u/Throwaway61565 is just a kid but even she knows how to show proper appreciation for people who do things for you. Her dad? Hoo boy, evidently not.
She recently asked the AITA subreddit if she was the jerk “for literally showing my dad how he behaves every day when he gets home from work?” Here are her words:
My f16 father m46 is the “breadwinner” while mom is a SAHM. She handles everything around the house like cooking, mopping, washing, laundry, etc. I’m the oldest and I try to help but really there’s only so much I can do while my dad just gets home at the end of the day and literally complains about everything. like how the carpet isn’t clean or how the food is cold.
OP’s mother is a stay-at-home mom and does everything around the house. OP sees how hard her mother works and does what she can help. When her dad gets home, he just whines about everything.
As a result, I’d have to listen to a huge argument daily between him and mom. It’s exhausting but honestly…I think that my dad is in the wrong here. I tried talking to him to get him to see how his behavior is but to no avail.
And so the dad picks fights with her mom and she has to listen to it daily. OP thinks her dad is being ridiculous and cannot understand why he’s acting like this.
So what I did was pick a day off for him and pretend to act like him.
So she decided to “be” him for a day and show him what kind of behavior everyone else sees.
I put together an outfit that looked like a suit and put black tape over my lips to look like a mustache. at 6pm. I went inside the house. Shouted “I’M HOME!!” then sat next to him in the living room and started kicking my shoes while complaining about the state of the house at the top of my lungs.
She shouted about the state of the house, sat next to him, and yelled about all the things he wanted changed.
He glanced at me confused asking what I was doing. I ignored him then started yelling about the carpet being dirty, shower not ready, the kids needing to be quiet and so on.
The kids laughed and quickly caught on that OP was being “dad.”
He kept staring while mom and my siblings laughed. My youngest brother kept pointing towards me saying “this is daddy”. I then proceeded to yell about dinner then berated my mom for not preparing ut before time.
Her dad finally stopped her and asked what she was doing. She parroted his words at him and he got it.
My dad stopped me and in a serious tone asked what I was doing. I turned to him and said “WHAT?! CAN’T A MAN EFFING REST AFTER WORKING LONG HOURS!!” in the most macho voice I could muster. My dad got the hint because this was the common phrase he uses daily.
Dad got quiet and OP explained what she was doing. He walked outside.
He went quiet and avoided looking at me. I stopped the act and told him I was trying to show him what he’s like everyday when he comes home from work. He said nothing, just went outside and refused to speak to me.
Later he scolded her for mocking him and while her mom said it was funny, OP should’ve gotten the message across some other way.
Later he went on about how I “mocked” and invalidated him. That he does work hard and me doing this was disrespectful and invalidating. Mom said it was funny but also thought I hurt my dad’s feelings and I could’ve gotten the message across some other way instead.
AITA?
Reddit was quick to praise the innovative teen.
“NTA. You held up a mirror to his behavior, and he didn’t like what he saw. That’s on him. I hope he gets the message,” wrote in mimiuniverse.
Another person wrote, “this is absolutely hilarious and well-deserved and sometimes, people need to see how they’re behaving reflected back at them to truly understand.”
And then we got a great Calvin & Hobbes reference: “I really hope OP lifted the idea from that one Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin combs his hair and puts on a tie to mock his dad. “Being miserable builds character!” Then the last panel is just his mom dying of laughter.”