Redditor Weighs Quitting Groceries for Mother-in-Law After Jab

A post on Reddit’s r/WouldIBeTheAhole has drawn more than 5,800 upvotes and over 2,101 comments. In it, a woman asks whether she should keep buying groceries for her mother-in-law after learning her efforts may not be appreciated, according to the Daily Dot.

A year of weekly grocery runs

The writer says her mother-in-law had hip replacement surgery about a year ago and had trouble getting around during recovery. Because the older woman lives only 10 minutes away, the writer decided to pick up her groceries on the way home from work.

She says she did more than shop. She made the list, put the items away in her mother-in-law’s kitchen, and paid about $150 of her own money every week. By her estimate, she has spent more than $7,000 over the past year.

The comment at dinner

The writer says she learned how her help was being described at dinner at her sister-in-law’s house. Her mother-in-law had invited a friend from church, who remarked on how kind it was of the writer to get the groceries. The friend then added that she had been told the writer always buys the store brand, and that her mother-in-law really misses her Boar’s Head.

According to the post, the mother-in-law stayed awkwardly quiet. After dinner, the writer asked her husband whether he knew his mother had been saying such things. She says he played it down and told her not to take it seriously.

That night, the writer texted her mother-in-law to say she knew what had been said to the church friends. The mother-in-law reportedly replied that she meant nothing by it and was only making conversation, since people knew she was not doing her own shopping and asked about her groceries.

The writer says that response offered little comfort. She is now considering stepping back and letting one of her mother-in-law’s own children take over.

What commenters said

Commenters largely supported her stopping. One said her husband should step in if his mother is so ungrateful, and that he could buy the Boar’s Head himself. Another questioned why someone a year past hip surgery still could not get around and wondered how one person could eat $150 of groceries a week. A third suggested she tell her mother-in-law to ask her church group to set up a rotation for buying groceries.

Another commenter shared a similar story about an ex-mother-in-law who did not drive. That commenter said they took her shopping every weekend, then overheard her say she only talked to them because they were her ride, and stopped immediately.

The Daily Dot said it could not independently verify the claims, which rest solely on the author’s account on r/WouldIBeTheAhole.

Source: dailydot.com

Image: PantheraLeo1359531 / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)