Slightly Irritating Things Your In-Laws Do

[Anonymous]

First, I need to say that I love my in-laws. DH and I are 52 and have been together since we were 15. My in-laws are a second set of parents to me. But they drive me nuts by cleaning out their fridge and pantry and bringing it all to us when they visit. Because "we know y'all can use it".

I do wonder what my DIL might say I do that drives her crazy.

[Anonymous]

Nothing really. She's in the last stages of Parkinson's, she repeats herself, pretty soon she won't be able to go to the toilet by herself, and everytime we have plans and want to leave the apartment, she suddenly finds herself ill.

But she escaped a war zone with three children under 6, and her strategizing and quick thinking probably saved their lives. The scion of an important family, she took only what she could carry and started from scratch in a different country with a husband who was mentally ill.

She is wise and good. She deserves a good ending.

[Anonymous]

Jesus Christ.

Every single person on this planet has some kind of mildly irritating/annoying behavior, including all the posters in this thread.

I swear most of the problems on DCUM are caused by the poster themselves. Find better things to do than focusing on the tiny, piddly things or perceived slights.

[Anonymous]

Mine are lovely people. But they tend to have conversations/monologues about people/neighbors we don’t know every time we get together. I just smile and nod.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jesus Christ.

Every single person on this planet has some kind of mildly irritating/annoying behavior, including all the posters in this thread.

I swear most of the problems on DCUM are caused by the poster themselves. Find better things to do than focusing on the tiny, piddly things or perceived slights.

Move along. You’re being mildly irritating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jesus Christ.

Every single person on this planet has some kind of mildly irritating/annoying behavior, including all the posters in this thread.

I swear most of the problems on DCUM are caused by the poster themselves. Find better things to do than focusing on the tiny, piddly things or perceived slights.

That's why the thread is titled as it is, and the first page uses the phrase "just for fun," rather than "Are you inlaws terrible sh*tty people who you wish would just drop dead already? - Let's talk about why!"

[Anonymous]

MIL purposely misspells our DD’s name. She likes her spelling better.

[Anonymous]

Passive aggressive.

Eg, "what kind of food would you like for dinner?" (for a planned evening out)
"Oh, it doesn't matter to us, whatever you want."
"Ok, how about (insert name of restaurant)?"
"No, that won't work because......"
"How about ......."
"That won't work because...."

Repeat a zillion times until I pick the restaurant MIL wanted all along. Why can't she just tell me she wants Italian, or Chinese, or whatever she wants when I ask the first time?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIL purposely misspells our DD’s name. She likes her spelling better.

My grandmother could never remember the correct spelling of my name. At around 10, I remember thinking, “This woman must not give a f*** about me.” Your own DD will figure it out for herself in time.

[Anonymous]

They break things. Could be big or little, but I cannot recall single visit where they haven’t ruined something in our house. Some times I think it’s passive aggressive, like they broke our coffee maker which I’m certain was because they hoped we’d replace it with some fancy espresso maker like they have, but other times it’s things like our tv.

[Anonymous]

My MIL can’t eat without getting food all over the front of her shirt. She’s of sound mind and body, though slightly overweight, but it’s like, what in the world, woman! My child is cleaner when she eats!

[Anonymous]

makes conversation while TV is blaring in the background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Nothing really. She's in the last stages of Parkinson's, she repeats herself, pretty soon she won't be able to go to the toilet by herself, and everytime we have plans and want to leave the apartment, she suddenly finds herself ill.

But she escaped a war zone with three children under 6, and her strategizing and quick thinking probably saved their lives. The scion of an important family, she took only what she could carry and started from scratch in a different country with a husband who was mentally ill.

She is wise and good. She deserves a good ending.

My MIL is also a goddess of this caliber. She also drives me effing mad. But if I told you what she did in her home country you wouldn’t believe it.

[Anonymous]

They bring us all their old junk that they don't want anymore.
They tell the same stories over and over, mostly about people we don't know.
They bring a bunch of food that's expired or otherwise gross (they once brought raw chicken in a cooler w a little ziploc bag of ice cubes on a 5 hour road trip) thinking they're being helpful so "you don't have to go to the grocery for us!" and/or they can't let anything go to waste (an admirable quality).

I love them and I think they're wonderful people. But those things are slightly irritating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just for fun...

What are the most (mildly) irritating habits or things your in-laws do?

I’ll start:
Despite being born/raised in the US, MIL refers to the US as “the States.”

When an ambulance drives by with a siren on, FIL makes a big show out of clamping his hands over his ears until it passes.

I call the US ‘the states’ too, what is wrong with that? It is more accurate than calling it America.