The cousin who tells your aunt “leave them alone” at dinner is a keeper.

Having one person in the room willing to interrupt changes the whole dinner. Most relatives who pile on about your grades or your weight or your plans are not cruel; they are just following the conversation downhill because nobody stopped it. One sentence from somebody with standing breaks the momentum, and it costs them something to say, which is why so few people do. That is a small act of courage disguised as table talk.

Thank them privately, not at the table. And take the job yourself next time it is somebody else getting it, a younger cousin especially. One flat sentence is enough.