Life Stories and Everyday Drama

My husband and I have two kids, a 5-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy. After a very traumatic birth with my elder one, I decided I wasn't ready to go through that again. But we still wanted more children, so five years ago we adopted. My mother-in-law cares for our family, but her preference for Malcolm is more than clear. She was furious when she heard I wouldn't be having another biological child and was instantly disapproving. After hearing we were going to adopt, her anger turned into rage. She screamed about how we didn't know the parentage of the child and might end up bringing in someone who would disgrace her lineage. My husband managed to calm her down. Thankfully, when she saw little Julia, it seemed like this was all behind us.

Yesterday, MIL decided to visit us. My husband was away on a trip, so she was just helping around. I was exhausted, so I asked if I could go down for a nap, and she agreed. After a few hours, she woke me up and informed me that she was about to leave. All was good, I was cooking in the kitchen, and suddenly I heard a loud bang followed by Julia crying. When I rushed into the hall, I saw Malcolm towering over her. "You're not real! All of this is mine!" he started screaming. It was incredibly confusing, to say the least.

After calming them down, I asked Malcolm what he meant. He revealed that Grandma Muriel had told him that he was "mommy and daddy's real son." This made me incredibly mad. I asked him what else Grandma had told him, and he shared how she had been telling him that Julia wasn't really his sister and how he should get extra attention for being "extra special." She'd also said he would always be her favorite grandson and more.

Blinded with rage, I blocked Muriel on everything after sending her a text detailing her actions and how this was absolutely unacceptable. I told her she'd never see her grandkids again until they're much older and understand the situation so they wouldn't be swayed by her words. I probably overreacted, to be fair; she is quite an old lady.

After my husband returned, we had quite the argument. To say the least, he disagreed. He adores his mother and told me that stopping her from seeing the kids is inhumane. He said she's simply old-fashioned and didn't know her words would have such a big impact. We will be having a civil discussion about this later.

Honestly, I sometimes wonder what would happen if our family was on a reality show. Can you imagine the drama? Everyone would have an opinion on whether I was too harsh or if my MIL was way out of line. The whole world would be weighing in on our family issues, and the public's reaction would probably be even more intense than what we're dealing with now.

My husband and I have 3 kids: two boys, 9 and 8, and a girl, 3. The boys have been driving us crazy with their constant fighting. We’ve had countless talks with them about respecting each other, but it hasn’t worked. Sibling rivalry is normal, but this is disruptive to us all, every day.

I told my husband last week that maybe the vacation wasn’t a good idea. He shut me down immediately and we went ahead as planned.

First off, the 3.5-hour car ride was (predictably) hell. The boys fought and riled each other up the whole time. Husband and I kept reassuring each other that things would be better once we got there and they’d be too excited to cause trouble.

We were wrong. At the rental house, they immediately did everything they weren’t supposed to.

Shoes on the white furniture? Check. Running in the house? Check. I turned my back for 2 seconds and the 8-year-old threw a box of chalk in the pool to keep his brother from getting it. At lunch, they were out of control. The 9-year-old ran away because he didn’t get his way.

We finally got to the beach, and they were being brats. Refusing sunscreen, fighting over toys, going farther out in the water than we allowed, and cursing.

By the time we got back to the house for dinner, I was fed up. They were ruining it for everyone. I told my husband we needed to go home; they needed to see a real consequence.

My husband insisted it would get better. I put my foot down and said either I was leaving, or we all were. He got super pissed and said it was unfair to our daughter. I agreed but saw no other choice. The kids burst into tears, begging to stay and promising to behave.

My mother, who came with us, was near tears too. She thinks her grandkids do no wrong and begged me to “just let it go,” but I refused. So, we left less than 24 hours into a 4-day vacation.

Half the ride home was spent with them sobbing, and my husband gave me the silent treatment. My mother decided to stay behind and started texting me, saying I had “ruined it for everybody” and “they’re only little once.”

Now, no one likes me except my 3-year-old. Are they right? Am I wrong?

Imagine if we were on a reality show! How do you think the viewers would react to me putting my foot down and cutting the vacation short? Would they see me as the villain or the hero of this story?

One day, our neighbor came over and mentioned he was thinking about trimming the trees between our properties since they mostly grew on his side. I was a bit surprised but told him that the trees were fine on our side. We liked the greenery and had a few families of cardinals living in the trees and bushes. I thanked him for bringing it up and he assured me that he’d trim them lightly. I emphasized that he didn't need to trim our side at all.

I thought I was saving my neighbor some money and trouble by not worrying about our side of the trees.

A week later, we came home to find the trees along our property line completely butchered. He had cut every bit of green off those poor trees. Now we have a clear view of his messy backyard, and we've lost the sound barrier for when he’s out there playing (badly) the guitar. The cardinals are gone; they probably found new nests elsewhere. To make things worse, our neighbor hired his friend’s kids to do the trimming, and they left a huge pile of branches and debris in our yard. Our neighbor knows we are recovering from a fire and lack the tools and vehicle to clean up the mess ourselves—nor should we have to.

He left our yard a mess and didn’t even offer to clean it up. It stayed that way for three weeks.

When the leaves started falling, I went out to rake. I'll admit I was PMSing and this is a bit immature, but each branch that was too big to fit in my leaf bag, I just tossed right over what was left of our living fence and back into his yard.

Yesterday, the neighbor texted my husband asking if we threw the branches over and complaining that he hurt his back and can’t get out there to pick them up. My husband got flustered and lied about kids running through the yards. I say, "FUCK THAT, YES, I threw those branches back into his yard." I know I could have handled this better, but honestly, I was really pissed that he cut down all our greenery after we asked him to leave it and then left a huge mess for us to clean up. So the branches were fine to leave in OUR yard, but he couldn’t possibly clean them up if they are in HIS yard. Am I the only one seeing it this way? I hate that I put my husband in this position, but I think it’s best to be honest. Plus, I think I’m totally right! Am I wrong here?

I wonder how people would react if this situation was on a reality show. Would viewers think I overreacted or would they side with me, understanding my frustration and the mess our neighbor left us with?

I have two kids with my wife. When they were young, my parents generously set up education funds for both of them.

My wife and I always expected our kids to go to college and then grad school, just like we did. I have a PhD and my wife has a master’s degree. Because of this, we decided not to use the funds for their undergrad degrees and didn’t tell them about the money.

My daughter has always been into liberal arts, while my son is more of a STEM guy. We worried about her job prospects, but she insisted on studying music and film in college. She got into some top schools and chose an expensive one, but she had scholarships covering almost all tuition. Everything else, plus living expenses, was her responsibility. She lived in a tiny apartment shared with friends in a rough area far from campus, but she managed and learned to budget effectively. After graduating, she found a job she enjoys, though it doesn’t pay much, and gave up on grad school.

My son decided on engineering and also didn’t want to go to grad school. We were disappointed but accepted it since he’s lined up for a great job after school. He didn’t get as many scholarships as his sister, so we used his education fund for his tuition and living expenses. He got a large, nice apartment close to school, which is important given his demanding classes.

My daughter was confused about how he could afford this and he told her about the education fund. She called us, upset, asking why she didn’t get one. We told her she did, but we saved it hoping she’d go to grad school. She seemed hurt and asked if she could have the money now. We explained there’d be a fee to withdraw the money for non-education uses, and if we did that, it would go back to her grandparents for their use. Since then, she’s been short in her texts and hasn’t answered our calls. I know it seems unfair to her, but it’s not really her money and she’s not in college anymore. Her brother got it for educational purposes only. Am I wrong?

How would people react if this situation was on a reality show? Would viewers side with my daughter or understand my perspective and the importance of using the funds as intended?

Me and my best mate Mark have been friends since high school, so for over 10 years now. A girl named Sarah joined our friend group and hung out with us quite a bit. I started to like her, but so did he. About a month after we met her, he told me that he liked her. I tried to wingman him while continuing to shut out my emotions as I've done since a very traumatic year that I went through. He continued trying to talk to her without much success for a few months/a year. She went on a trip to America and started to talk a lot with me, and we got to know each other quite well.

At this point, I still emotionally distanced myself from her since I knew he liked her. While she was in America, I got asked out on a date by another girl and suddenly started going through a lot of emotions I hadn't felt in a long time and realized that I actually got butterflies when Sarah talked to me. I started talking to her a lot more and she helped me buy new clothes when she came back from America. I talked to Mark to ask if he was still trying with her, and he said he had mixed feelings.

Me and Sarah made plans to go to the beach today and while we were there, we started talking. I got caught up in the moment and asked her if she would like to try dating. She said yes. Later that night, I wanted to be clear with my friend about what happened and that I was going to start dating Sarah. He got really pissed and hung up, and now I feel like an asshole. I wanted to get an outside opinion on if I actually was an asshole. Sorry for the rant, and I already have an idea of what the answer is but want to know your thoughts.

If I was on a reality show, I wonder how the reaction would be. Would people think I'm a backstabber or just a guy who followed his heart? How would the audience judge this situation?

My Partner and I Disagreed About Our House Renovation Project

So my partner and I disagreed about me asking him to take time off for our house renovation project. I suggested he use some of his holiday for a garden project so we could get a big proportion of it done in one go. He said no, his holiday was his time to do what he wanted and it wasn't fair for me to ask him to use it for the house renovations as he has less holidays than me. I said maybe he could just use 1 or 2 days and he said he would not compromise on this and wanted to do the project over several weekends instead.

As I have school holidays off, I said I would not be comprising either and would be getting the work done in my holidays and not just on the weekends as I wanted it to be done sooner.

He said that was not fair as he wanted to be just as involved in the project as me and accused me of threatening to do the work without him and not respecting his choice to save his holidays for things he likes doing more. He also said I could do other projects to which I replied that I just end up doing the rubbish jobs that he doesn't want to do because I have more holidays than him.

If we were in a reality show, I wonder how people would react to this situation. Would they side with me, or would they think I'm being unreasonable? It's so easy for others to judge when they're not in the same position.

I regularly play Dungeons & Dragons with a group of five, counting myself. There is the Dungeon Master and four players. I am friends with two other people outside D&D. With the other two, I have a friendly relationship that is limited to playing D&D. We've been playing for most of a year and have always gotten along.

I am Christian, and while my religion is very important to me, I do my best to be tolerant of other people and not to shove my religion down someone else's throat. I don't mention my religion to other people unless it comes up or they ask me. I can take jokes about my religion and personal beliefs, and do not consider myself uptight about it. I know that some Christians are very sensitive to parodies and the like, I either laugh or roll my eyes and move on. For example, while I avoid taking the Lord's name in vain, I don't really care if someone else does - it's their belief and choice.

Our group finished a short campaign and decided to start a new one, complete with new characters. We were all having fun making our characters, rolling, etc., until one of the players (we'll call him Ted) decided to name his character after the true, personal name of the Lord. If you don't know what that is, look up "The Tetragrammaton" or "HaShem" and you'll find out. I can't say it or type it here.

When I saw the name of Ted's character, I asked why he named it that, and he asked if I knew the true name of the Lord. I said I did, and said that the name offended me and asked him to change it. He laughed and said I was being too sensitive and that it was just a D&D character. I said that naming a character that goes against my religion and it was offensive to me, and I again asked him to change the name of the character.

The others got involved and after a few minutes of discussion, the others sided with Ted and told me to lighten up about it. One of them said that they didn't really care about Ted's character's name or my religion, but they wanted to get on with playing and that I needed to stop delaying the game. About a half hour later, we started playing, and for the rest of the night, I referred to Ted's character as "Ted's character," including when I was roleplaying and talking as my character. When I did that, the others rolled their eyes and the DM told me that this was stupid and shouldn't get in the way of roleplaying.

That was last week. Everyone else still thinks I'm in the wrong about this and making too big a deal of the whole thing. I don't want to cause trouble, but not only is it offensive to me for Ted to name his character that, my religion prohibits me from typing or saying the name of his character. AITA? Please help me figure out what to do. Other than this one incident, I've always thought Ted was a nice person, and we've gotten along fine.

If this had happened on a reality show, I wonder how viewers would react. Would they see my side of the story and understand my position, or would they think I'm overreacting like my friends do? Reality shows often highlight the drama, and I can't help but think this situation would be blown out of proportion, with people taking sides and debating the sensitivity of religious beliefs versus freedom in character creation.

Ok, first off the religious group I will not mention by name as it is not the point of this post. However, I will say I do believe they are a cult because they recruit people, force them to give the "council" all the money they make, and by around 60 when they are old they throw them out of their housing facilities that they own. They cut people's connections with all family and friends no exceptions. If you can't make money they don't want you. They are not small I'll tell you that much. We were learning about different groups in American history. We were in about 6 small groups all discussing about the groups. When I saw the one about the "religion" that's when I said to my group they were like a cult. This group is still a thing today.

Anyway, in english class my group was discussing about the group and I said, "oh they're like a cult" then the teacher chimed in.

T: "That's a strong word"

Me: "Well that's basically what they are"

T: "how"

Me: "Well they make these cartoons that..."

T: "Well many people make cartoons that doesn't mean they are a cult"

Me: "well the cartoon...."

T: "I'm just telling you you shouldn't call them a cult and it's wrong"

Me: "ok fine"

She kept cutting me off before I could even explain my reasoning. But should I not refer to them as a "cult"? Am I an asshole for referring to a religious group as a cult? If you have any questions about the group I'm talking about I'll try to explain it in a way not to call them out. I do believe they are a cult.

Imagine if I was in a reality show and brought up this topic. Would people side with me or would they think I'm just being rude? How do you think the audience would react if I explained my reasons on camera? Would they understand or think I'm out of line?

I am a single mother of two kids (6 months and 5 years). I chose to be a single mother (my kids are donor conceived).

I’m lucky enough to have a good job as a French teacher in a private school, and I have a paid-off house thanks to my parents' life insurance and inheritance.

Before having my kids, I saved a year’s worth of living expenses so I could take a sabbatical to recover from birth and bond with them. While on sabbatical, I still tutor some kids for extra income.

My friend (34F) just had a baby 2 months ago. She is the breadwinner in her household, and her husband has been unemployed since he was laid off during COVID.

It was great to be pregnant at the same time as my friend and have someone with a newborn, but things have turned sour.

She’s been saying how jealous she is of me being able to take a whole year off work, how she wishes she didn’t have to worry about losing their home, and how she doesn’t even have a couple hundred dollars in savings, let alone a year’s worth of living expenses.

I usually ignore it or brush it off because I kind of understand the stress she’s under.

About 10 days ago, she started hinting that she can’t afford daycare, and any mention of her husband taking care of their kid is brushed off. She then started remarking on how much free time I must have, which I deflected by saying truthfully that being a single mom to a baby and a small kid leaves me no free time.

Last night, she finally asked if I could “do her a favor” and watch her kid while she’s at work. I was firm but polite when I said that I couldn’t; I am not capable of watching two kids under 6 months.

She started almost begging me, saying she can’t afford daycare and if she doesn’t go back to work, she’ll lose her job and they’ll end up homeless. I brought up her husband again, and she said he wasn’t good with kids and isn’t capable of taking care of their kid.

I kept saying no, she kept pushing until it escalated to her calling me heartless, and me telling her that it’s not my problem she chose to have a kid with a useless man.

Now she’s blocked me, and I feel very guilty about what I said. I feel like shit.

If this situation happened on a reality show, I wonder how the audience would react. Would they think I was being too harsh, or would they understand my point of view? Would my friend be seen as sympathetic, or would people criticize her for her choices and the position she’s put herself in?

I have a big family that’s incredibly close. We have big family dinners every few months where we all meet at my great grandfather's estate and eat together. Typically, how this works is that the women go cook for the time they’re there and the men don’t, which I am fully aware is sexist as hell. That being said, I am one of the youngest people in the family and my protests mean literally nothing.

Some of those women choose not to cook; however, this is usually met with a level of ostracizing. The women who don’t cook are wives and long-term girlfriends, so they kinda already have a good family relationship established. When I have seen new partners not cook, it’s gone bad. Like completely ostracized, not speaking, cattiness, rudeness, etc.

This dinner will be in two weeks and my girlfriend was asked if she would attend. Initially, she said yes, which is great. I want for her to meet everyone and for everyone to get used to her being around, but when I explained to her the tradition, she was understandably bothered.

I told her that I understood where she was coming from; however, it was best for everyone if she just played along. I told her this isn’t a permanent thing and that I am only asking her to do this so that she can avoid bad treatment from the rest of the family. This is her first impression and I don’t think it’s best if we cause waves.

She told me that it’s unacceptable and that if she has to do that, she will not be going. I’ve tried to find a compromise with her on this, but she won’t budge and she’s pissed at me. She told me that if I think it’s acceptable to make her do this, I’m just as bad as everyone else, while my point is that she needs to make a good first impression.

Imagine if this was a reality show. How do you think my family and my girlfriend's reactions would play out on TV? Would the audience side with me, understanding the family dynamics, or would they see me as a villain for pushing her into such a sexist tradition?

I'm a 32-year-old woman who used to work at a local tavern with a bartender, Patricia, about ten years ago. Patricia now owns her own bartending LLC, which she's been running successfully for about three years. She gets hired for various events, including weddings at the venue I now manage.

I married into a family that owns a wedding venue, where I work as the office manager. My responsibilities include emailing, calling, and meeting brides frequently. I work closely with my mother-in-law (MIL), who has owned the venue for about a decade. I started in this position about a year ago. The bride in this story was a client of both our venue and Patricia’s bartending service. Brides typically hire multiple vendors for weddings, such as the venue (us), bartenders (Patricia), DJs, caterers, photographers, etc.

The Situation

When the bride booked our venue, it was before I began working there. My husband and I lived across the state for a few years before moving back in 2022, and I started working at the venue in May 2023. The bride had already toured the venue, booked it, and communicated via email with my MIL (the owner). By the time I got involved, I had never met or interacted with the bride.

In January 2024, the bride's wedding was scheduled for April 27th. Her final payment was due in January, so I sent a reminder email. A few days later, she responded, saying the wedding was canceled. We use a single business email, and we don’t have personal emails tied to the business. My MIL, who is kind and understanding, emailed back, offering to work something out if the cancellation was due to financial reasons, as it was too close to the date to rebook, and we'd lose money. The bride simply replied, "We broke up." We never heard from her again despite multiple attempts to get her to sign a cancellation form. By early March, I sent a final email stating that I would use the email chain as her cancellation notice, as per our contract. No response came. I assumed the bride was either embarrassed or just poor at communicating.

Patricia's Experience

Patricia knew I was now working at my in-laws' venue, and we were looking forward to working together again. Last week, she texted me asking if the wedding was still on for the 27th. I informed her that the bride had canceled in January and hadn’t made her final payment. Shockingly, the bride never informed Patricia of the cancellation, leaving Patricia out of money since she had prepared her staff for the wedding. Despite multiple attempts to reach the bride, Patricia received no response, which was baffling. Why would the bride ignore Patricia but cancel with us?

Five days before the wedding date, the bride finally told Patricia about the cancellation. Patricia, understandably irritated, replied that she had already found out from the venue and advised the bride to inform her vendors sooner next time to avoid potential financial losses. Upon reviewing her contract, Patricia realized there was a clause requiring only a five-day notice before canceling the bartending service. This meant the bride had deliberately waited until the last minute to notify Patricia, despite canceling the wedding nearly four months earlier. Who does that? It's cruel and inconsiderate. I'm sure other vendors also suffered financial losses because of this bride. What a jerk.