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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What is the most annoying thing that your relatives do that give you unreasonable rage?

163 replies

FiveFarthings · 10/09/2019 01:26

Following on from another thread of what your partner does that gives you unreasonable rage, what do your relatives do that make you grind your teeth/ want to punch yourself/them/ make you see red?

My in-laws are the loveliest people ever but my god they are incapable of saying good bye and actually leaving! It drives me up the wall! We will attempt to leave their house and they will then remember 100 million things they forget to tell us in three hours we have been there and that they must tell us before we leave. I have learnt now to start making noises about leaving 45 minutes before we actually have to leave, otherwise we can never get out the door!

In my family we just say, ‘Right we’re off, love you bye’ and walk out so my in-laws faffing drives me mad! We see the in-laws every couple of days so it’s not because we hardly see them and they are trying to make the most of it!

What do your relatives do that give you unreasonable rage?

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 10/09/2019 01:31

I've worked in my field for close to thirty years. My FIL, who has never worked in the same field as me, thinks his advice is golden. I'm always hearing, "tell Terry to..." on the phone. Just nope. It's very advanced mansplaining.

managedmis · 10/09/2019 01:55

My FIL makes this swirling pattern in the top of the peanut butter.

It makes me want to stab the peanut butter with a carving knife so it's all mashed up and messy, not a frigging swirl.

To me that swirl represents him : frigging controlling.

PapayaCoconut · 10/09/2019 02:09

My FIL makes this swirling pattern in the top of the peanut butter.

That's take rather specific! 😅

ShippingNews · 10/09/2019 02:50

My sister and I ring each other about once a week. From the first "hello" to the last "goodbye" she speaks without pause about herself - every thought which has entered her head for the last week has to be spoken about, in minute detail, for about 2 hours minimum. I could be on death's door - leaving DH - won the lottery , and she wouldn't know because she never hears me say one word. If I actually want to tell her something important I have to send her a text message so she can't interrupt with her own doings. She is nearly 70 and has been like this for her entire life.

TheMustressMhor · 10/09/2019 02:56

My sister is a lawyer and is perfectly capable of writing text messages in good English.

Despite this she finds it necessary to add several exclamation marks to the end of every sentence.

My other sister is an English teacher and is also capable of writing in comprehensible English.

She also adds gratuitous exclamation marks and occasionally lapses into text-speak - 1990s text-speak to boot, e.g. CU 2morrow.

I mean, WTF?

TheMustressMhor · 10/09/2019 02:57

I have a feeling this threads is going to be mostly about PILs and sisters.

Let's just see, shall we?

crosser62 · 10/09/2019 02:59

My sister is a know it all, opinionated, nasty viscous piece of work who has an opinion on everything.
She was once a GP receptionist and believes that she is fully medically qualified thus knows every single thing there is to know about every medical condition and gives sage and serious advice about everything health related.

She is full of shit. Everyone in the family is scared of her so won’t argue or disagree with her.

I don’t see her at all thank god.

MrsTerryPratchett · 10/09/2019 03:13

I have a feeling this threads is going to be mostly about PILs and sisters.

My brother makes a weird noise with his jaw while he eats if that helps. For the last 40 years.

Curious2468 · 10/09/2019 03:17

The blatant favouritism!

BluebellCockleshell123 · 10/09/2019 03:20

My dad is lovely but has a habit of standing right in front of where you want to walk.

E.g. If I am coming downstairs and he sees me and says good morning, he'll stop right at the bottom of the stairs so I have to go round him.

Or in the kitchen he always seems to stand right in the way of the bin or the sink or just anywhere that means you can't get there and have to go round him.

I don't know how he manages to always be in the way! It's quite endearing really.

TheKrakening3 · 10/09/2019 03:28

My in-laws bring in clothes off the line when they are still damp, then drape them all over the house so they can dry properly. Fine at their house but drives me fucking mental at mine. We live in the tropics. 20 more minutes on the line and they will be dry. Why the fuck not leave them on the line. Why the fuck do I have to walk from one end of my house to another collecting school uniforms, socks and undies when they all could be in the basket dry. Fuck, fuck, fuck. They are lovely otherwise. Really.

minesagin37 · 10/09/2019 03:45

My DB cannot make a decision and finalise an arrangement in one call. Example: DB 'so we thought we would come and visit you on Sunday' me: 'Sunday is fine, what time?' DB' well have a think about it and call me back' me: 'no I don't need to think about it. What time' DB' well just let us know once you've discussed it'Me: Arghhhh!

drsausage · 10/09/2019 03:48

My mother and father voted for Brexit.

Oh hang on. You said UNreasonable rage.

Monty27 · 10/09/2019 03:50

My dsis who is older than me friends any of my friends on social media having been introduced to them just once.
I keep my distance from dsis socially now and don't invite her anywhere. Confused

Onesailwait · 10/09/2019 04:54

Whenever my mum comes over & we are eating something she always says its 'disgusting'.. It drives me fucking crackers. It could be something completely inoffensive like doughnuts or a sandwich filling thats just a little different to what she would buy like smoked chicken instead of plain sliced sandwiches ham.

Siameasy · 10/09/2019 06:57

My dad does 35 in a National

Sunnysidegold · 10/09/2019 06:59

When my mum visits she will dilute the last cm of liquid soap with water. Which mean next time I squirt it I get a splash of soapy water. She knows I refill bottles too and I did politely tell her to just leave the almost empty bottle in the kitchen and I'd refill it. Nope. Just soapy splashes.

My mil is lovely but thinks I want all the crap of the day that she wants rid of because my house is bigger and I "have the space". So old scarves my husband had as a teen, old toys with bits missing, odd ornaments. No thanks Sandra!

My husband when he phones and I say "hello" will take forever (ok three seconds) to start talking. So I go "hello. Hello? Hello?" And then he says "can you not hear hear me?" No darling, I can't hear you when you don't speak. Also mil always answers with "oh hello it's you". As if she doesn't have my name on the screen.

I do get the rage quite often but love them all very much hence I haven't exploded yet.

Mrsmummy90 · 10/09/2019 07:16

My mum is always late. Always!! I have to tell her that plans start 30 mins before they actually do, just so she's on time. It drives me insane!

Figmentofimagination · 10/09/2019 07:25

OP, my husband's auntie is like that. You say your leaving - she tells you one more thing. Then you stand up to say you are leaving - must tell you about this random person you have never met. Then it's hugs time - oh, before I forget. Then we're in the hallway - did you know... Then hand on the door - could you do me a favour. Then out the door - come look at this. You get the point but it has taken up to an hour from saying I'll leave to driving away. I would say getting to my car but she talks to me through the window.

I'm trying to get more strict about this, especially when it's getting close to DS's lunch and/or nap time when we want to leave and I don't want to deal with a whingey child just because she didn't want me to leave.

Frangible · 10/09/2019 07:26

My mother says ‘I don’t mind’ to anything she is asked, because she thinks it’s ‘polite’.

My father thinks that an appropriate way of responding to an expensive collective birthday present from his children is a half-hour monologue explaining why a much cheaper gadget he has does a better job — he also specialises in lengthy monologues to strangers or distant acquaintances met in supermarket car parks about pet subjects like his dental care or broadband speed.

My otherwise adorable FIL licks his knife and then plunges it into the butter.

My sister has claimed for years that her naturally curly hair (exactly like mine) has just ‘become straight’, rather than because of her regular Brazilian blow dry.

My MIL greets any consumable from a slice of toast or a single grape onward with ‘Oh, I couldn’t eat all that!’

Preggosaurus9 · 10/09/2019 07:30

DM insists on telling me long, complex and irrelevant stories about people I've never met. Hilariously her step father used to do the same to her and she would complain loudly to me about it!

BeanBag7 · 10/09/2019 07:35

My brother wastes food/drink like nobody's business. For example, rather than weighing out pasta he just cooks an arbitrary amount, takes out his portion and throws the rest away.
Or opening a pack of 2 pork chops and eating one, leaving the other in the fridge for a week until it's out of date and then throwing it away. He never seems to eat from an open packet.
To make it even worse, he lives with my mum but she also wont eat the second pork chop because it is his, even though she knows it will eventually get thrown away.

My FIL has a thing about pretending to "sneak" food to DD aged 2.
FIL - heres a biscuit, shhh don't tell mummy
Me - it's fine. She can have a biscuit.
FIL - dont let mummy see your cheeky biscuit, eat it up quickly
Like he is implying that I'm really controlling about food (I'm really not) and that eating treats is naughty. I dont know why but it makes me irrationally cross!

LilouBlue · 10/09/2019 07:52

My mum will have long phone conversations with my siblings, whilst I am there visiting. I think her justification is that I live locally and they don't, but I rarely get the opportunity to see her, and then she just sits there on the phone to them, not talking about anything important, while I twiddle my thumbs.

AJPTaylor · 10/09/2019 08:13

Oh you have reminded me of the days with my dpil.
Sunday evenings at their house, trying to leave. Hours it took. They took faffing to the level of a martial art.

Hoppinggreen · 10/09/2019 08:19

My sdad always does a comedy surprise when you give him anything to eat or drink, he’s not trying to be funny, he just does it
So I offer him a cup of tea and when I give it to him he sort of starts and says in a surprised voice “oh, thank you very much”
Minor but irritating

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