Gray rock

Doormat, accusations of doing the same thing and complaining/venting or expecting a different result

Stay in a hotel, get THEM a hotel

Sister with kids that are raised differently

The "you will miss your parents when they're dead, I know because I miss mine" people, even though the OP in those posts is talking about major dysfunction, lack of boundaries, etc. Not everyone will miss their parents when they're dead! (vent over)

Anonymous wrote:Posters who use the term “gaslight” for anything but complete agreement with what they are thinking/feeling, etc.

"gaslight" "boundary" "narcissistic" and "passive aggressive" are FREQUENTLY misused in these threads.

Anonymous wrote:The poster whose response to any conflict is to say "that doesn't work for us."

To be fair, there are a lot of posts on here that would be easily remedied with this phrase.

Posters who use the term “gaslight” for anything but complete agreement with what they are thinking/feeling, etc.

The poster who attributes every problem to narcissistic parents or family members (extra points if the term “golden child” is used).

The poster whose response to any conflict is to say "that doesn't work for us."

The poster that is SHOCKED when family can’t drive 17 hours to come to a weeknight piano recital/sports game.

Sisters who are in constant completion with their sister, or jealous of everything down to the type of dog they have

Anonymous wrote:Hey, OP, how about "when you can tell someone posted something that hit a nerve with the poster, and so they start a thread criticizing it?"

OP here. Yup, I absolutely saw two out of those three in recent threads and did decide to start, sincerely, a good-natured thread, as opposed to directly criticizing. You got me.

The women who refuse to simply disengage and be polite and cordial, particularly with their sisters-in-law. "Whyyyyyy doesn't she like meeeeee," and keep seeking the attention of someone who just doesn't want to be super close.

Also the mothers/sisters who will just not accept that their son/brother just isn't that into them. It's not your DIL/SIL's fault: your son/brother has your phone number, he just doesn't dial it.

Hey, OP, how about "when you can tell someone posted something that hit a nerve with the poster, and so they start a thread criticizing it?"

Anonymous wrote:The "I want to talk to my son every hour no matter what he and his wife are doing because he was born from my loins and we are close I don't care that he's on his honeymoon" MILs.

I loved that thread. It is actually the one that got me frequenting this forum more often!

The "I want to talk to my son every hour no matter what he and his wife are doing because he was born from my loins and we are close I don't care that he's on his honeymoon" MILs.

Hoping to engage in a little good-natured fun here.

If you were to fill out a bingo card for reading through a long post on this forum, what would you include? We know there are a lot of things that tend to pop up all the time..

I'll start:

1. the "not my family/not my problem": Those posters who seem to draw a hard line on interacting with inlaws, as though only the spouse should speak for everyone and or engage, as though there is no actual relationship between ILs at all

2. the "BOUNDARIES": Those posters who talk a lot about boundaries when either no boundary was ever set int he first place, or the "boundary violation" is that somebody used a word you don't like or lit a candle when you hate them or something similarly mundane

3. the "mine is bad, so yours is bad": The poster who imputes all of the bad history they have with their family onto one of the parties in the post, even though there is no support at all

Anybody got any more?