. Not that aggressively, but that's what I meant. They haven't fired me. They literally can't because it's still just me and two interns who have no idea how the legacy code works. Instead, they've scheduled a roll re-evaluation for Monday morning. It feels like they finally realize they can't bully me into doing two jobs for one salary anymore. I'm still applying elsewhere because this place is a sinking ship. But man, it feels good to finally just do the job I'm actually paid for. Yo, this is why you can't mess with the IT guy, because the work they do is completely incomprehensible and utterly critical to every business they're a part of. What business can run without, you know, their servers or their computers or their website or whatever other software

and hardware has got going on. And you can't just pull some random guy off the street and be like, hey, maintain these servers, because I don't even know what a server is, man. It's like a computer or something that like does a thing or something like that. So man, when the bosses try to give flack to their IT people, especially when there's one IT guy in the entire team, I don't know what they expect. OPE is literally irreplaceable. Middle management is highly replaceable.

Our next Reddit post is from R slash true off my chest. My brother-in-law is in his late 30s, and he's been supposedly dating the same girl for 10 years, Brady. His name is Jim. They met when he was a student teacher, so he was an adult and she was still in high school. She's my age, maybe a year younger, probably 28. Jim's brother, Dullen, and Brady graduated together,

and they did not get along primarily because she ratted Dullin out for something that he claims he didn't do. He's a liar sometimes, so I don't know how reliable that is. Fast forward to now. I've never met Brady. I've been with my husband, Fork, Jim's brother, since 2018. Jim's never brought Brady to family reunions, holidays, or weddings. There's always been an excuse. Also, Jim doesn't have social media.

Jim talks about Brady's niece and nephew all the time, knows all the details about them, has shown us pictures, etc. Sometimes, Jim can't come to family events because he says he's with Brady. My mother-in-law has even said she's heard him talk to her on the phone, shown her pictures, heard him call her sweetie, and says that she's on his phone plan. He's also been able to relate some issues with her that I've had issues with, like gut health and anxiety and whatnot.

He's talked about where she works, what she does, etc. He's talked about moving closer to her. She lives an hour and a half away from us. Additionally, a few years ago, we saw Brady's sister and their kids at a pumpkin patch, and Jim bolted the other way, which was weird since that's her sister and he talks so highly of her and her kids. This is where it gets weird. In October of last year, my husband found a picture on Facebook of a fighter and Brady

kissing at a Halloween party. And since Jim doesn't have social media, my husband sent it to Jim. Jim thanked him and was sad for about five months. Jim then proceeded to begin talking about Brady again this last month. At work, he's been telling people that they've been together 10 years. Also, me and my husband found out last year that Brady is their third cousin on our dad's side. So, lull. A few weeks ago, I decided to follow Brady on Instagram and invite her to my son's birthday, as well as introduce myself, since, well, I've been. never met her. I noticed immediately that there are no pictures of her and Jim, and she isn't shy of posting. She replied and said that she hasn't talked to Jim in 10 years. Jim immediately messages me and tells me not to talk to Brady, and thanked me of thinking of her, though, and that they were working through some things.

I messaged Brady back and said, LMFAO, I'm so sorry, I thought y'all were together. He talks about you all the time. Jim immediately text me again and tells me to block her. Brady messages me back and said, That's okay, what does he say about me? And I told her just general things about her niece and nephew, since they're the same age as our kids, her health, and how it related to mine, and how we have similar nicknames from Jim and my husband. She left me on red.

Jim came to my office at work the next day and said that he was sorry for that interaction that I had with her, and that she was so overwhelmed by the kind gesture of me reaching out, that she didn't know how to react. He said her mom called and said that she was so upset that she might have to go console Brady. Jim seemed nervous during the whole conversation with me in person. He wouldn't make eye contact and kept seeming like he was searching for words during that whole interaction. He then told my husband something completely different. Jim told him that she was overwhelmed by me messaging her, but doesn't explain why she told me it's been 10 years since Jim and her have talked. He just left the conversation at that. Since then, Jim has been distant from the family, but he did mention Brady randomly the other

day, some very specific detail about her dog. I did message Brady's cousin, whom I know through her friend, and she was flabbergasted by all of this, saying that Brady has brought several guys home and to family functions over the last 10 years, and that she even had won over recently, and that she hasn't mentioned Jim since they were supposedly secretly dating when she was underage and he was an adult, student teaching at her school. What's going on here? My husband doesn't want to touch this issue with a 10-foot stick, because the thought of his brother being insane is maddening to him. This entire family has some loose screws. My husband is the only one that seems normal. What are your thoughts? Well, O.P., the simplest explanation is that Jim is stalking Brady and imagining

that he's in a relationship with her when he really isn't. Also, I think he's probably hacked into her Instagram or whatever social media that OP uses, because it's a little bit suspicious that he reaches out to OP the second she DMs Brady. Probably means that he's receiving those messages too. Then OP posted an update. Y'all were right. It's somehow got even weirder. I reached back out to Brady one last time because I honestly felt bad for dragging her into this. I just wanted to make sure she was okay and that this wasn't some blink twice if you need help situation. She basically said, no, I wasn't overwhelmed. I was just really confused why he's still talking about me. She told me she's had zero contact with Jim in about 10 years and has absolutely no intention of

ever speaking to him again. She said she was genuinely creeped out that he knows so much about her life. She also told me she wasn't upset with me at all. She was uncomfortable because of him. Then I asked her how Jim could possibly know all these insanely specific details about her life. I'm talking about her nieces and nephews, her dog, her old job, her health issues, and the fact that he's told all of us that they're still dating, that she's on his phone plan, and that he's literally pretended to talk to her on the phone in front of his own family. To that, she said, what the hell? None of that is true. I don't even have his phone number. Apparently, the only explanation she could come up with was that maybe her mom had been talking to Jim over the years.

So she called her mom right after I messaged her that, and her mom admitted that they've stayed in touch and just talk about life. Which, what? Brady said she was completely blindsided by that and got into a huge argument with her mom because she feels like her privacy has been totally violated. I mentioned that Jim had recently brought up her dog and some random story about one of her friends accidentally feeding the dog's grapes. Brady said, yeah, that actually happened, but I only told my family and close friends about that. She asked me to please let her know if Jim keeps talking about her because she wants to know if this continues. At this point, I honestly don't know what to think. Hmm, well, my theory has evolved slightly. I now no longer think that Jim is in a imaginary relationship. I now think that Jim is

in a real relationship with Brady's mom. That's probably who he's been talking to on the phone and calling sweetie, but I guess everyone's keeping it secret because of the age gap and the whole weird I used to date her daughter so I don't want people to know I'm dating her mom type thing. Whatever's going on here. Something is fishy and weird. Our next Reddit post is from R slash relationships. I graduated from cosmetology school in a different state than I currently reside. When I moved here, I needed more hours to get licensed in my current state. So I returned to school and instantly made friends with a girl, Mindy.

At the last week of school before I graduated, I was running a bit late in the morning and forgot my phone at home in my rush, which really sucked because I knew I had a girl coming in who wanted a big change, and I wanted to take before and after pictures. But Mindy was there that day, and I asked her if she could take the pictures for me and send them to me. She accepted, and I thought that was that. A few weeks went by, and I never got the pictures despite me asking for them, and I never got any response from her. Now it becomes a bit more pressing. I'm applying to jobs and I'm putting together a portfolio of all my work. Again, I ask if she can send me the pictures so I can put it in there. This time, she apologizes profusely for not getting them to me sooner and says that she'll send them.

Two days later, still no pictures. Today, I ask her again for them. Bringing us to today, I ask her again for them, nicely, mind you, and I don't get a response. I figure that she's super busy at her job and can't get back to me right of away. But as I'm looking through my Instagram, I see that she made a post of the before and after pictures of my client with the captain saying, check out this rocking haircut that I did. Come see me for all your hair needs. When I saw this, I was effing livid. This girl was one of my first friends at my new beauty school, and now she's taking credit for the work that I did? My question is,

how do I approach her about this? And how can I ask her to delete the post from her Instagram page? Then, one day later, OP posted an update. So, I went to the school to see if they could help me. I went to the Academy Director and the Director of Admissions, and they were so helpful. They told me they were on my side because they aren't huge fans of Mindy, and this isn't the first time they've dealt with this. I showed them the Instagram post, and they got to work. They checked the schedule the day that I did the haircut and also checked the client ticket.

The schedule showed that I was the one scheduled to do the haircut, and Mindy was working behind the front desk that day. and people behind the desk are not allowed to take clients. And the client ticket specifically said that I was the one performing the service. Next, we called my client, a new student at the school, to the office to let her in on this. I also showed her the post, and she seemed quite peeved at it, so she was on my side as well. I took some of your advice and asked if she could write a release of sorts to say that Mindy did not have the authorization to put the pictures on social media. She, however, wrote that I was allowed to use the photos in my portfolio, if I wished.

So both directors got in contact with Mindy and showed her the letter written by my client. Luckily, Mindy is none too smart and got scared that some sort of legal action would be used against her and apologized profusely. She didn't apologize to me, of course. She was only remorseful because she got caught. Lovely. In any case, the picture was taken off Instagram not two minutes later, and the original pictures were sent to the director of admissions who sent them to me. The directors are apologizing to me for the whole fiasco and offered me a free service of my choice,

so I'm going in today and getting a massage. So yeah, everything worked out in the end. Our next Reddit post is from R slash true off my chest. When I was diagnosed with testicular cancer, my husband filed for divorce because he said that it would be too much to take care of me. In my province, you have to live separately and apart for one year before a divorce. is granted. Since he left, I've had surgery and chemotherapy and my latest checkup shows no evidence of disease. When he found that out, I don't know how, he applied in court to withdraw the divorce application.

He told me we can stay married since I'm no longer sick and was actually shocked when I blocked the divorce withdrawal petition through my own lawyer. I don't want to be married to him after what he did. Then three and a half years later, OP posted an update. My divorce was made official yesterday. It's over. Four and a half years of hell and being in limbo, and now it's over. Last night was probably the best sleep I've had in years. Maybe only second to the day that I was told there's no evidence of disease. I feel like shouting from the rooftops because I'm free. I was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2021. Seven days later, my now ex-husband told me that he was leaving me because it would be too much to take care of me and he didn't sign up to be a nurse. When I had my first appointment with the oncologist a few days after my diagnosis, I was given a warning about men leaving their spouses when there's an illness. But I never thought it would happen to me. Every person in my support group who was married to a man had it happened to them too. It was eye-opening.

I spent almost a year going through treatment. I had surgery, I had chemotherapy, and it almost killed me. But in 2022, I was told there's no evidence of disease. I don't know how he found out, But when he did, he wanted to call off the divorce because I'd gotten better. He was absolutely shocked when I moved forward with the divorce, and he did everything he could to drag it out. I'm so glad the court finally saw through his games, and now the divorce was made official. Four years and six months after he left.

I haven't spoken to him in years, and I don't plan to ever again. There's still no evidence of disease. I got a great new job with the provincial government. I'm planning a vacation for my 40th birthday. Most importantly, I'm free. Awesome comment down below. Happy you got rid of both cancers. That was our slash best of redditor updates.

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