Omg such anality from pil. Come and share your anal behaviour stories (lighthearted)

Your PIL remind me of my totally neurotic uncle, he unplugs everything and fusses massively before you can leave the house.

He also rests a spoon, oh so gently, across the book he's reading so as not to bend the spine.

Fortunately he drives my DDad (his big brother) nuts so I don't see him much.

My mum turns her mobile phone off too because she doesn't like to waste the electricity she used to charge it. Love her.

Lol at drinks filling you up unnaturally

These are so funny. I think I'm more anal than my in-laws though

My mum and dad love their mobile phones but my god using/having them does not make life easier. It's faff central with them. I'm always sighing and screaming in my head that a smart phone should be making things more easy and convenient not more bloody faffy.

I once helped my ex pils by doing the washing up. They both stood horrified as "They had a system!". I honestly thought mil was going to slap me with the 'correct' dishcloth. Drinks were also forbidden when eating as they would 'fill you up unnaturally'.
If you took too long in the shower "Brisk in and out!" then mil would turn the hot tap on downstairs and the shower would run cold.

They were both lovely but

George - my in laws do that too

Oh my in laws are like this, and my parents to an extent.

What drives me the most mad is the endless faffing at mealtimes - my youngest is 2 and she's expected to sit there for bloody ages meal in front of her waiting for everyone to sit down and then they wash the dishes between each course. It drives me round the twist.

Also we were there at new year - not a bloody sniff of alcohol.

Oh and they have a dishwasher but hardly any of their crockery and pans etc go in the dishwasher, so they have the worst of both worlds by doing loads of washing up and running the dishwasher.

It's not even fancy heirlooms or anything like that, just charity shop type things.

It takes hours to clear up after a meal there.

My mother really struggles to accept that we don't own a gravy boat and serve gravy in a measuring jug.

In my parents house You Cannot Eat In The Lounge. You Cannot Drink In The Lounge (admittedly this rule came in after dh spilled a cup of black coffee over their new mint-green carpet!).

You Must Clear Your Plate.

Though it's my MILs vague fussing about everything and forgetting our dc are no longer at nursery that gets to me more. And dh!

FIL unplugs the wireless router when he's not using the internet, wraps the wires round it and pops it in the bottom of the little cabinet that the phone stands on. It's a special thing, the router - it allows him to access the Google once in a while

It's just because they're tight ledkr! Not for taste reasons. But it's all such a palaver as well, they can't just make a cup of tea, it's very similar to the happycamper's description (except we don't get on that well!). They drive me nuts.

Oh I know exactly how you feel!

Everything is so .... organised? .... prescriptive? .... planned?

Nothing can be done on impulse - god forbid!

My ex PIL were just like this. Even making a sandwich for a quick lunch seemed to turn into a military exercise. I just couldn't get my head around how they made everything seem so, well, difficult! They would go into the lounge and ask who was hungry, if not, when they were likely to be hungry, if so, how hungry, how many slices, white or brown, did they want cheese, ham, a mixture, any pickle etc, crisps or salad .... it went on and on! The table had to be laid, with full settings and table cloth, then everyone needed to be consulted on what drink they wanted, did they want a soft drink now, and tea/coffee later, or did the wat their tea with their sandwich etc!

Meanwhile, I was stood in the kitchen offering to help, thinking, I could have whipped up half a dozen rounds of a selection of fillings and popped some crisps and salad on the side for everyone to help themselves by now! Still makes me smile 10 years later! actually, they were really lovelypeople, but so anal.

I feel your pain

It's the teapot that gets me, they keep trying to buy us nasty charity shop ones as well because they're horrified we don't have one (and I keep giving them back to the charity shop).

I have no problem with teapots, but do think that more than 1 teabag should go round 4 people.

My PILs never turn their mobile phone (yes, they share it) on. Never occurs to them that other people might want to contact them.

Everything is eaten at the table - even a banana or apple.

They are every, er, genteel and I am not and neither is DH. Sometimes I wonder if they really are his parents.

Hope you enjoy your cakes and coffee :)

Sorry to be unhelpful, but :o

Your misery has made me laugh.

But that's because I know what it's like to have nice, but difficult PILs. My MIL would argue that black is white - she's NEVER wrong.