General Etiquette > Family and Children

Etiquette advice from my MIL

(1/2) > >>

mumma to KMC:
Tuesday night dh, ds and I went to my inlaws to visit.

We arrived shortly before my FIL got home from work. FIL owes his own business and through it employs his otherwise unemployable sons (well two of them anyway). That day he drove my bil to the work with him as bil's car is not working. Five minutes after FIL walked in the door, bil  was on the phone asking to speak w/MIL. Youngest sil (dh's little sister, who still lives at home) told him MIL was busy and she would be available in 5 minutes. Bil said he would call back then.

MIL knew that bil had called and figured that one of us would have stayed on the phone with him for the time that she was up stairs. Bil is what my dh calls the "witless wonder". Not a very bright guy and well kind of a pest to talk to, so a conversation with him lasts about 30 seconds before you start looking for excuses to run. When MIL got back down stairs, she asked why bil wasn't on the phone anymore. Sil answered that he would call back in a few minutes.

MIL then started yelling at my FIL about not talking on the phone w/bil until she was ready. He responded that he just dropped him off 5 minutes prior and bil didn't want to talk to him he wanted to talk to her. So starts the "lecture" from MIL.

She went on for about 5 minutes about how my FIL doesn't care about his children, not one bit, if he would pay attention to them, they wouldn't get in to the trouble they have gotten in and how he needs to learn to be a better father.. (did I mention that FIL pays his sons a good rate of pay so they can support their families? Oh and that the youngest boy is now 21?) And how rude it was to have bil call back and that he could have just talked to him for five minutes. Then the best part of all, the part that made me laugh, out loud. MIL said, "If you would pay attention to how I treat people, maybe you would learn how not to be so rude."

(Me, thinking: Isn't it rude to argue with your dh in front of others?).

I elbowed dh at this point and we both tried not to laugh, not succeeding. 

The whole thing was comical and I thought I was going to die from holding in much laughter. And to boot, my FIL wasn't even the one who answered the phone, my sil did!!

Pixie:
Now that there's funny!

  Or it would be if it weren't such an uncomfortable situation for you.  I don't know whether to laugh or hug you.... maybe I should do both? 

mumma to KMC:
Well, there was a time that there fighting, well my MIL's "lectures" would have made my uncomfortable. Now, however, I see that they are totally pointless and very stupid as well as very amusing.

So you can laugh with me. :)

ZipTheWonder:
My husband will do anything to get off the phone, too.  I love him and he's a great husband and father, but he cannot abide phone conversations.  I've always known this about him and it's one of his few crazy-making faults, but it drives me to the edge of distraction. 

I can't begin to tell you the number of times in 20 years he's said: "Hey, would you like to talk to Zip???" after less than 30 seconds of conversation. 

I finally told him between his mother's call and our Thanksgiving dinner this year: "Neither your mother nor I nor anyone else needs you to broker a conversation for us.  If I want to talk to her, I'll ask.  She's capable of doing the same.  If you are finished with your conversation after 30 seconds, hang up.  But, don't offer to put me on the line as some kind of proxy-conversationalist for you."   To be truthful, I had gotten to the point that I was embarrased about what his mother undoubtedly perceives as a brush-off.

For the record, I did it in private.

I probably wouldn't be venting quite this much if he wasn't playing golf right now.  :)

Now back to Karolsmummas thread..........sorry!

HogwartsAlum:
Oh my gosh, karolsmumma, that was hilarious!!! And yes, she was rude to argue about it with him in front of everyone.

ZipTheWonder, my brother is the same way.  He HATES to chat on the phone.  I'm one of the few people he will chat with, because we don't see each other very often.  However, I know he hates it, so I try to keep it short or talk to his wife.  She's the sweetest person ever.  She's so cool that when they got married, we told my brother if he ever divorced her, we'd keep her and chuck him!

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page