Well, we have told you more than once stories about how parents experienced problems with their adult children who share the same roof with them - it’s time to look at the other side of this coin. Yes, believe me, this also happens, and more than once...
So voila - here's another instructive story initially told by the user u/No-Coat-7393 a few days ago, about how their own mother, to whom they recklessly left the passcode to their house, almost ruined their vacation to their friends' wedding. Intrigued? Then let's move on!
More info: Reddit
The author of the post has a house with an in-law suite which they rent out to the daughter of their mom's old friend
Image credits: Bruno Gomiero (not the actual photo)
However, the author's mom also has a code to the house in case she wants to visit them
Image credits: No-Coat-7393
Recently, the homeowner went on vacation and left their door to the tenant's suite deadbolted
Image credits: Brian Babb (not the actual photo)
Image credits: No-Coat-7393
One fine day, the author got an alarm notification and saw their mom opening the house door for the tenant's mom
Image credits: Asad Photo Maldives (not the actual photo)
Image credits: No-Coat-7393
The cops arrived, but the author left the 'intruders' to cope with the consequences themselves, switching their phone to airplane mode
Image credits: Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 (not the actual photo)
Image credits: No-Coat-7393
After returning home, the mom bashed the author for being 'rude', yet the dad sided with his child
So, the Original Poster (OP) has their own house, in the basement of which there is an in-law suite, fully up to code. The author rents out this basement to a girl named Sally, the daughter of their mom’s best friend. She and Sally have known each other literally since Sally's childhood - the OP even used to babysit her as a kid.
However, long-term acquaintance is good, but personal boundaries are even better. So Sally's suite has two means of escape other than going to the OP's area. And so, when the author recently went on vacation to their friends’ wedding, they, of course, left their door to the basement deadbolted. However, the author's mom also had the code to enter the house.
The fact is that the woman gets confused by tech, so the temporary code is always actually the same - however, this time, leaving for vacation, they weren't expecting any guests for sure, so they locked the door with a permanent code which only they knew. And this time it played a bad joke on the OP when, in the middle of their vacation, they received an alarming notification. The author quickly looked through the cameras to check what happened - and saw their mom opening the door to Sally's mother. And both women looked scared as the alarm suddenly went off.
Probably, at any other moment the author would have sorted things out, but this time they were annoyed that their vacation was interrupted in such an unceremonious manner - so they did actually nothing. But no - after some time the hotel concierge approached and asked them to talk to their mom, who had somehow found the hotel number and called there.
And here the OP’s patience actually snapped. They asked if everything was okay with the house, if the dad's health was good - to which the mom impatiently stated that the cops had arrived and the homeowner needed to save them from possible problems. The mom claimed her friend "didn't want to sit in the basement," so she just opened the house for her.
Well, the author calmly hung up, called the security company back and asked them to lock the house back up. After that, they just switched the phone to airplane mode and continued to enjoy their vacation. Later, after returning home, the author faced two opposite reactions from their parents: the mom was literally furious while the dad meekly agreed to pay any fines and penalties from the police for his wife.
Moreover, Sally’s mother also demanded that her daughter immediately move away from such an “outrageous” landlord, while the tenant herself literally begged the OP not to pay attention to her mom's wrathful speech. According to the girl’s own words, she had no idea that her mom and her friend came to visit her - after all, she was not even at home at that moment. As you can see, there's a certain generational conflict here...
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
“Unfortunately, many parents not only overuse what they call 'their parental rights,' but also unknowingly extend these very 'rights' to adult children,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda got in touch with over this case. "Obviously, by this they mean that parenthood gives them some kind of 'right' to violate the children's personal boundaries literally at any time."
“Perhaps the behavior of the house owner in this situation was not that polite, but their reaction turned out to be quite effective, wasn’t it? And the reaction of the author’s dad, who specifically emphasized that he was ready to pay a fine for his wife, once again confirms this.”
“It seems to me that it wouldn't be out of place if the original poster talked to the mother alone, explaining to her the importance of personal boundaries and the inadmissibility of violating them. Perhaps, by doing so, they would open their mom’s eyes to this issue,” Irina assumes.
Most people in the comments to the original post unanimously sided with the author as well, arguing that their mom behaved overly entitled here, and that such a reaction seemed justified. "Your mom and her friend both sound entitled. Using your key to secretly allow someone into your personal space is a violation of your privacy and trust. She deserved the consequences of her action," one of the commenters wrote.
And the commenters sincerely hope that what happened will not affect the relationship between the original poster and their tenant, because it's quite obvious that Sally isn't to blame for anything. "I feel so bad for Sally. Don't kick her out," another person in the comments urged the OP. And what would you do if you were the author of this story?
People in the comments unanimously supported the author, claiming that their mom actually got what she deserved
