For My Money, They Won’t Be Coming Back

(My boyfriend and I are in Ontario to see his family and also to go to a concert. I generally get along very well with his relatives, but his grandparents can be a bit… brash. They don’t have much of a filter and always have to say their opinion. Most of the time they mean well; they’re nice people. But sometimes it comes off as a “holier-than-thou” attitude. This is one instance where I wish I’d spoken up for myself. For context, my boyfriend and I paid for everything for this trip, as we’re in our 20s and have relatively good jobs; we’re also in college, so we’ve been saving for this trip for a while. Our parents did not pay for our flights, concert tickets, gas, or any expenses, nor did we expect them to. We are driving back to the airport with his grandmother.)

Grandmother: “It was so nice to have you two down here; you should come back more often! We’d love to see you more!”

Me: “We’ll definitely try to come back soon, maybe next year after we graduate.”

Boyfriend: “Yeah, this trip was expensive, but it’s nice to have a break from school. I wish we could travel all the time, but we’ll probably have to wait until we get jobs in our field.”

Grandmother: “Yes, that would be a good idea. Both of you will get good jobs, and then you won’t have to use mommy and daddy’s money!”

Me: *speechless*

(She said it so casually, as if she knew this for a fact. I was extremely angry. I held my tongue, and we both gave curt goodbyes at the airport. As soon as she left, my boyfriend turned to me and said, “We’re not coming back to see her if that’s what she thinks of us.” I agreed. I told my parents when we got back home and they were annoyed, too, but more amused at the fact they actually thought our parents paid for all our things while we are more than capable of taking care of ourselves. Needless to say, we don’t talk to my boyfriend’s grandparents that much, and we don’t plan to waste OUR money going to see them again.)