I've been hearing and reading funny examples lately of people using passive aggressive means to get revenge at those who have slighted them, broken rules, or just plain pissed them off. Here's one that was posted by Demetrius Jones Owens on 9/23/09:
In my house growing up text messages, emails, and instant messages were not considered means of communication that were consistent. In saying this, it is to be noted that my mother’s number one communication rule was to either have a face-to-face conversation with the person or call the person to explain what was needed.
So my cousins came to visit during the summer of 2000 and were a lot older than me so they were allowed more freedom and alone time than me since I was only 13. The rules were easy for them to follow and worked well at first with them calling every few hours when they would go out and so my mother became more easy going with them going out.
The problem came one night when they wanted to go to a club that was known to have underage drinking and a lot of fights, so my cousins decide that was where they wanted to go and devised a plan how to go. The night was going fine until my mother called them while they were in the club; obviously not to give away there location they decided to text her that they were out with friends and they would be home later and to please leave door open.
The night continued and they were still out when my mother got the bright idea to not leave the door open since they decided that they would disobey her rules, and subsequently they came home to find the door locked. They called the house phone and cell phones for about 20 minutes straight trying to get in the house but to no avail, and evenly received a text message that said “text messages are not reliable. I am sending this to you at 11pm letting you know we are going to my mothers and will be back in two days, be home by 3am if going”. They looked at their phones it was 5am.
Please leave your own stories of revenge--passive aggressive style.
GROUP 1
ReplyDeleteThis is quite an intense example of passive aggressiveness that I, ashamed
to say, have used on multiple occasions. I once had a friend text me,
asking if she could crash with me one night. She was not known to be the
best person to be relied upon. When I asked her for rides in the past, she
would always come at least 30 minutes late, and on the rare occasions I
would ask her for a favor, she would not follow through with it. She would
later come up with a "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I totally forgot!". I told
her I had to work that night and had to study for an exam, but didn't want
to be rude so added, "But if you really can't find any other place to stay
or any other options, you can stay over." Being the irresponsible person
she is, she told me that it was totally okay and she would stay out of my
way, but, knowing her since middle school, I knew that this was an
impossible feat for her. I told her that I would text her after work so
she would know what I was up to and when she could come over. After work,
I continued to do my work and go about my business until early next
morning. Knowing she was not a morning person, I texted her at 5am the
next morning saying, "I forgot to text you about last night. Sorry!" I
completely understand why she did what she did and being personally
related to these disobedient kids, it was a very restrained thing to do!
I can relate to frustrations with communication via new technologies these days. We actually blocked text messaging because our rules not to text during meals, while studying, while driving, and in the middle of the night were not being followed by our teen. In some ways I'd like to have it back because I think teens will at least read text messages while they often don't answer their phone when parents call.
ReplyDeleteIn another post I told of a mom who drove her son's car away after he spent his entire paycheck on parts to modify the car instead of paying his overdue car payments. While this mom was sitting in the car in the undisclosed location, her cell phone kept ringing. She didn't answer, partly because she didn't want to listen his angry tirade and partly because he consistently didn't answer his cell phone when she called him. Apparently he spent a lot of time in areas where cell coverage was very poor, left his phone in his car or just turned it off! When she finally did answer, she made a few comments about the challenges of using a stick shift - she hadn't stalled it too many times but she did have to change the seat position since she was shorter. He was obsessive compulsive about incompetent people driving his car and his seat position.
I have had a similar experience to that of Demetrius’ cousins’ in the second story. One summer, I was staying at my grandmother’s house. I must have been about 14 or 15 years old. I decided to go out with my cousins for the night, who were also much older than me. I had told my grandmother that I would be home by midnight, but it was well after midnight when I arrived at my grandmother’s house. Unfortunately, I did not have a key to my grandmother’s house so I arrived to find the door locked and my grandmother fast asleep. My grandmother also did not have a phone, living in a rural village in an underdeveloped country. Not wanting to knock loudly at the door and wake my grandmother up, I ended up spending the night at my cousin’s house. I also learned a valuable lesson that evening.
ReplyDeleteOK, here's my best PA revenge story from roughly 20 years ago. My college boyfriend had a habit of cheating over the years, which finally resulted in the end of the relationship. (I got smart!) He had been seeing the last "cheatee" whom he'd been living with for a year or so after I broke it off with him, when I got a call he was going to be in town on business, and would I like to come have dinner and stay the night at the Ritz with him? He had a luxury suite after all, with 2 bedrooms, so there would be nothing untoward, whatsoever, he reassured me. (Yeah, right--I wasn't born yesterday!) So, intending no monkey-business, I packed an overnight bag and agreed to meet him. Had a great, expensive dinner out, then proceeded to go to sleep in my own room (despite his advances). Had to wake up hours before him to get to work, and as I tiptoed around the room in the dark, "conveniently" dropped the very sexy nightie I had brought along for just this purpose. (Didn't even wear it--slept in sweats.) Well, he took the bait. He found it on the floor when he was packing up later that morning to leave and stuffed it in his bag, intending to mail it back to me after he flew home. Well, guess who found it while she was unpacking his bag to do his laundry for him after his trip as he showered? He called to tell me the story . . . he tried his darnedest to explain to her that nothing had happened, but she wouldn't buy it and left him. (Thing is, had I been a willing participant, something WOULD have happened.) I feigned complete innocense to him. After all, he hadn't even seen the nightie 'til he found it on the floor--he had no idea what I'd slept in. Feel like I did her a huge favor, and eeked out my revenge on a cheating louse. Extremely PA behavior on my part, but would I do it again? Heck, yes! (Actually fessed up about 10 years later at a reunion, and he laughed and said he had it coming.)
ReplyDeleteInteresting story. The text message they received said "will be back in two days". Hope this was just a joke by the mother. They were not even her children after all!
ReplyDeleteTimothy Cassar
Webmaster - Cash Advance Loans
Really amusing stories! And very effective too! Most of the time, these "techniques" are more effective than tackling the "problem" head-on.
ReplyDeleteColin (Property Mgr)
Thousand Oaks Property Manager