Imagine, if you will, that your spouse is in the hospital after a car accident. That’s already a lot to deal with, but you also have to deal with his mother, a woman who makes comments about wifely duties and what it means to truly support your spouse. This is the kind of mother-in-law who resorts to cheap tactics to make you look bad, like claiming she’s going to help out only to say that she never said such a thing.
Thank god we live in a time of speakerphones.
Steak Dish for an injured husband
AITA for showing my husband proof that his mom offered to bring him steak dish to the hospital? https://t.co/lYAKSa7sY7 pic.twitter.com/QnuufnqG3b
— Am I the Asshole? (@AITA_online) May 6, 2022
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a woman and her mother-in-law don’t get along, but the woman’s husband doesn’t believe her. Cue mother-in-law proving that she’s a total b-word and the woman’s husband going, “Huh? That don’t sound like my mama…”
In the case of this AITA post, all of those elements are present and accounted for. The woman’s husband is in the hospital after a car accident, leading to her having to deal with his mother when she comes around to visit her son.
At one point, the husband asks his wife to make his favorite dish since the hospital food tastes like an Instagram video where you’re screaming at the person for serving up pink, unseasoned chicken. His favorite dish (steak dish) ain’t cheap because, well, it’s steak, but his wife says she’ll see what she can do. His mother, being the overbearing so-and-so that she is, said that a truly supportive wife would make it happen.
Despite offering up that unasked for commentary, she “changes her tone” once she gets outside the room. According to the woman telling this story, her mother-in-law offered to make the dish herself. “She suddenly seemed nice and said she could see how exhausted I was.” The woman, probably sensing a disturbance in the force, asks if she’s sure. “Absolutely,” says the not-at-all-suspicious mother-in-law.
You know what gif I’m about to use, right?
The cake … urm, steak dish is a lie!
When the woman shows up for a hospital visit the next day, her husband is disappointed to see that she’s lacking any sort of steak dish. “I told him his mom offered to make it for him instead and told me not to worry about it.” For some reason, her husband doesn’t believe it? I’m not actually sure why.
What follows is his mother acting like she never promised to make the meal. Even worse? She goes into a wifely duties explanation about how his wife should be the one making the meals. “She acted confused and said that I’m his wife and she didn’t know why I’d expect her to ‘perform’ my duties for me.”
Actual depiction of this woman’s mother-in-law right now:
Ma’am. You’re on speakerphone
As someone well-versed in AITA in-law stories, I expected the whole thing to end with this woman being stressed out because she’d been depicted as a liar in front of her husband. I expected her husband to side with his mother and for this woman to wonder what her next step should be. Fortunately, the outcome of this is a lot more satisfying.
The woman waits until her mother-in-law leaves to talk to her husband, swearing that his mother promised to make the meal. Then? She calls her mother-in-law and puts her on speakerphone.
“I said ‘didn’t you say you’d make the steak dish and that I didn’t have to worry about it?’ She replied ‘I did… but I obviously wasn’t actually going to do it, I was just trying to help my son see how his wife is during the rough times and you took the bait.'”
No, ma’am, for it is YOU who has taken the bait! You have fallen into a brilliantly placed trap card and now your son has heard about your lousy attempt at making his wife look bad.
Actual depiction of this woman’s mother-in-law right now:
The woman’s husband, now angry at his mother, calls her later to tell her not to visit anymore. “She lost it, called me petty and manipulative, and blasted me on Facebook saying I stopped her from seeing her son only because I couldn’t get her to do things for me like cooking for my own husband.”
According to her, her husband’s family is now criticizing her on Facebook. Girl, LET them. Also, I hope your husband has offered several apologies for not believing you in the first place, especially if his mother is making snide comments about what constitutes a “truly supportive wife.” Your husband better be in the Facebook comments telling everyone to shut up and using DoorDash to get YOU your favorite dish.
(Image: MGM Television)
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