Lovingly, Respectfully, BUTT OUT

My mother works for a store that sells a variety of items such as furniture and electrical items and has a large computer department. She has a habit of oversharing and volunteering others to do things, but this time, she’s decided that my husband needs another job because I just had a baby and stopped working at my part-time job.

Mother: “Tell [Husband] I have gotten him a job that’s perfect for him.”

Me: “What are you talking about? He’s already got a job.”

Mother: “But this is perfect for him! I was telling [Manager of the computer department] all about him, that he works on computers, and that he needs a job. I don’t think he was that interested until he asked me what [Husband] did for his last job, but when I told him he was a land administrator he said he can start working right away. He wants him to come in on Saturday.”

Me: “No, he’s not going to do that. He doesn’t need another job. And you mean ‘LAN’, not ‘land’.”

Mother: “But I already told [Manager] that he would be there. The job is perfect for him, and he can just work weekends if he doesn’t want to leave his other job. You haven’t even spoken to him about it.”

Me: “And I’m not going to. You can’t just decide to get him a job.”

Mother: “But [Manager] is expecting him to turn up. What am I going to say to him?”

Me: “You need to tell him [Husband]’s not coming, and you need to stop doing this sort of thing.”

Mother: “But now that you’ve had [Baby], you need the money!”

Me: “We don’t need money that badly. He’s already working eight to ten hours a day, five to six days a week. He needs some time off to relax and spend time with his daughter.”

Mother: “Okay. I will tell [Manager] that he…” *Starts making up an elaborate story*

Me: “Just tell him that he doesn’t want the job.”

I have no idea what she told the guy, but to her, the truth is never a good enough excuse. I don’t know why she thought that a basic retail job would pay better than working in a government agency at the largest Telecommunications provider in the country.