If That Isn't Shameless Entitlement, Then What the Hell Is It?

Banging her head on the door.

No, no, no. Not again.

Mio was at her breaking point.

As if the stress at work wasn't bad enough, this was many times worse. It was more agonizing than any of her past experiences with terrible employers.

The most painful part was that this wasn't about work; it was a situation that she couldn't simply quit.

The problem was his family.

Their brand of crazy was a potent mix of abuse, manipulation, and intrusion.

The psychological torment was the most agonizing of all, because whenever she tried to bring it up to Sumio, they could easily dismiss her feelings by accusing her of being too sensitive.

Mio just wanted a moment to breathe. Desperate for a few hours of peace to reset herself, she feigned psychical sickness and left work halfway through the day. A day or two was all she needed to recharge.

But there was not a single moment of relief for Mio. She had only traded her workplace stress for the chaos of her own home, making the situation even worse.

She hadn't had a proper rest in years—not since the day she and Sumio moved in together.

She might as well have stayed at her job, even if she was performing badly, because it was still a better option than going home at all.

Unable to recuperate, Mio’s work performance had spiraled downward, a direct result of their intrusion that destroyed her peace.

She had been trying to diversify her work and transition her business to a home office to scale back, but their constant meddling made it impossible.

They not only interfered with her life but also had the audacity to make nasty remarks about her work—something that was truly none of their business.

Trapped in the shithole they had created, Mio could do nothing.

She couldn't count the number of times she had tried to get home for a moment of rest, only for them to barge in, acting as if they owned the place?

Sometimes, they would even bring other people along—not only were they uninvited guests themselves, but they also came with some total strangers.

Their entitlement knew no bounds.

They had an opinion on everything and made relentless demands, as if her home had to be arranged entirely according to their wishes.

Their audacity extended to her pet, with them even insisting it be locked away.

What kind of madness was this? Do people go to another's home and demand the owner lock their children out of sight just because they don't like kids?

This wasn't even their property; Mio had paid for this place!

Mio’s demanding work had imposed a strict weekend routine: a quick breakfast, then work straight through until evening. This made a timely dinner not just a preference, but the one proper meal of her day.

But the family made sure that was impossible.

They would invite themselves over for dinner, only to make Mio and Sumio wait endlessly. On some occasions, they would simply claim they had forgotten when Sumio finally called.

Other times, they would insist that Mio wait for them while they took their own sweet time dining elsewhere, never having had any intention of having a meal together at all.

When Sumio pressed them for an explanation, they simply laughed it off. It was nothing more than a cruel game to make her wait and to starve her for their amusement.

There are days that her desperation to avoid them was so great she couldn't even go home because they had taken over her space again.

She would park on the roadside and sit in her car, waiting for them to leave, often missing dinner in the process.

Photo by Mahdi Bafande on Unsplash

Even when she and Sumio planned a holiday abroad, they would insist on coming along, as if they would follow her to the ends of the earth just to torment her.

Mio tried to tolerate them, but the strain was taking its toll. There were things she refused to back down on, especially when she knew she was right.

But they would put pressure on Sumio, and arguments would escalate into violence. He would lash out at her, and on more than one occasion, he had hit her because of them.

It had been years now, and she was finding it increasingly difficult to go on. Her wellbeing had been systematically eroded, and she was on the edge of a mental breakdown.

Why couldn't these people respect privacy?

Boundaries, boundaries!

Which part of it did they not understand?

©Britt H.

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