Vent: My uncle Bob told me I was 'wasting my life on the road' at Thanksgiving dinner

He said it while passing the gravy, and I almost snapped back about his three failed marriages, but I just bit my tongue and asked for the rolls instead - has anyone else had a relative throw a passive aggressive jab like that out of nowhere?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretm2311d agoMost Upvoted

My cousin Linda did that to me at a family barbecue three years ago. She said "must be nice to drive around seeing places while the rest of us actually work for a living" right as I was biting into a burger. I told her at least I don't spend my weekends crying over my ex-husband's new girlfriend on Facebook like she does. The whole table went quiet and my aunt dropped a plate of potato salad on the ground. Linda didn't talk to me for six months after that which honestly was a blessing. Sometimes you gotta match that energy or they'll never stop.

sullivan.finley11d agoTop Commenter

Three years ago at my own family reunion, I had almost the exact same situation with a different relative. @margaretm23 you're not alone in that, matching energy is sometimes the only language they understand, but I'd gently push back on the Facebook comment - I've learned that hitting below the belt usually gets you labeled as the bad guy even if you had good reason.

the_jenny17h ago

Read @margaretm23's reply and honestly it changed my mind completely. Yeah, sometimes you gotta match their energy.