New iPhone, make stupid choice, win stupid award so complete the 12 steps pay up

[theking]

25-year-old woman sues cousin who knocked her brand new $1300 phone into a pool: 'I filed for wage garnishment'
This woman's family is siding against her after her cousin broke her $1300 phone!
Getting that new phone every few years is an expensive endeavor. Some mobile carriers let you upgrade your phone for free every now and then, but for many users, that's too long to wait between models. They love the upgraded camera quality, extra gigabytes of space, and just the sleek appearance of a brand new iPhone.

Unhappy woman talks on phone in front of large pool.
This woman was happy with her brand new iPhone, which she shelled out $1,300 for.

It didn't last long, though. She showed up to the family pool party only to encounter her jokester of a cousin.

Every family has at least one person who likes jokes. There's also one person who will take things too far. Oftentimes, these are the same exact person.

Since they're family, you can't always avoid them! Instead, you try to anticipate their pranks, or keep your distance, but even that isn't always 100% foolproof, as she quickly learned…

Am I the j*rk for suing my cousin after he knocked my phone into the pool as a "joke"?
I (25F) recently upgraded my phone to the latest iPhone Pro model. After taxes and AppleCare, it was about $1,300.

I paid for it myself and had literally just finished setting it up a week before this happened.

A couple months ago, we were at my grandmother's birthday party. Everyone was hanging out in her backyard around the pool.

I was standing near one of the patio tables, texting and taking photos of everyone. My cousin (25M) has always been big on physical humor and pranks.

He loves being the center of attention. I've never found him funny, especially when the joke involves embarrassing someone else.

At one point he came up behind me and started teasing me about being "glued to my phone." I rolled my eyes and told him to knock it off.

iPhone laying precariously close to water on pool edge.

He kept hovering around me, pretending like he was going to grab it. I told him very clearly to stop.

Instead, he slapped the phone out of my hand. It bounced once on the concrete and slid straight into the pool.
We fished it out immediately, but it was de_d. Completely unresponsive. Apple said there was water damage and it wasn't repairable.

When I confronted him, he laughed at first and said he didn't think it would actually go in.

Then when he realized I was serious about him paying for it, his attitude changed. He said it was an accident and that I shouldn't have been standing so close to the pool with an expensive phone.

I told him it cost about $1,300 to replace and that I expected him to cover it.

He refused. My family immediately took his side, saying I make more money than he does and that he has a girlfriend and a baby to support.

They said I was being petty over "a mistake." What really bothered me wasn't even just the money, it was that I told him to stop.

He chose to ignore that. And instead of apologizing sincerely and offering to work something out, he acted like I was overreacting.

He still dragged his feet on paying, so I filed for wage garnishment. Now 20% of his paycheck goes toward paying me back.
He made his own life difficult

If he had apologized and offered a payment plan, I would've worked with him. But he dug his heels in at every step.
If he had apologized and offered a payment plan, I would've worked with him. But he dug his heels in at every step.