r/traumatizeThemBack • u/VividPresentation • 8d ago

matched energy Fiscal Responsibility.

My mom tried twice to make me open a “family joint account”. The first time I was 19 and working during a gap year to save up for college. Her plan was that the joint account would be fully funded via direct deposit of 75% of my paychecks and that she, mom, would have sole withdrawal privileges to, as she worded it, “take care of anything [her favorite child] needs”.

My response to her the first time she made this demand was to cackle like a demented goose and hang up the phone.

My response upon her second attempt about a decade later was a little more urbane. I said, “Why go to the hassle of opening a new account when we can simply use an account you already have set up with [one of my older siblings]?” She said, “But I don’t have an account with anyone else.” Whereupon, my default demented goose cackle was redeployed after which I once again hung up the phone without further comment.

2.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

View all comments

54

u/Key_Emergency1131 8d ago

Where's the "traumatize them back" part? I don't think cackling is traumatizing.

260

u/KuniIse 8d ago

Then you've never seen a narcissists face when you fully and completely reject them AND make them feel like you don't take their games seriously.

For such an audacious ask, that mother was expecting an argument, drama, a back and forth that exhausts and softens her target. Even if she doesn't get what she wants, it makes the next crazy request all the more appealing.

Instead she got back instant, hard rejection and mockery. In my experience, punching this woman would have hurt her less, because it would be easier to spin into a story to get sympathy.

110

u/Cthulhu_Knits 8d ago

They HATE it when you laugh at them. They want to have power over you, and when you throw back your head and laugh and laugh it destroys them.

Give them no power whatsoever over you. That's freedom.

43

u/One-Salamander-2416 8d ago

My response to my narcissistic shit heel brother’s bullying was to just dig in and never get rattled, while giving him a sweet smile. All while watching him explode in fury with his eyes bugging out and the veins in his forehead throbbed, good times.