Well said. There is no chance that my own husband would be seated at the family dinner table without having a chair available for me, or tolerate his family forcing me to endure the presence of an ex. These people seem rather lowbrow, as if this primitive behavior is the norm for this family. Sitting on his lap wasn't the power play she thought it was. A man who pits his wife against his ex (or allows his mother to do it) isn't worth the effort. All of this is making me cringe with disgust.

I seem to remember family dinners where an extra or two showed up. Everyone rearranged and chairs were acquired by someone other than the new guest. My family can be pretty so-so, but have never been this bad. Have even gone so far to split into two groups at two tables.

A REAL man would have taken his wife and left till the mother showed respect for his wife and stops inviting the ex. Doesn't that loser have her own family to eat with!?!

I don't even think he needed to give up his seat. What I don't get, is if the husband was there first clearly he would have noticed that there was a lack of seats... If I were going somewhere and expecting somebody to join me whether it was my partner or a friend and I saw that there were going to be a lack of seats for them when they arrived, I would make sure that there were enough seats for everybody before then and I would make sure that my partner had a spot next to me rather than my ex having the spot next to me. What kind of hosts don't haul in a chair when they realize there won't be enough for their other guests?