Who contributes least to your life but insists that they are always helping?

If I answered this during high school, DEFINITELY my step dad.

The guy constantly said that he would be there for me if I ever needed him, but never really was, at all. Any time anything bad happened he would blame it on other people, and could never take any blame for himself. It requires a bit of context, though.

The guy's entire life was a wreck. He barely graduated high school, dropped out of college in his second semester, moved to Oklahoma, and became a graphic designer (and not a particularly good one). He lived in a roach-infested studio apartment for six or so years, and eventually met my mom, who at the time had just gotten divorced from my dad (who actually went on to be very successful). He and my mom only moved in together when he got fired from his job and got evicted from his apartment.

Eventually (although I only discovered this by piecing it together later), my mom accidentally got pregnant with my second brother. As so the two got married. Things were fine for a while (at least, as best as I can tell, I was only 7). I didn't really like my stepdad much as a child although I did start liking him later on.

Then right after the summer of sixth grade started my stepdad and my mother broke up. I began a five year long period, where I would:

  • Switch houses at random intervals, between my step dad's and my mom's, which were close enough to each other, but ever so slightly far away.

  • Develop bipolar disorder and (I think) BPD.

  • Become extremely depressed.

  • Dream of doing drugs and drinking to forget.

  • Spend my free time either writing music or daydreaming of a life where I could feel whole.

  • Force myself not to feel emotion.

Now, keep this in mind: my stepdad's house was quite the shithole. It constantly smelled like cat piss (although he denied it and said it smelled like oranges), there were ants everywhere, it got fleas just about every summer, and the water spent about 40% of the time either shut off or not working properly in some capacity.

So, with all that shit, I could never trust him for advice, because, if that's where his advice got him, would I want to be there too? Hell no! On top of that, the one god damn time I came for him to advice, he ended up telling just about everybody around him, which left me with massive trust issues (of which the seeds were already planted by a failing relationship I had at the time).

The only time I could ever feel safe and free from all the shit in my life was when I was alone, on my mom's porch, at night, staring at the moon and playing my guitar.

/r/AskReddit Thread