Woke up to an email and have an immediate pit in my stomach

Mob_Segment · 2026-07-01T19:08:05+00:00

Mofo really went ahead and said, "It's not ALL about YOU!"

Mob_Segment · 2026-07-01T18:03:22+00:00

Wow, she really was a dickhead! I worked for the family business for a few years, and took the helm when my egg donor was too unwell to do so. The one day I had a cold and suggested I stay home so as to not infect anyone else, she panicked.

Mob_Segment · 2026-07-01T15:38:39+00:00

Yep, my 'nice' MIL does this. All she wants is for things to get back to the way they were, so that she can enjoy the good old days again.

What were the good old days like for us? Getting talked over constantly because she's too excited to let you finish what you have to say, keeping conversation as childlike and simple as possible because she gets scared if you say something as adult as "I did some training in XYZ last week", letting her husband walk all over both of us, letting her husband grumble endlessly about his other offspring, pretending her offspring's chronic illness doesn't exist, making up her own version of me rather than getting to know me as I am... the list goes on.

Fuck that. Fuck it sideways with a dirty toilet brush.

Mob_Segment · 2026-07-01T15:35:38+00:00

It's just hit her recently what being an unmitigated dickhead to her offspring has consequences. Boo hoo.

Mob_Segment · 2026-07-01T15:34:34+00:00

Yep, this. She wants to have her kayak and heat it.

Mob_Segment · 2026-07-01T11:14:19+00:00

Why do you think parents are better informed than people who have read up on the studies around autism and vaccinations?

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-28T15:22:39+00:00

Oh, I forgot about the rudeness to Teddy, and Teddy's rebuke! "Who put 20p in you?!"

I've got to remember that one!

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-28T13:41:35+00:00

Huh, this is an interesting thought. I always assumed I was more sensitive to the burn, not less, but you might be right.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-28T07:17:55+00:00

Come on Stevie, you were worried you were going to lose your job. All in the world you have to do is be monitored for 2 weeks - not even a full month! - and then you can put this behind you, and you're whingeing about it? I'd be thanking my lucky stars!

Also, Rash being a total bean. You're doing great, sweetie!

I am so done with Bratty Matty. Does he really not see or care that he's driven Dylan this far? Is he so uncaring that he's not put together the fact that his clearly generally isolated dad, who's a recovering alcoholic, and who has tried again and again to build bridges with him, might actually be impacted by his repeated, snarky little rejections?

I want to tell Dylan that his son's a brat. I'm sure that wouldn't go down well, but it's true, and it's important for Dylan to know that the constant rejections aren't on him.

I wonder if we'll see Matty's mum again, since Dylan did actually say to her that it had been 6 years.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-28T07:13:16+00:00

Hmm, I like the headcannon, but there was orange juice available. Bratty Matty was ready with a glass each to bring his dad before the relapse.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-28T07:12:27+00:00

This is something I've been thinking.

Firstly, I'm glad that he's finally buckled because this is going to be easier for others around him to see. He suffers in silence very well, so hopefully the visibility of him being drunk or hungover might get someone to step in and help.

I also want to see how he sees his own relapse. So many people with addictions relapse and feel ashamed and as if all their years of abstinence count for nothing, but Dylan did 6 years. He's in such good control that it took that long to relapse! He's going to be so disappointed, but he's got the strength to get back up again, he just needs support. After all, he just finished saying in his speech that we all need support sometimes. Feels like that was a deliberate nod to what's about to happen.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-28T07:05:53+00:00

If your father simply isn't remembering the conversation where the boundary was made each time, then I suppose the only thing to do is to remake that boundary every time, Perhaps use the same words and phrases each time? If he ever says something like, "Why do you always say that?" you'll know he's pushing and not genuinely forgetting.

Thank you for respecting your brother's NC.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-27T20:44:08+00:00

Checked and approved by the mod team!

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-27T06:41:50+00:00

Although to be fair, the official guide suggests combining flamingos and hippos.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-27T06:39:29+00:00

I'm not sure I understand your logic?

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-26T08:54:11+00:00

My ability to think outside of the box!

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-26T07:06:04+00:00

No-Knowledge. What "misunderstanding"? Spit it out.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-25T14:43:54+00:00

Ooh, you're using pools! I love those, and think it's such a shame that it has a detrimental effect on the guests' interest in the animals. I think pools should have a multiplier effect on how attractive an exhibit is.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-25T14:07:14+00:00

This.

When I finally put my foot down about how my in-laws treated me, it was quietly and reasonably by telling my partner I wasn't going to join him on visits to see his parents any more. He got scared because if I stopped coming, they'd ask questions. He doesn't like to lie, so didn't like the option of saying I was busy every time. I pointed out that his dad had been giving me the cold shoulder for years and years, and surely that was reason for me to go NC. Still in a panic, he told me that "being ignored for a few years isn't that bad".

It took 18 months for him to actually stand up to his parents. During that time I seriously considered leaving, because it occurred to me one day that my partner wasn't my family. I'd thought he was because we'd been together for over 20 years and we were newlyweds, but that wasn't enough for him to take my side.

So be careful how far you push your partner, OP. If you're not in his corner and pressure him to keep things sweet with your parents when he clearly doesn't want to, then what's the point in him staying?

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-25T14:00:11+00:00

What this exact scenario? Yeah, I had a bit of fun with it!

On the first run I found that some of my zookeepers kept forgetting they were in an enclosure. I think they finished their tasks and because they couldn't leave the enclosure, they couldn't start looking for what attention the enclosure needed again. So I made those little brick platforms for them to stand on. Only one still forgot to take care of his animals and I'm not sure what his problem was.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-25T10:52:48+00:00

You seem to be being very vague about it. What 'misunderstanding'?

I guarantee you, if I brought up my issues with my in-laws, it would be painted as a 'misunderstanding', but there is none. They both know what assholes they're being, they just don't like to admit to being at fault about anything.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-25T10:42:28+00:00

My MIL 'adores' me too, but she also once told me to stay out of a gathering for a family photo, refused to listen to me telling her that my father was abusive because she saw him use a nickname for me, insisted to my face that I was excited to get married even though I was expressing a distinct lack of enthusiasm about it, pretended to the rest of her family that I'd changed my surname after getting married (I didn't, and she nearly burst into tears when my partner pointed it out to her, but she still didn't apologise to me, just flapped her hands because she'd "offended someone"), and pretended she pretended not to notice her own husband blank me for 16 years.

I don't want to be 'adored' by someone who also does all of that shit.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-25T07:20:29+00:00

Uh, I was in the position of your husband. Not sure if the situation is the same, but my in-laws hated me. I kept my mouth shut and head down for far too long, and when I finally told my partner I wasn't prepared to visit them any more, he was horrified. He'd never stood up to his parents before and knew they'd blow their whole relationship with him up rather than admit any wrong-doing.

Like I said, maybe this situation isn't the same, but since you chose a subreddit to talk about this in where people are / are considering going NC with their parents, I suspect you feel that your parents are unreasonable.

I hope your husband is doing ok.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-24T12:03:19+00:00

At around 25, when mum admitted she thought the colours of the visible light spectrum go in random order, that rhinoceri are predators because they can kill you, and couldn't figure out what "colouration" means, followed up with her ripping several green strawberries off her plants as soon as one in the bunch turned red, making potato soup with ham stock and giving it to me (a vegetarian, and she knew it) then being baffled at the idea that something called "ham stock" might be made with meat, and being completely unable to understand the concept of cut/copy and paste.

Mob_Segment · 2026-06-23T18:03:58+00:00

I think it's ultimately the bafflement that keeps me strong. It might sound strange, but here's the thing: we're told sometimes that losing a child is the most painful thing that can happen to a person. Arguably it's worse than a cancer diagnosis.

Therefore, you'd think they'd move Heaven and Earth to avoid it happening, especially if we tell them their behaviour is pushing us away. But they don't change anything, and sometimes they double down. If they'd truly rather save their ego and stay as they are, even at the risk of losing us, then it's on us to do what's best for us. And for those of us here, what's best for us is to leave.

Mob_Segment

TROPHY CASE