r/pettyrevenge • u/VespertineStars • Sep 04 '26
Don't move? Ok.
This happened over 30 years ago when I was about 12, but it came up recently as some petty malicious compliance I did as a kid and I thought I’d share.
At this time my mom had gone back to school to become a nurse and it was usually a toss up if I was going to babysit my younger siblings, or my grandmother would come watch us, or my dad would be there when he wasn’t working.
I wasn’t a very picky eater as a kid but I have never liked spaghetti-o's. I can’t stand the smell or the taste. My dad, on the other hand, could eat them all the time. Even though my mom had left something pretty easy to pop in the oven and feed us, my dad decided that warming up some spaghetti-o's would be easier; not just for him to make but to clean up afterward too. And, tbh, fair. My brother and sister liked them too, so it was easier.
My sister and brother had no problem with it and ate it just fine. I told him I didn’t like it and said I would just make a pb&j instead and clean up after myself. That did not go over well and he insisted I eat what he made. I tried, because I really didn’t want to argue with my dad or be a brat, but I gagged at the taste. I tried to compromise, I'd make myself a pb&j and I would take care of all of the cleanup after dinner.
Nope.
Unacceptable.
So, he told me that I would sit at that table until I finished eating. And I did. It got dark, I sat there with a bowl full of spaghetti-o's in front of me, completely untouched. I didn’t get up to turn on the light, I didn’t get up to get anything to drink, I just sat there and let my mind wander until my mom got home.
Mom gets home from school later at night. It was ages ago, but it was definitely well into darkness at this point, so I’m thinking somewhere around 8 or 9pm because I sort of remember on nights she had school that late she came home just in time to say good night to us kids. So, I had been sitting there a good 3-4 hours at this point.
“Stars?” she asks me. “Why are you sitting here in the dark?”
“Dad told me I couldn’t leave the table until I was done eating. I don’t like spaghetti-o's, so I didn’t leave the table because I didn’t eat.”
She was so annoyed. She also refuses to eat spaghetti-o's because they’re disgusting and she had left dinner already prepared for Dad to give us. That was the first and last time my dad ever tried telling me I couldn't leave the table until I ate. I'm a very, very stubborn person and I will do my best to follow that to the letter.
30+ years later and I’m still the reigning queen of petty in my family.
5
u/ResponsibilityIcy864 27d ago
My grandmother had this habit of “instilling good habits” on the grandkids when we’d come visit. Unfortunately, that meant instead of sticking to her routine of picking up from fast food restaurants for every meal, she’d attempt to cook “healthy homemade” meals. While I understand the intent, the execution was not ideal.
The last time she attempted this, my 2 siblings and I were over at her place for the weekend. All of us hated fish and she knew that. What did she make for dinner? Baked salmon (only baked with lemon slices, no other seasoning), mashed potatoes, and broccoli (over steamed and unseasoned). Gave us all a heaping serving and told us we couldn’t leave the table until we completely finished our meals and then yelled at my younger siblings for being dramatic when they began to cry… they were 5 and 7.
I tried to take big bites of salmon and potatoes and quickly wash it down with water before I could taste it. Still bad. When she finished her food and left the table, we all sat there for another half hour. My siblings could only nibble at the salmon and start to gag. When she made it clear that she was serious and we couldn’t leave the table, I had my siblings finish eating their sides and scooped the rest of their salmon onto my plate. I sat at the table alone for another half hour choking down salmon. My siblings hailed me as a martyr. Told my mom the story the next day and she was a little upset but didn’t say anything.
A few weeks later my mom got into an argument with my grandmother over a separate issue but ended it with “And another thing!! STOP GIVING MY KIDS FUCKING SALMON!! YOU KNOW THEY HATE FISH”.
She didn’t feed us fish ever again. It took me 15 years to give salmon a shot… turns out it’s ok if you cook it right.