While stereotypes are rarely positive and good, they are to some extent, even if it’s a little, true, albeit twisted by a dark sense of humor and hyperbolization. And today’s story is a bit of a testament to this.

A Redditor recently shared about an entitled father-in-law who represents the stereotypical reason why most offspring-in-law don’t really like their parents-in-law. But it also serves as a reminder that in-laws are not all-powerful and hence, if they get out of line, like any other person on this planet, karma will rain upon them and hopefully it will be a transformational experience.

More Info: Reddit

Life can be unfair sometimes, like if folks don’t really have a father figure in their lives, or, worse, have one but he’s just no

Image credits: Kindel Media (not the actual photo)

Luckily, they can have a very loving husband like the one in today’s story who proved to his FIL he doesn’t know his son

Image credits: Nicola Barts (not the actual photo)

Image credits: SerenePhoenix89

In the end, there was a huge fallout, but it did put things into perspective and showed hubby who truly loved him

Image credits: Alex Green (not the actual photo)

The story goes that OP, Reddit user u/SerenePhoenix89, and his hubby try their hardest to minimize their time with the father-in-law, hubby’s dad. The reason behind this is that he’s a “cowardly narcissist” who can’t take no for an answer. Besides that, he wasn’t the best of father figures, so you can fill in the blanks. The couple has war stories to tell.

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Anywho, the couple was on their quarterly visit and the husband was super excited to talk about this new job he landed. MIL was all in, but FIL couldn’t keep a conversation longer than two seconds if wasn’t a conversation he wanted to partake in. It started to escalate when FIL kept trying to change the subject and both MIL and hubby snapped, throwing out the Spanish equivalent of shut the full cup. Soon after, they stormed out, leaving OP and FIL awkwardly sitting at the table.

The period of social discomfort was broken by FIL’s accusation that OP ruined his son. He kept it calm, witty, and sarcastic. FIL came back with a “you changed him” and this was the start of his demise. You see, his son was always who he was, just that the dad never took a genuine interest in him. This led to a game of 20 Questions (3, really) that proved just how out-of-touch FIL was. It all spiraled into even more conflict.

To add insult to injury, OP’s parents could’ve answered all of these in a heartbeat. Needless to say, the hubby is now contemplating going no-contact with the dude. And OP can’t blame him.

Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)

The story was hot on the subreddit, and folks applauded OP for his witty comebacks and verbal tactics. The post got 6,400 upvotes with a 97% upvote ratio.

While saying hot dog unironically was met with mostly positive emotions, folks said that everything else with the dad was just plain wrong. A number of comments hoped that this entire experience only means that appropriate social distancing measures will be put in place, as quarterly is a quarter too much.

Others gloomed in the fact that, alas, these sorts of people are out there in the world, and one commenter pointed out the amount of such folk they’ve met are out-of-control disproportionate to the regular population. Even sadder is their experience that, more often than not, these are also the kinds of people most admire at face value.

And yet others related to the situation. Some don’t refer to their dads as fathers at this point, instead opting for more realistic terms like sperm donor. These commenters were also all in favor of OP and his hubby breaking contact with the dad—“FIL won’t be happy but his attention-seeking, narcissistic behind can get over it.”

Image credits: Polina Zimmerman (not the actual photo)

The National Fatherhood Initiative, an organization aimed at researching, providing and educating on all things fatherhood, including programs, resources, and training, claims that there is a fatherly absence crisis in the US right now. Roughly 18.4 million children are without a biological, adoptive or step-father—that’s 1 in 4 kids out there.

Living without a dad is associated with a slew of various risks for the kids. Kids who grew up without a dad are more likely to have behavioral problems, more likely to commit crimes and go to prison, more likely to face abuse and neglect, more likely to abuse alcohol or do drugs, and are at a 4 time greater risk of poverty.

If a dad is involved, however, this means a reverse risk of the above, plus a significantly reduced chance of obesity, teen pregnancy, and suicide. And if you do happen to be living without a dad, take it from @cherdleys, who posted a very heartwarming POV video of a dad who loves you.

And you can spread even more love in the comment section below, because why be bitter about everything if you can make somebody’s day with just one positive remark?

Folks approved of the Redditor’s 20 Questions tactic, with the post garnering 6.4K upvotes

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