I (25F) work at home for five years and had been supporting my family with my dream job. I pay all the bills consistently and even buy groceries once in a while. I live with my my mom (59F) who’s a housewife all her life, and my brother (44M) and SIL who both don’t have jobs but does labor work in the house.
My job pays well while I’m at home, and I genuinely like and thrive working in a peaceful setting where I’m not interrupted for eight hours a day, so I confined myself inside my room, which also serves as an office.
My mother is aware that I dislike being bothered, but occasionally she just barges into my room to talk, gossip, do chores, etc., which is really quite distracting and makes it easy for me to lose focus. (I think I got ADHD, but I’m yet to be diagnosed.)
I’ve recently gotten the idea of making my own "Do Not Disturb" sign after my niece had a birthday party in the house. It was noisy, so after interacting and buying the kids snacks, I’ve locked myself in my room, put on headphones, and became VERY productive with no disturbance at all. The sign I’ve made says "do not disturb, please contact me in messenger" to make sure I’m still accessible when needed during work hours.
The problem: Earlier today, our electric wiring got fixed, which means I cannot work for a few hours with no lights on so I took a nap. When I woke up, I saw my mom messaged me asking me to reimburse her the money she spent for the wiring. When I came out of the room, I asked her if she needed the money now. She replied "if you please" in a very rude tone, which took me aback.
When I returned in my room to resume working now that the lights are back, I can hear her ranting why do I need to lock the door for and that I don’t need privacy. I didn’t listened further because I am honestly hurt.
I have nothing but a good daughter for the family. I pay the bills monthly without any help from the family members, they still went ahead to gossip about me just because I’ve locked the door while working and getting mad for wanting privacy. AITA? The house is tense right now I’m still in my room atm balancing what I should do. Thank you for listening and please be gentle if I’m in the wrong.