What’s a weird thing your In-Laws do?

[FirstFallopians]

I was thinking there about how my BIL maintains that all families are a little bit weird to someone else.

Thought he was being flippant but then I remembered that my in-laws keep their family toothbrushes and toothpaste in a drawer in their bathroom. If you need a bit of floss after Sunday lunch you need to stick your hand into a sticky, damp mass of plastic and bristles.

What slightly weird things do your in-laws do?

My FIL brushes his teeth in their kitchen sink. He'll go to the upstairs bathroom where everyone's toothbrushes are kept, get his toothbrush and toothpaste then come back down and brush his teeth in the kitchen sink as everyone else is sitting in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting, then return his toothbrush to the bathroom. I have no idea why he does this and no-one in my husband's family seem to think it's odd.

Different curtains and pillow covers in the living room for summer and winter.

Oh there’s loads

SIL plates Christmas dinner for guests, wouldn’t be a problem but she gives a family sized portion to each person and then you feel rude not eating half of it. Her kitchen is huge so she has space to not plate it. Just drives me mad even though it’s petty 😂

MIL doesn’t put heating on and keeps windows open all winter so when you visit it’s like being outside. It’s not a money thing, she just hates being warm. She also doesn’t put lights on, sits in darkness and I have to ask if I can put a light on because I cannot see anything.

other SIL constantly asks me what I’ve eaten when I see her, she has an obsession with me being pescatarian and thinks I’m a hippy, I’m really not.

Oh I forgot to add, SIL having two tvs in the same room, on at the same time. It’s a big room to be fair but still. She constantly needs tv on, it’s never off and if she comes to ours and notices tv off she asks why it’s off and can we turn if on even if we’re just there chatting.

Gets the car cleaned inside and out before going on holiday. Every. Single. Time. This information is presented as not only totally normal, but to not do it would be utterly feral. DH said this was absolutely not the case when he was growing up. In fact, car was never ever professionally cleaned and very rarely did FIL clean it himself. Why did they start this? Why erase a perfectly good history of not cleaning the car pre-holiday and now insist that it’s a must? Why?

Mine do this .. Well to do, cover everything that's not in daily use or move away from the (sunshine) windows and bloody mats everywhere

Oooh I always do this!
It's lovely going away in a fresh,clean car
I also clean the house and change the bed linen.
I love it
Knowing its all clean and tidy waiting for me 😂

Really???

I thought they were just a posh way of holding toast.

In all my years on MN this has to be the strangest post.

They forced you to shower together?

Did they allow you hot water??

Were you timed???

Normally I would view a shower with my DH as quite sexy, but this is totally the opposite of that fantasy.

My mum is like this! She’s used to it now but would always comment that our TV was off, and the house being eerily quiet. They always have the TV on all day long.

I hear you. Walking across the landing after putting the kids to bed at the ILs basically involves fixing my eyes on something in the distance and then walking through the dark hoping not to bump into anything or fall down the stairs to my death......

Only FIL is permitted to make his coffee, no one else is trusted.

I like to cook so will make them dinner when they come to stay, the fact I can make a pie from scratch is a source of great discussion. MIL told the rest of the family all about it and thanked me multiple times. They aren’t bad cooks themselves, I’m just more ambitious with what I think I can do!

They are otherwise very normal and nice people! I think they’re slightly perplexed by me and my different ways of doing things sometimes but they’re too nice to say so.

My own mum is always surprised that I don’t wear shoes in the house, even though I never have. I like to curl up on sofas so don’t wear shoes, she sits properly and thinks I’m weird. Obviously I think everything she does is completely normal, even if I don’t do it quite like that myself…

@strawberry2017 I do this one, but my family doesn’t. I like to have light fabrics in summer and heavy, fluffy warm ones in winter. Rugs too!

Why is it that some people spot others enjoying a plate of chips and decide now is the right time and place for a piss?

You’ve already complained that everyone is unkind and prejudiced towards their in-laws, even though the vast majority of people have said they actually really like them. It’s a fun, lighthearted thread - stop trying to make it miserable.

@tachetastic no not timed. I never understood it, it was just assumed that we would go and wash together. It wasn’t sexy at all because the rest of the family were downstairs

This is brilliant 😂😂

@FirstFallopians "...a sticky, damp mass of plastic and bristles." - that is fantastically grim 😅

Mine is fairly benign - I get on well with my (almost 30 year old) SIL, but for some reason my MIL acts as a go between/her social secretary when it comes to meeting up, e.g.: "I think SIL would love a playdate with the baby! Is Thursday ok?" and then "What time is good for SIL to come over today?". Somehow makes me feel like it's some sort of custody arrangement! MIL invariably ends up coming along too, though, so I think it is more that she finds it easier to say what she wants this way...

Interesting. I thought those were for when you had a few slices made at the same time, not that you were SUPPOSED to let them cool.
Hot toast is much better and butter wouldn't spread as well on cold toast would it?

"If they had a hot meal for lunch, then they would have something cold for dinner and vice versa."

I think LOADS of people do this. It's unnecessary, but many people see it as a rule imo.

Is it just from the way he was brought up? When people had outside toilets they washed in the kitchen. My DF was brought up like that, but he does use the bathroom sink now.

I was brought up like this as well. Like the Royle Family, but with TVs in every room. Now they've progressed to TVs and tablets and radio on at the same time.

It's funny, but it's also how older people get conned by companies. These people are just doing their jobs and they're not our friends.

My MIL will set the table completely for every meal- with tablecloth, napkins, more cutlery than you need, side plates etc. This also stands for takeaways & she is also a plate warmer. We got McDonalds for lunch once and she added vinegar to her chips.

The tea/coffee at a particular time every day seems to be quite common.My mother used to sit down with a milky coffee(it had to be milky,nothing else would do) at 11 o'clock every single day.
She'd always try to get my father out of the house before she made it because 'he'd only want one too'.

Why is that disgusting? I presume the bidet isn't used for anything else.