I have managed to remain suitably detached from my awful in laws, but they managed to make me see red this afternoon over the latest bonkers problem inventing fiasco.
My child's birthday is soon and they had asked what my child would like and we made a suggestion. They bought this. Fine, and nice of them. I am genuinely grateful.
However, we found out in this weekend's weekly Skype meeting that they took it upon themselves to assemble it, decided it was so hard to assemble that they refuse to disassemble it as they want to save us the trouble of reassembling it… This means it doesn't fit back in the box. They say they can't find another box it will fit in, so can't send it.
We suggested they drive it down to us tomorrow afternoon and see their grandchild before lockdown on Thursday. This is not possible because they are making some other bits to go with the gift and they aren't going to be finished by tomorrow. Lovely. So I (stupidly) suggested that they just send us those bits in the post when they are finished.
MIL immediately snapped that I 'obviously, really, really wanted to get my hands on this present'
I am seeing red as around this time last year we tried to organise Christmas with them and they kicked up a stink about not being able to fit us in with other family members who might (though they hadn't actually asked them yet) might also want to come. After pleading with them that actually we would all be able to fit in the house fine in various very straightforward sleeping arrangements, I (stupidly) suggested we might just come up on Christmas Day early in the morning and leave in the evening as they are just over an hour away.
You would have thought I had served them a shit sandwich. MIL was furious and when I asked her if she would rather we didn't come at all, simply didn't have an answer for that. Then, and only then did she concede she would ask the other family members if they were coming or not (they weren't). We went up for Christmas, had an ok time, and they bonkersness about her flap about sleeping arrangements was never mentioned ever again.
What do you call this behaviour?
It is worse than problem finding, it is problem inventing, but the problems are demonstrably not real. So it's not even shit stirring.
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Relationships
In Laws inventing problems AGAIN
PrincessBuggerPants · 01/11/2020 20:03
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