We've been in relationships, and we get that sometimes you may want to say something but it's better to just keep your mouth shut. Even if your comment is well-intended, if it might hurt the other person's feelings for any reason, think about what you learned as a little kid. The old saying "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all" is a good reminder for us all, even for adults.
Well, we all know that doesn't always work, and we sometimes let hurtful things slip. When we do that, we may ignite a fire in our partner that makes them act in a way we aren't used to. Some may call this acting out of malicious compliance. A whole Reddit forum is dedicated to these types of situations, and a woman shared a funny story in the forum about her parents in the early days of their marriage.
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The couple had a loving and respectful relationship.
The original poster explained that her parents had been married for 34 years and had two daughters. During that time, the parents got along great and always spent time building their relationship. But early on in their marriage, her dad made a comment that set her mom off.
She was making dinner for the two of them, and her dad came in and asked about the smell. She told him it was dinner, fully expecting him to say how great it smelled, but that's not what happened.
"My mom thought my dad was going to say how good it smells and was going to be grateful. My dad ends up saying something along the lines of 'ew get that food odor smell out of here.' My mom was confused, but she didn't want to argue and says OK," the OP explained.
But that wasn't the end of the story.
Her mom became a hair passive-aggressive and decided to fling open every window in the house to eliminate the smell. To take it one step further, she decided to take a cooking hiatus and only served leftovers for the next few nights so as not to disturb her husband's olfactory nerves.
"My mom did exactly what he said. She pulled a petty level 1000 on him. He knew he screwed up. He apologized and ever since then, he has never ever complained about food odor. He actually looks forward to the smell of my mom's cooking every time and wants the whole house to smell like her cooking," OP wrote.
Her dad got the hint and apologized. OP said he hasn't said a negative word about her cooking since.
Some Redditors understood where the dad was coming from.
Let's face it, some foods don't smell all that great. Although we aren't sure what she was cooking that night, maybe it was something strong.
"One of my prenuptial conditions was that Cabbage was never going to be cooked in a kitchen where I lived with her. I'll take you out for German food whenever you want – but don't boil cabbage in my house," someone wrote.
Other people had similar experiences.
"My dad was like this. One time he got p—ed because he could smell the bacon I was frying. Bacon! Of all things! I mean, I could understand not wanting to smell collards, but bacon?" the person commented.
Others thought the pair were a good match.
One person wrote, "Their sense of humor has helped keep them loving & strong during rough patches, I can see that from this example. Glad you had such a loving & wonderful upbringing. "
Another Redditor agreed. "Maria was right in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The man is the head of the house but the woman is the neck. The head can't do anything without the neck," the person wrote. "They need each other and respect each other. That is a very healthy relationship and they sound like a great match."
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Sometimes, a bit of malicious compliance isn't so bad.
A lot of families wouldn't function well with this kind of passive aggression, but it seems like it's OK for OP's parents. Despite their differences, they created a loving home and marriage lasting over three decades. We say good for them!
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
