My (33M) girlfriend (31F) works for her parents, who barely gives her any time off work. Is this worth breaking up over?

My (33M) girlfriend (31F) works for her parents, who barely gives her any time off work. Is this worth breaking up over?

My gf and I have been together for almost 6 years. Throughout her college years she's never found a job that she loved. Two years ago, her parents convinced her to join their family business (after spending all of her 20s convincing her) and she finally agreed. Her family owns a dental office - both her dad and brother are dentists, the mom is an office manager, and now she is the co-office manager. This arrangement works out perfectly for their parents as they envisioned their kids to take over their business once they retire (parents are in their early 60s).

This office is without a doubt very successful and it's been around for 20+ years. Their family and the business is quite well-known in our small town. My gf has been enjoying the job the past couple years and she's pretty set on essentially taking over the business with her brother after their parents retire. However, aside from the actual work, she frequently clashes with her parents as they are VERY traditional, closed-minded, and have an extremely authoritative management style. Surely, her dad has a strong work ethic that's led him to where he is today, but he is not a team player (something he's self-admitted, it's his way or the high way).

Now where this affects our relationship is how she only gets 5 days of vacation per year. Their family takes MANDATORY trips together on some major holidays, so that already knocks off a couple days of the 5. Because of this, she's already skipped out on many trips that are important to me - such as weddings, trips to visit MY family, birthdays, etc. We have an upcoming destination wedding later this year for one of my best friends (I'm the best man!). She currently has 3 days left to use but she'd need to take off 5 days. She asked her parents to make an exception and got denied. I'm getting tired of attending these events solo and having my SO miss out on all these milestones. She's upset about it too, and already can't stand dealing with her dad, but she feels like her hands are tied bc she doesn't want to quit on the family business, nor am I pressuring her to do so. But I don't even know what to do at this point. I still want to travel to so many places but I know I won't be able to with her. We are limited to traveling on the weekends only. Sometimes I laugh when I realize she is a grown woman and still has to ask her parents for permission to do these things. Is this a dealbreaker? What would you do?

TLDR - GF works for parents who restrict her to 5 vacation days a year. She's been missing out on many important trips and events because she basically can never travel. I'm getting tired of showing up solo. Is this worth ending the relationship over?

Submitted March 08, 2023 at 10:21PM by phyllishalpert https://ift.tt/VHRqBmT