I get a lot of concerned calls about my car's extended warranty expiring. Never bought the extended warranty! Delete, delete, delete.

"No problem" is fine. "You're welcome" is fine. Any kind of verbal acknowledgment of appreciation is a-ok with me! IMO, grumping that you got a "No problem" when you wanted a "You're welcome" is like complaining you won the lottery, but were paid in nickels when you really wanted dimes, lol.

Never apologize for protecting your child's safety. I've had people argue with me that I'm being overprotective, irrational, and stunting my son's independence because I didn't feel safe leaving him in a parked, running car. I live only a few miles from a major sex-trafficking corridor in Texas. I don't understand why people don't take this crime seriously. I'm so sorry that happened to you and your daughter.

Yes, it really only works for mine because he's just complaining to get a rise out of someone. Even though I call him on his bluff with humor, I'm actually trying to get across to him that people will absolutely take you at your word, so think before you run your mouth. I will let you know when he's 35 or so if I've been successful with this plan!

I have no idea what point you are making by quoting wikipedia's definition and history of the term "negro" in reference to what I wrote.

I only have one child, but once we found Beast Academy, that was it. He was hooked and happy! We dabble with a few other math resources, BA is our main program.

Can you hurry with the Husband book, please? My DH keeps asking if I've seen where his good scissors are and checks the same 2 spots for them, over and over. Surprise! The good scissors still aren't there! When I suggested looking someplace other than the same two spots, he looked at me with all seriousness and said "Why would they be in the garage? They are supposed to be right here *points to the first place he looked*". Okay...but we've already established that they aren't where they are supposed to be, so maybe it's time to look in the places where they shouldn't be? Because that's the whole problem right there: they aren't where they are supposed to be. If they were, we'd have found them by now.

Ha, I was actually thinking of TOG earlier today. Someone gave us TOG a year or so ago, and I just felt so overwhelmed looking at all of it. The lady that gave it to me is kind of intense, and I think maybe I'm way too laid back for something as hefty as TOG. I keep peeking at the Moving Beyond the Page website. I love how orderly and tidy it all seems, but I suspect DS11 would get so bored with it after a few weeks. I'm probably going to just cherry pick a few of the topics that seem interesting to him.

Also, this topic started by OP was about her chiropractor, not a 90 year old person with dementia and who cannot help what comes out of their mouth. "But what about the old people that cannot adapt?!" is a red-herring.

Look on the bright side! She has given you valuable information about herself and likely saved you heartache if you had become friends.

Then maybe they should refrain from making comments about another person's race if they are unsure of how to have a respectful conversation. Most of the "elderly" people walking around the US now lived through the civil rights movement of the 1960s. People have had 50-odd years to figure out how to behave and speak appropriately. This argument of "I'm too old to remember the correct word, but I'm perfectly capable of remembering all the wrong words" is pretty thin. I also don't think we should be in a position of policing how brown-skinned people refer to themselves. If a native person refers to themselves as Indian, that does not extrapolate out that every other native person in North America is a-ok with being called "Indian" and that is the socially correct way to refer to that demographic. Like, I might refer to myself as "being a b!tch" in a conversation with a friend, but that doesn't mean any man overhearing the conversation should assume all women should now be referred to as "b!tches" and act incredulous when told to stop.

Read your update: actually, your boss could fire her for being a b!tch. It would probably fall under insubordination and/or creating a hostile work environment.

It's a really weird comment to make to someone else. It is very much the sort of comment that white people make to other white people when they are testing boundaries to see how the other person feels about black people. We stopped attending a local church homeschool program because the pastor's wife kept making comments about race that were apropros of nothing, but always said with a smile. Lady, I'm not falling for it. I know what you are doing.

I've been calling my son's bluff. Him: "I don't want to blah blah blah blah complain complain gripe" Me: "Ok, don't". (and then I go back to whatever I was doing like I have no cares in the world). Him: "Wait, no, that's not what I meant" Me: "Oh. So what *did* you mean?" Last week, it was complaining that he didn't want to go to the store with me. "Ok, so don't go. Stay home" "No wait, I don't want that either!" *shrug* Well, pick one. Those are the only two choices available! Before that, it was complaining that he had to put his laundry away. "Ok, don't put it away. In fact, we'll just stop wearing clothes and everyone will be naked all the time. No more laundry, ever. It will save a lot of work and water". Him: "No!!! I don't want that!" Well, I guess we're stuck putting laundry away then!

My mom's family is entirely nasty and backstabbing about family "heirlooms". Honestly, I hate taking to her or my 2 uncles, because all they ever do is scream about how they've been done wrong by one or the other of them. They are like toddlers but with bigger bank accounts. I never hear from them unless it's to scream about each other. 😞 My mother threw away all the handmade linens and crocheted tablecloths made by 3-4 generations of women in our family. She had them for years and thought they were worth some cash. Tossed them when she found out they aren't valuable. She has my great grandmother's china. Growing up, she liked to lord it over her brother's heads that she got grandma's Limoge, not them, and would swan around like it was second only to Faberge or something. News flash: There's a lot of Limoge out there and great grandma's china isn't very valuable. Neither is great grandma's flatware, which is the only reason I got it. My mom didn't want it since it wasn't expensive. I'd love to have my great grandma's china but my mom refuses to take my calls or answer my emails now, so there's no way for me to approach her about it. I'd pay her for the china if that is what it takes. I'm guessing she'll probably dump the dishes when she realizes they are not worth much. She may have already thrown them away. My uncle pulled a fast one and got his brother to sign the family home over to his daughter, (my cousin), for free. The house is worth $400k. Uncle A claims the house is only worth $200k tops because it needs so many repairs, so really, he's doing everyone a favor by taking this house off Uncle B's hands. Of course, no independent estimate of repairs needed exists. No one got the house appraised before signing it over. Uncle A keeps banging on about how renovations are going to cost him $200k. Oh yah? Are you putting in gold faucets? This is a 1400 sq ft house on a tiny lot, not a palace on acreage. It's not costing you anywhere NEAR that much, especially since you are doing all the labor yourself. I have no idea how he can look himself in the mirror knowing he just shafted his brother for $400k. I am related to really nasty, sneaky people. 😞

I was able to find friends from elementary school via Facebook. I went to elementary school in the 1970s and had not seen those kids (now adults, lol), since I was 12. Even if the women have married and changed their names, Facebook allows one to enter their maiden name as well as married name, to make it easier for old classmates to connect. Do you know what high school these kids would have *probably* graduated from? What was the name of the high school in town? Even if you did not attend that high school, you can look up the school on classmates.com and see which alumni have registered there. You might find some of your old friends there, or at least, find them listed with their maiden and married names. Then you can start building up more information to further your search. Most of your former classmates would have graduated from the local high school and not moved away. Did any of your friends have a unique name? If you had one friend that had a somewhat distinct name, search for them. Search for anyone you remember from that time at your school that had a unique name! I went to school with a couple of people with very unique names, (can't really forget a girl named Venus, lol). I searched for Ms. Venus, found her, and then was able to look through her friends list to find other names I recognized. Eventually, I built out a web of people and was able to find the "kids" I had been friends with. Basically, you're going to have to be nosy and dig around on people's facebook profiles, lol.

Very long, difficult story to discuss, but here is the short version: my dad's ex wife threatened to make my son disappear as if he "never even existed", and used God as justification for this threat. It's taken 2 years for my blind, incoherent rage to decrease to where I only cry until I vomit when I think about what she said. She then went on to insist I needed to forgive her for her threat because after all, Jesus forgave Judas, so if I *didn't* forgive her, that meant I was saying I was better than Jesus (and she said what she did wasn't nearly as bad as what Judas did), which would mean I was I was a blasphemer, which meant that she was right to be horrid to us in the first place, because she doesn't have to be good to people that go against God. So, if I don't forgive her that meant I and my son deserved to be threatened and it was all our faults anyway. She also liked to rant on about how she prayed about it and God was a-ok with everything she did, but that I was an enemy of hers and thus an enemy of God or something. Yes, I suspect she has NPD.

Preach. (pun intended). This has been my experience every single time. "I can do no wrong because I have Jesus in my heart". Hmm.

Tell her that you are suing her for the $175 and all court fees, but since you are doing it prayerfully, she should understand. /Sarcasm I am sorry you are dealing with this.

Well, I might actually try to make this happen: Making dollhouse miniatures.

There's a lot to unpack with this statement I bolded. I'm trying hard not to derail the OP's thread, but I have to throw out there that woman are victimized because they weren't "raised right". That's not at all how sexism works.

The debate isn't whether or not he's a sexist. It's how to help the OP in a difficult situation.

You can be a bully and also be sexist. The two conditions are not mutually exclusive. The OP wasn't asking us to decide whether or not this man's actions were sexist. She asked for advice on how to handle the situation. I'm going to assume that she is enough of an authority on her own life experiences to know whether or not she is being treated in a sexist manner or not. There's a phrase that I have heard again and again in internet advice forums: "Assume a context of abuse", meaning that if someone tells you "This situation is abusive/toxic/sexist/unhealthy and I need help", don't undermine them; believe them. It costs us nothing to believe them and offer commiseration and advice.

Does it have to be a pattern? Does sexism only count if it happens to multiple women?

Does he enjoy writing stories down? What would happen if instead of thinking of this as a character flaw that must be corrected, you tried reframing it that he is a creative writer that lacks an appropriate outlet for his "stories"? He is still young, and maybe in his mind if something is possible (like finding pee on the seat), it's just as good as probable, which is the same thing as "this totally happened!". If his writing skills are not quite there yet, maybe you could get him a mini tape recorder. Tell him "I know it's fun to make up interesting stories, but we can't make up tall tales about real people. When you have an interesting story in your head, like *insert example of a lie he told*, let's write it down/record it instead so I can listen later". The only other suggestion I have is a consult with a child psychologist.