Some of you may have seen my previous rant about my uncle. Details are in that thread, which you can read here.
Well, this morning at breakfast we had oatmeal, as usual. There were some strawberries left over from our barbecue on the 4th, so we set those out, too, for anybody who wanted them.
We've never been big fruit-on-oatmeal people. But my uncle went, got a knife, and cut up some strawberries to put in the oatmeal. No big deal, to each his own.
Joshua saw the knife on the table and said, "What's the knife for?"
Jeff (the uncle) rolls his eyes towards the ceiling, sighs, and says, "Uh, for the strawberries. So we can put them in the oatmeal?" All of this said in a "Dear Lord, you people are IDIOTS!" tone.
I spoke up and said, "We don't usually put fruit on on oatmeal, so that wouldn't be obvious to him."
"Well, that's why I explained."
I told him that it struck me as a tone that was a little bit "How-could-you-not-know-this".
"No, it wasn't." Well. Excuse ME.
Later:
Joshua and Bunji have been cleaning their room, and left the garbage can up there. So Jeff stood at the top of the stairs and said, "Joshua, Bunji, do you wanna come get the garbage can?"
Now, doing what an adult tells you, (within reason, of course) is not optional. So my brothers are standing there at the bottom of the stairs with clearly confused expressions on their faces. I swear, I could HEAR them going, "Um, do we WANT to? No, not really. Do we have to? I dunno...."
So I stepped in and said, "Joshua, Bunji, come get the garbage can and take it back to where it goes, please. Thank you." Then, to Jeff: "Next time just order them to, instead of asking if they want to, because if it's a job that isn't optional, they won't want to, and that makes them feel like they can say yes or no."
"I didn't say that."
Like h*ll, you didn't!
"What I heard was "do you want to?" "
"EVELYN! NOT. NOW!!!" He then stormed off. For the love of God, GROW UP!
I KNOW he said "do you want to?" because he's been saying it since he got here. Every single time Mom has stepped in and rephrased it. I did the same, since she is at a Dr. appointment. It has rubbed me wrong since Day One.
So, I went and cooled off my temper, and then he came back.
"You're right, I said "Would you please?"
I am not stupid. I will not pretend to be stupid so he can save face. He can just TRY and make me.
"That's not what I said you said. What you said was, "Do you want to?" "
"Evelyn, do you REALLY want to have this conversation? Who gives a rip what I said!?"
"Who? I DO."
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REALLY UGLY.
"And do you know why? Because you're a smart-alec little know it all who needs to SHUT UP once in a while!"
All right. You wanna play it that way? GAME ON.
I stood up, walked across the room to where he was standing, and said, "You know what? I am a member of this family and household, I know them way better than you do, and I deserve a h*ll of a lot more respect than that." Oh, and I really like that I'm taller than him. It makes it way easier to stand up to him.
He backed down after that.
But if this keeps up, I swear there is going to be something VERY unpleasant on his pillow!
(Gotcha. You people thought I was going to keep being mature about this, didn't you?
)
Well, this morning at breakfast we had oatmeal, as usual. There were some strawberries left over from our barbecue on the 4th, so we set those out, too, for anybody who wanted them.
We've never been big fruit-on-oatmeal people. But my uncle went, got a knife, and cut up some strawberries to put in the oatmeal. No big deal, to each his own.
Joshua saw the knife on the table and said, "What's the knife for?"
Jeff (the uncle) rolls his eyes towards the ceiling, sighs, and says, "Uh, for the strawberries. So we can put them in the oatmeal?" All of this said in a "Dear Lord, you people are IDIOTS!" tone.
I spoke up and said, "We don't usually put fruit on on oatmeal, so that wouldn't be obvious to him."
"Well, that's why I explained."
I told him that it struck me as a tone that was a little bit "How-could-you-not-know-this".
"No, it wasn't." Well. Excuse ME.
Later:
Joshua and Bunji have been cleaning their room, and left the garbage can up there. So Jeff stood at the top of the stairs and said, "Joshua, Bunji, do you wanna come get the garbage can?"
Now, doing what an adult tells you, (within reason, of course) is not optional. So my brothers are standing there at the bottom of the stairs with clearly confused expressions on their faces. I swear, I could HEAR them going, "Um, do we WANT to? No, not really. Do we have to? I dunno...."
So I stepped in and said, "Joshua, Bunji, come get the garbage can and take it back to where it goes, please. Thank you." Then, to Jeff: "Next time just order them to, instead of asking if they want to, because if it's a job that isn't optional, they won't want to, and that makes them feel like they can say yes or no."
"I didn't say that."
Like h*ll, you didn't!
"What I heard was "do you want to?" "
"EVELYN! NOT. NOW!!!" He then stormed off. For the love of God, GROW UP!
I KNOW he said "do you want to?" because he's been saying it since he got here. Every single time Mom has stepped in and rephrased it. I did the same, since she is at a Dr. appointment. It has rubbed me wrong since Day One.
So, I went and cooled off my temper, and then he came back.
"You're right, I said "Would you please?"
I am not stupid. I will not pretend to be stupid so he can save face. He can just TRY and make me.
"That's not what I said you said. What you said was, "Do you want to?" "
"Evelyn, do you REALLY want to have this conversation? Who gives a rip what I said!?"
"Who? I DO."
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS REALLY UGLY.
"And do you know why? Because you're a smart-alec little know it all who needs to SHUT UP once in a while!"
All right. You wanna play it that way? GAME ON.
I stood up, walked across the room to where he was standing, and said, "You know what? I am a member of this family and household, I know them way better than you do, and I deserve a h*ll of a lot more respect than that." Oh, and I really like that I'm taller than him. It makes it way easier to stand up to him.
He backed down after that.
But if this keeps up, I swear there is going to be something VERY unpleasant on his pillow!
(Gotcha. You people thought I was going to keep being mature about this, didn't you?
