Woman Says Mother-in-Law Called Her Husband’s Employer ‘for Attention’ 

A woman says her mother-in-law crossed a major line — by phoning her husband’s workplace to ask about tickets for a sporting event.

Sharing her experience on Reddit, the anonymous poster wrote: “I’ve got a plethora of different things my MIL has said or done in the years we’ve been together, but this new one is a doozy.”

Her husband, who works in higher education, has been overwhelmed with preparations for a season-opening sporting event. His mother asked if she could get complimentary tickets and, when he didn’t provide all the details she wanted about parking, she called his office.

“En route from work I get a message from my husband around 6:30 PM: ‘My mom called …. Coach, the AD, the front office, Human Resources, and whoever she could talk to to find out about tickets. She called the dang school wow,’ “ the woman recalled.

When he got home, her husband was embarrassed and admitted he hadn’t confronted his mom. At 46, with more than two decades in his profession, he was still dealing with her overbearing tendencies — something his wife says worsened once they had children.

Since she knew her husband wouldn’t bring it up, the woman decided to step in.

“Wednesday late morning: I called MIL to kindly ask if she had any more questions about Saturday’s game. MIL [innocently] says no, I was able to get answers and figure it out. I ask again to confirm and she starts saying she knows where to park and go to [the] game etc. I then say okay, well [husband] was informed you contacted his employer and was very embarrassed,” she wrote.

Her mother-in-law defended herself, saying she didn’t want to bother her busy son and didn’t think it would be a problem. But the poster believes her motives were less innocent: “Her commentary about [husband] being busy and not getting back to her screams she did it for attention from him, which backfired.”

Now, she’s debating whether to tell her husband about the phone call she had with his mother. “My intention really was to notify her what she did was wrong and he was not okay with it and prevent her from doing it again.”

Other Reddit users urged her to be upfront.

“Let him know, if only so that he’s in the loop and not blindsided when she says or does something later,” one commenter advised. “What he does with the information after that is up to him, but if he decides to take the nuclear option, don’t try to stop him.”

Another added: “Why would you consider NOT telling your husband about the conversation? I think your triangulating communication between him and his mom is a mistake. HE should have made that call. You took away his autonomy by not only speaking for him with his mom, but considering you might not even tell him you did.”