Just had a major blow up with my brother-in-law tonight. My parents and I went down to my sister's tonight for my niece's birthday party. As usual, I mostly kept to myself because I'm not the most social creature.
Anyway, we all sit down for supper and naturally, dinner discussions begin. Our local teacher's union is threatening to strike very soon, a topic my niece brought up. My brother-in-law, who is the type of person who thinks he knows everything but is so stuck up his ass, had an opinion on this. Teachers don't even do anything, he said. And they get summers off. They don't do any work, he said. They say the strike isn't about the money, which he said is bullshit and that's all it's about. They want to be paid more to do less work.
Because I worked in some schools, know many teachers, including my own sister (the other one; the one he's not married to), I had to speak up. I tried defending them with the fact that they have to juggle 30 kids a day, all with their own problems and needing certain approaches to teach them. That at least a third of my sister's students have some sort of special needs or require special guidance. He responded with saying that should be all up to those "idiot" kids, not the teacher. I tried to explain kids with, say, ADHD, but he lumped them in with the rest of the "moron" kids.
At that point, I lost it. I said, "So am I a moron because I have ADHD? Am I an idiot?"
His response was the most hurtful thing someone's said to my face in a long time. He curled his lips dismissively and said, "You don't have ADHD." He said it like he knew everything about me. He's the know-it-all kind of person who has an answer for everything.
I slammed my hands down on the table and said, "That's it. I'm out." And left. It was fortunate my folks and I brought both cars (they had to pick some other people up). We talked about the whole thing when we all got home just a few minutes ago.
Mom and Dad left shortly after me. Before they did, Dad laid into him, defending me and my mental health (and that of kids who have problems in school). Of course, all my brother-in-law did was defend himself. He even had the gall to bring up that the only time I disappointed him was when I didn't take that job he found for me. Which was something he constantly brought up at dinners to the point that I refused to visit anymore (until my nice, bless her heart, convinced me). Even his own mother was red-faced and screaming at him to stop. Dad said my niece disappeared; our guess is she went up to her room to cry.
At this point, it's not going to take hearing he's sorry from his daughter. He'll have to apologize to me IN PERSON before I'll even consider stepping foot in their house again.
I texted my niece, too, apologizing for causing a scene on her birthday. I told her why her dad upset me, but it wasn't fair to her and I'm sorry.
Anyway, we all sit down for supper and naturally, dinner discussions begin. Our local teacher's union is threatening to strike very soon, a topic my niece brought up. My brother-in-law, who is the type of person who thinks he knows everything but is so stuck up his ass, had an opinion on this. Teachers don't even do anything, he said. And they get summers off. They don't do any work, he said. They say the strike isn't about the money, which he said is bullshit and that's all it's about. They want to be paid more to do less work.
Because I worked in some schools, know many teachers, including my own sister (the other one; the one he's not married to), I had to speak up. I tried defending them with the fact that they have to juggle 30 kids a day, all with their own problems and needing certain approaches to teach them. That at least a third of my sister's students have some sort of special needs or require special guidance. He responded with saying that should be all up to those "idiot" kids, not the teacher. I tried to explain kids with, say, ADHD, but he lumped them in with the rest of the "moron" kids.
At that point, I lost it. I said, "So am I a moron because I have ADHD? Am I an idiot?"
His response was the most hurtful thing someone's said to my face in a long time. He curled his lips dismissively and said, "You don't have ADHD." He said it like he knew everything about me. He's the know-it-all kind of person who has an answer for everything.
I slammed my hands down on the table and said, "That's it. I'm out." And left. It was fortunate my folks and I brought both cars (they had to pick some other people up). We talked about the whole thing when we all got home just a few minutes ago.
Mom and Dad left shortly after me. Before they did, Dad laid into him, defending me and my mental health (and that of kids who have problems in school). Of course, all my brother-in-law did was defend himself. He even had the gall to bring up that the only time I disappointed him was when I didn't take that job he found for me. Which was something he constantly brought up at dinners to the point that I refused to visit anymore (until my nice, bless her heart, convinced me). Even his own mother was red-faced and screaming at him to stop. Dad said my niece disappeared; our guess is she went up to her room to cry.
At this point, it's not going to take hearing he's sorry from his daughter. He'll have to apologize to me IN PERSON before I'll even consider stepping foot in their house again.
I texted my niece, too, apologizing for causing a scene on her birthday. I told her why her dad upset me, but it wasn't fair to her and I'm sorry.
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. I'm so sorry.
