Christmas is an absolutely magical and wonderful occasion when the whole family gathers around a festive table, when various jokes, joyful exclamations, and congratulations sound. It's the evening when everyone is friendly with each other, there is absolutely no place for quarrels and disagreements... except if you went to the homeowners' bathroom and found a box of tampons in a visible place.
“Wait, what was that?” you may ask, and you will be absolutely, one hundred percent right, because even if you were the bearer of the strictest Puritan morality, even in the old days, people came up with a proverb "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." But, unfortunately, what they came up with, it seems, does not apply to all people...
This story recently appeared on the AITA Reddit community, narrated by user u/purplegreencarrot, and has garnered over 16.3K upvotes and around 3.1K different comments to date. Yes, the author of the original post had to deal with this kind of "guestzilla" just before Christmas, and what's more, it turned out to be her potential sister-in-law.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post has been dating her boyfriend for three years and this year they decided to arrange a small Christmas family gathering
Image credits: Josh McGinn (not the actual image)
So, the author of the original post has been dating her boyfriend, "Ian", for three years now, and they live together. On the eve of Christmas, the partners decided to host a small family holiday dinner, and invited Ian's younger brother, "Jake". He, in turn, asked if he could bring his new girlfriend, whom he had been dating for about three months. "Well," thought the hosts, "the more the merrier," and called that woman as well.
Image credits: u/purplegreencarrot
The boyfriend's younger brother invited his new partner as well, and she brought her 8 Y.O. son with her
The girlfriend's name was Naveah, and she seemed to the OP and her partner a bit timid yet lovely. In addition, the hosts were a little surprised that Naveah brought her eight-year-old son with her, which, as the author of the post admits, they had not previously agreed on. However, why shouldn't the boy also attend a festive gathering with his potential future relatives?
Image credits: u/purplegreencarrot
Everything was just fine, up to the moment when Naveah went to the bathroom, and then with literally hysterical screams she burst out of there, holding a box of tampons that OP usually used. No one could understand anything until the woman calmed down a little and was able to clearly explain the reason for her indignation.
Image credits: u/purplegreencarrot
When the likely SIL went to the bathroom, she rushed out of there shrieking over the author's tampon box
As it turned out, Naveah was shocked by the fact that the hosts had tampons in the bathroom in a visible place, where men and children who come to the house could see them there. To the OP's quite logical objections that she needs tampons every month, and it is only natural that they are at maximum availability, the woman did not respond. She only called it all 'disgusting', and the OP herself - 'shameless'.
Image credits: Eric E Castro (not the actual image)
The hostess got indignant and sharply answered that if the guest wasn't happy she could leave and go home. So she did
At this point, the author's patience had already burst, and she stated that if Naveah did not like something, then she could leave and go home where no tampons are present. The woman turned literally red, stood up in utter indignation, dressed her kid, and demanded that Jake take her home. He did so, and did not return for dinner again, but instead called his brother and, in the course of the conversation, called the OP a jerk.
Image credits: u/purplegreencarrot
What angered the Original Poster even more was that Ian agreed with his brother, stating that the OP was being rude and inappropriate, while she was previously sure that her own partner would definitely be on her side. Another family drama almost broke out, but the author wisely reasoned that it not worth a quarrel, and simply drove to her office to cool down, pondering - maybe she really treated her possible SIL too rudely?
Image credits: u/purplegreencarrot
There was absolutely no reason for such drama, an expert is sure
"In any case, Naveah's behavior in this situation looks completely unacceptable," says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, who was asked by Bored Panda to comment on this story. “If she really cares so much about the moral character of her son (which in itself is rather strange, because we do not have a Victorian society of the XIX century, and tampons can be seen in almost any store), but nevertheless, if a mother wanted to make sure that her son would not see them, she could simply not focus on this, and certainly not throw a tantrum about it."
Image credits: Liza Summer (not the actual image)
“Perhaps in the family where Naveah was brought up, personal hygiene was considered something shameful, but even so, she in any case had absolutely no right to tell the hosts what to do and insult them. Perhaps the author of this story answered her a tad sharply, but this could be explained by her surprise at the scandal for such a ridiculous and petty reason," Irina Matveeva believes.
Commenters sided with the author massively, claiming that her guest very much acted like a drama queen
By the way, people in the comments also massively supported the Original Poster, claiming that a stranger came to her house and insulted her while hardly being a member of her family after just three months dating that guy. "If she was genuinely concerned about her child seeing the tampons, then she wouldn't have walked out waving them in the air and screaming," one of the commenters states.
According to some commenters, the OP's probable SIL looks like a drama queen. After all, it wasn't a sex toy or condoms that she saw, and the tampons were not used. "To me this is no different than someone freaking out over seeing a box of toilet paper sitting out in the bathroom," another person in the comments wrote. In any case, this is the OP's house, and her own bathroom, so it was the guest who showed huge disrespect to the hosts in this situation, the commenters are pretty sure.
If you have already made up your mind about who is right and who is wrong in this particular case, then please feel free to express it in the comments below this post. And if you yourself have ever had to deal with something similar, then a good tale in the comments is unlikely to hurt somebody.
Exhausted by family or in-law drama like this one? Visit our Family Dynamics Hub for expert-backed guides on toxic relatives, parenting styles, and personal boundaries.