The Preemie Clothes Are A Lie
I’ve submitted a few stories about my pain-in-the-rear mother-in-law, including this one. She is very generous… with other people’s time and stuff, and she gets pretty frustrated because I never let her have her way.
One day, she came over to the house long after my baby was in bed, and my husband was working late. She said she wanted to talk to me; that’s never a good sign.
Mother-In-Law: “Look, I have a coworker that just had a preemie like you did. They weren’t expecting this and are in desperate need of clothes. Could I take your preemie clothes since [Baby] is over six months old now?”
Me: “I don’t have any preemie clothes except the two special ones that were for photos, and I intend on keeping those.”
She started raising her voice and getting mad.
Mother-In-Law: “Well, I already told them you would give them the clothes, so go get them.”
Me: “Well, that was stupid since they weren’t yours to give. Besides, this is our first child, and we may have more, so it would be incredibly financially stupid to get rid of anything yet.”
Mother-In-Law: *Getting more upset* “But you could help them. What are they supposed to do?”
Me: “They can do what I did. Buy gowns and roll up the sleeves.”
Mother-In-Law: “But I already told them I would bring them the clothes tomorrow! I will look bad!”
Me: “Yeah, you will. Don’t promise things you are not in any position to provide. You will also learn a very valuable lesson that I really don’t care if you look bad. That nonsense works on your kids, not on me.”
She huffed off and tried to “tell on me” to hubby. When he asked if I could just give something to “keep the peace,” I informed him that I would have gladly before, but not now, because his mother needed to learn a valuable lesson with me or she would just keep doing it. She had to be taught that lesson a few more times before she got it.
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
