So, we went to Knoxville to visit my family and our friend Hannah. The visit with Hannah, Jean and Chris was just fantastic! We played this great card game called Apples to Apples and ended up staying waaaay too late! We really enjoyed our visit and hope to do it again soon!
As for the family, it was disappointing. We didn’t see much of them Saturday but Sunday, my brother calls and asks us to go to his favourite restaurant, Cracker Barrel. Not my first choice, but he chose, so off we go. It’s me, Nick, Mom, Ricky and my niece Denna.
My father generally doesn’t go out with us anymore, he’s reached the point where he’s so completely antisocial that he bitches and moans about every little thing and always ends up ruining the event. Sadly, my brother has taken up the job of Being the Asshole, so now he acts just as evil and stupid when we go out.
Our tab was $41, which is hella cheap for 5 people. When we’re getting ready to pay Ricky asks us to leave the tip, which we usually do. This time, however, we’d stopped at Waffle House at 4:30am on the way back from Hannah’s so we had literally no cash. He tosses down $3, proclaiming that the waitress came by 3 times, so that was sufficient. Keep in mind that my family used to own restaurants, so he knows that $3 is practically stiffing the waitron (which was awesome, btw).
I tell him that $3 is not sufficient and he goes into a tirade about how he “can’t afford” to leave more, blah blah blah (while stuffing about $100 in his wallet). That was the end of my patience. I snatched up the check, went to the front and paid the tab with an $8 tip, which was 20%. No biggie. I get back to the table and my brother is livid that I paid the check and I tell him and my mother, who is aiding and abetting his behaviour, that acting like stupid redneck hicks is simply not acceptable and I refuse to stiff the waitress on their behalf.
Everyone gets up and we head out across the parking lot, where my brother is ranting about me leaving “$20 tips” and such. He also has the nerve to say that we make more money than he does, so we can afford to tip, but he can’t. Which is a total lie. Since when does $80-100k come out to less than $50k? I rant back that if he’s that broke, then he should not be eating out and if he feels that he must feed us whenever we visit, then he can stop that right away. We can feed ourselves, thanks. He then yells “well, why don’t you just stop coming up here?” to which I reply “I have. I only come up here when I have to.”
More accusations were thrown and I said “Gee, Ricky, do you think you could act any MORE like Dad??”. That really pushed him over the edge. He didn’t say another word to me. We got back to my parents’ house and went into our room for a cool down. After an hour or so, I decided to bail and come back here to prepare for the HVAC work rather than hang around there for another day.
My mother, of course, can’t understand why I’d rather leave than waste another 24 hours and is hurt that we’re leaving, but as I told her, it makes more sense to use the time productively rather than hang around there for more drama.
What a fucking waste, my family. They are miserable, bitter, selfish people who resent our happiness and success. I just don’t want to be around them. If that makes me a horrible daughter/sister/aunt, then so be it.
If I do go up for any sort of holiday madness, it will be for a quick overnighter and I’ll not go out in public with them any more. I just can’t stand the way they act!
I stand by my motto: Family is the wart on the ass of humanity!