(no subject)
One of my "guilty pleasures" is watching tv quiz shows. I love trivia type questions, and actually was a TV quiz champion a few years back; it was a lot of fun, and the prizes were good. The down side of that is that a few times a few members of my family have entered charity trivia nights, and I get snide remarks from other people who think I shouldn't be allowed to enter, and in some cases they have changed the rules to stop us. Well, my reaction is to just walk away; I enjoy the nights, but not enough to put up with all that goes with it, and Robert doesn't enjoy them at all. My father and two of my brothers are fairly good at trivia, but my mother's main contribution is to insist that we MUST change a correct answer to an incorrect answer, because this is something she KNOWS and she's part of the team, so we should let her answer at least one question. On a bad night, she'll do it twice.
A couple of months ago, a charity of which she is a member announced that they were having a trivia night; I vaguely thought about it, but really didn't think about it seriously, because most weekends we are busy with things we MUST do, so I don't want to do things I don't have to do. (Plus I have some issues with this particular group that go back many years to some very vicious things some of them did to a friend of mine-I try to "forgive and forget", but I really prefer to avoid them). My mother talked about it, and MIGHT have said "alright", but I don't think so. I definitely didn't tell her to book or buy tickets or anything like that. And I definitely didn't tell her that Robert would go, because I know he really dislikes this sort of thing.
So this morning, my mother rings and tells me I owe her $50. $50!!! She must be kidding. What for? I ask. She bought us two tickets and they are $25 each and it's on the 20th August. In vain did I tell her that I'm not going. And I can't believe how expensive the tickets are (another reason I know we didn't discuss tickets is that I'd have remembered that they were disgustingly expensive). "But that includes finger food" she says. And when I say "but I can't eat any of that", she insists it won't hurt (Yeah, right mum!) So I'm expected to pay $50 to go to something I don't want to go to, with my husband who hates trivia nights, and it's ok because they serve food we can't eat anyway.
So my options are:
1. Pay the $50, go and resent it, and seethe inwardly, because my mother only hears what she wants to hear, and rides roughshod over anyone else's objections,
2. Pay $25 and go alone, and still resent it (see above), but at least Robert doesn't have to go, OR
3. Dig my heels in, refuse to pay, suggest that she either sell them to someone else (I tried that this morning) or return them, and put up with constant complaints for a few weeks, lots of complaints for the next few months, and occasional complaints over the next few years.
One day, my mother will realise that her children are all adults (even some of her grandchildren are adults), that she isn't entitled to run our lives, and that she should ASK before she goes ahead and commits us to her pet projects. I hope I live that long!!!!!
A couple of months ago, a charity of which she is a member announced that they were having a trivia night; I vaguely thought about it, but really didn't think about it seriously, because most weekends we are busy with things we MUST do, so I don't want to do things I don't have to do. (Plus I have some issues with this particular group that go back many years to some very vicious things some of them did to a friend of mine-I try to "forgive and forget", but I really prefer to avoid them). My mother talked about it, and MIGHT have said "alright", but I don't think so. I definitely didn't tell her to book or buy tickets or anything like that. And I definitely didn't tell her that Robert would go, because I know he really dislikes this sort of thing.
So this morning, my mother rings and tells me I owe her $50. $50!!! She must be kidding. What for? I ask. She bought us two tickets and they are $25 each and it's on the 20th August. In vain did I tell her that I'm not going. And I can't believe how expensive the tickets are (another reason I know we didn't discuss tickets is that I'd have remembered that they were disgustingly expensive). "But that includes finger food" she says. And when I say "but I can't eat any of that", she insists it won't hurt (Yeah, right mum!) So I'm expected to pay $50 to go to something I don't want to go to, with my husband who hates trivia nights, and it's ok because they serve food we can't eat anyway.
So my options are:
1. Pay the $50, go and resent it, and seethe inwardly, because my mother only hears what she wants to hear, and rides roughshod over anyone else's objections,
2. Pay $25 and go alone, and still resent it (see above), but at least Robert doesn't have to go, OR
3. Dig my heels in, refuse to pay, suggest that she either sell them to someone else (I tried that this morning) or return them, and put up with constant complaints for a few weeks, lots of complaints for the next few months, and occasional complaints over the next few years.
One day, my mother will realise that her children are all adults (even some of her grandchildren are adults), that she isn't entitled to run our lives, and that she should ASK before she goes ahead and commits us to her pet projects. I hope I live that long!!!!!