I lent a friend my favourite pair of black sweatpants about 6 weeks ago. She unfortunately accidentally ruined the sweats with bleach. She mentioned she would reimburse me for them but hadn’t yet. After 5-6 weeks I messaged her saying I was disappointed aritzia does not sell that style of pant anymore. She offered to go to the store with me to find and buy me another pair but I had checked online and they didn’t sell anything similar. She offered me cash and I said sure.

I paid $75 + tax for the pants. So $84 with tax. Instead she sent me $75 and asked me for the bleach stained pants back so she could do crafts with them.

I said no I’m going to keep the pants for the house and mentioned that she didn’t include the tax when repaying me. She called me out and got upset I made a big deal of $3-$4 then called me petty.

For extra context I bought this friend and her daughter dinner the night before and never asked to be paid back. She’s a single mom and I try to be a good friend, literally folded her laundry and helped her vacuum this week as well. I am a giving person and do not expect things in return, but I I am BIG on fairness.

AITA for asking to be compensated fairly and wanting to keep my old irreplaceable sweats for the house? For me it’s not about the $9 but it’s about the principle. Why am I worse off in this situation when I didn’t even do anything to deserve it?