A few weeks ago, I (19F) came back from college for Christmas break, and of course, my sister (23) and I planned to visit our dad while I was still in town. She’s usually the one who makes the plans to visit him, as she’s the one with the least flexible schedule. I asked her multiple times if we were going back to the family home over my month back, but she always claimed she didn’t know, so I gave up. I didn’t get an invitation until a few days before my flight (for the sixth, and I left the seventh). I declined because of this, and I received a slightly bitchy response about ‘seeing me in two months’, no accountabilty, no nothing. Same old same old, so I ignored it.
She texted me that morning asking if I had changed my mind, and given that my bags were already packed and that it was pretty early in the afternoon, plus she still had to pick something up for our step-moms birthday, I complied. Here’s where the drama starts. I was wearing a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved AC/DC shirt that I had chosen because of the cold. Usually I would’ve thought twice about wearing it, as my dad has several issues with rock bands due to his extreme ‘demonic’ views where they are concerned. He’s become much less confrontational (at least in person), and has cleaned up his act with a playful, even welcoming exterior over the years, so I figured he would just ignore it, given that we are both adults.
Dinner went relatively well, except for a minor argument between me and his wife (around 54) that was quickly shut down. It turns out my shirt hadn’t gone unnoticed, and a couple days later after spending the whole day traveling back to school, I’d gotten a mile-long text from his wife.
First off, she was angry I’d forgotten her birthday. This is a woman in her mid-fifties, by the way. She claimed I’d purposefully refused to acknowledge it when I arrived, which I hadn’t. I’m not very close with this woman, and I’d just been told two hours ago that it was her birthday, and it had just slipped my mind. I’m sorry, but if you’ve had over fifty birthdays before, that’s kind of a crazy thing to be mad at. Especially since later on I happily participated in singing to her.
Second of all, the shirt. You can come to your own conclusions, but she was sure I had worn it just to piss them off. Their views are their own, even if I think they’re ridiculous, and they’re so used to my sister coddling how they feel that whenever I step out of that, they feel threatened.
Then she claimed my intentions were to anger my dad. Just to kind of give you an idea of the conversations, I thought they were pretty tame. We talked about his dad and certain personal beliefs of things going on in his home state (which, I also strayed from insulting), etc. He said a few things about my grandpa that were untrue and I corrected, but otherwise my dads reactions were minimal.
AITA?
So, you knew it was your step mother’s birthday but didn’t wish her a happy birthday when you greeted her?
And you knew your father would be upset with the shirt you were wearing, and you wore it anyway?
Why are you looking for judgement here? Everything you did was done consciously and with awareness of the situation.
You don’t like these people very much, you write about them with distaste and disdain.
Go your own way, sure, but don’t get all surprised when people react negatively to your behaviour.
Judgement is hard. You’re young, and testing the waters of your childhood relationships, fair enough.
NAH.
But show some manners: “Hi! Happy Birthday!” isn’t that hard to say. For that omission, Y T A.
What’s up with all the details that don’t have anything to do with your question
I’d have worn a slayer shirt
A Cannibal Corpse shirt would work too.
Of all the assholes in this story, you are not one of them.
Next time were a Ghost shirt .
https://youtu.be/VqoyKzgkqR4?si=1iFY0jPVI4ADCrwg
NTA.
Your dad is not sane or level when it comes to perfectly resonable things, and not wearing these shirts around him is NOT just about not triggering him, it’s about controlling you. I get it, I was raised by these kinds of people. Sorry he’s a butthead.
Forward the message to your dad without a reply.
NTA.
When people decide your clothing, tone, and existence are intentional acts of provocation, they’ve already written a story where you’re the villain.
1. You didn’t need to wait for your sister to visit your father. You should have made your own arrangements.
2. The tshirt thing is just stupid.
3. Your stepmother appears to be looking for things to argue about. You can’t change her so do your best to ignore her
ESH: they sound insufferable no doubt, but regardless of whether you forgot or not, I’m sure you came off antagonistic af from their perspective.
Tell him it means :Angels Conquer/Demons Cower”.
ESH
So why couldn’t you wish her a happy birthday? We all know you didnt forget.