Usually when you see a family member have a full-blown temper tantrum, it's a small child. Maybe a niece or a nephew or a grandchild, or one of your own children. As terrible as the tantrums are, little kids can be excused because they haven't learned how to cope with problems yet. But what about when it's a full-grown adult having the full-blown meltdown?
It's shocking how awful the family members in these stories treat those closest around them. In them, curated from Reddit, you will learn about the people that freak out at the smallest things and take it all out on their mothers, fathers, siblings, cousins, and whoever else may be in the way. Maybe your family isn't so crazy after all!
Trashing The House
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“My younger brother, who is 23, was mad that my mother wasn’t home for some reason. So he called her and said he would break one thing every minute until she came home.
She gets home and the house is in shambles, broken dishes everywhere, doors, windows, everything.
Then nothing came of it. She just gave in to his demands, citing that he’s bipolar and can’t control himself. When he was a minor, he was on medication and it was manageable. As an adult, he’s been refusing medication and treatment. He won’t help himself or accept help, but constantly says no one helps him. It’s a losing battle and it takes a toll on the family.
I hope he either wakes up or gets arrested for his antics, nothing else seems to phase him as he gets to rule his domain. He has a 2-year-old daughter with a woman who is about as crazy as him. I love my niece to death and it hurts to see her grow up with parents like that. CPS has been involved, but they actively hide everything going on.
I put 1,800 miles between myself and them two weeks ago.
My best decision ever.”
He Sure Taught Himself!
“I saw my 21 year old cousin toss his computer monitor out a second story window because of a video game, then proceed to cry about tossing a $300 screen out a window.
It was pretty amusing.”
His Uncle Lost It In Front Of His Own Mother
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“My uncle came to visit with his family around Thanksgiving. I had acquired my SCUBA certification and mentioned to my mom that I was going drift diving with a guy I worked with and his girlfriend.
My mother mentions this and my uncle was like, ‘I want to go, too.’ Okay sure, I’ll take care of the arrangements, between the two of us we have an extra set of gear, all you need to bring is your ID and your certification card. His mother, my 70-year-old grandmother PAID for him to come with me.
On the day of the dive, we show up at the dive shop with our gear and he doesn’t bring his certification card. In fact, he insists he doesn’t need to show them anything. Why? Oh because he has been in the Navy since he was 16. They refuse and he begins acting like a 2-year-old who was told they couldn’t have a candy bar at the check-out. He yells, causes a scene, embarrasses me and my co-worker, his girlfriend and his own mother.
The dive shop did not bend under his bellowing and kindly refunded my grandmother her money when he even refused the snorkel package instead of the dive. It was terrible to watch a man in his 50’s act like that in front of his 70-year-old mother, who was so astounded by the scene that she didn’t know how to react.
The rest of the visit was awkward. My grandmother went home immediately after the BBQ and didn’t speak to her son for almost four months until he apologized to me. I wish it was satisfying, but it killed me to see how much it angered and upset my grandmother that her own son could act like such an idiot.
Honestly, he had never been such a diva up until he married his wife. Now, anytime he doesn’t get things his way he pouts and acts like a child. He was my favorite uncle but he changed so much that he’s just not the same man I grew up admiring.”
The Entitled Brat
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“My boyfriend has an 18-year-old niece who has never even once in her life been disciplined. She throws other people’s phones when she gets mad and yells at everyone and no one stands up to her.
A few months ago, she was out for dinner with the whole family and screamed at her mother for not grabbing her phone charger before they left and her battery was almost dead. My boyfriend told her to consider acting like a human and socialize. She told him to shut up. He snatched her phone out of her hand, yelled at her to apologize, and she cried and asked her mom to defend her. Her mom begged him for the phone back.
This mother still literally cuts her daughter’s food, no kidding. And if she doesn’t, the daughter screams at the mother. No, there’s nothing wrong with her, she just knows how to manipulate her mother. When she was a young kid, her mom would pump full of meds she didn’t need so she’d be quiet and the mom didn’t have to deal with her. Boy, there’s so much wrong with her parenting, I could fill a whole book with it
This niece has repeatedly ruined Thanksgiving and Christmas by screaming and crying because we wouldn’t watch her play video games. Literally at like 16/17 years old.
She went to all girls Catholic schools and she made her mom and her aunt do her homework. She refuses to go to college or get a job. She literally screamed at her grandmother when she asked her if she’s found a job yet.
She needs a serious reality check.”
She Turned On Her Cousin On A Dime
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“I have cancer and have been fighting it for over a year now. I don’t have a lot of family, most have passed away due to cancer-related issues and my so called ‘friends’ decided it would be better to just talk to me when I was all better.
I have this one family member that said she would take me to chemo and radiation, doctor appointments, and help around the house until I got better. I’ve tried to keep everything to a minimum so not to overwhelm her or myself, really. At my third radiation treatment, she seemed to be in a bad mood so I was walking on eggshells trying not to make anything worse. It worked great until I asked if she would get cold water in my Yeti.
In front of my doctor and everyone else waiting to have treatment, she stands up and begins to tell me how selfish I am, how I couldn’t go a single day without asking her for something, and how she only offered to be nice and she has a life, too. Then she goes on about how tired she is, how her back hurts from sitting around waiting for me, and that I could think of her for once through all this and how hard it is on her.
Then she let me know she would be in the car, and I should figure out how to get there on my own, even though I’m having a hard time walking, and if I’m not there by a certain time, I’ll need to figure out how to get home, too.
I ended up missing the rest of the week of radiation because I was afraid to ask for anything. Now I’m paying someone to take me, which sucks because I can’t really afford it but it’s way better than going through that ever again.”
All Over A Hairbrush
“My 24-year-old sister couldn’t find her hairbrush, so she completely thrashed the house, accused everyone of stealing her hairbrush, said she couldn’t use anyone else’s because she has lice which no one knew she had. She almost broke my Grandma’s antique piano, she broke glass on the floor, called my dad inappropriate slurs, called my mom a really terrible word I don’t want to repeat, even though my mom wasn’t even home and had nothing to do with it.
I found her brush in the corner of her room and laughed over how extreme she acted while everyone else was still getting over witnessing a 24-year-old grown adult destroy the house and scream slurs at the top of her lungs.”
Crazy In-Laws
“I didn’t witness it, but pretty much everything my sister-in-law (31) does.
She threw a screaming tantrum where she locked herself in the bathroom when her mom announced she was getting remarried. I could understand that from a like a, I don’t know, 6-year-old? She was 24!
She literally drove a wedge and destroyed that marriage, then took her mom’s house. My mother-in-law now lives in a dog kennel. It’s really sad but we’ve stopped giving a darn because it’s her self-imposed martyrdom.
More recently, my aunt-in law threw a tantrum via company wide email about some silly thing, then yelled at me even though I have jack to do with any of it.
I swear the women in my husband’s family are completely insane.”
Black Friday Meltdown
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“My ex girlfriend and I went to the mall on Black Friday weekend with some family and friends, just casually browsing and seeing what weekend deals they had. I can’t remember which store, but there was a special on this winter coat that my ex wanted and she flagged an employee down for her size. The employee informed her they were completely sold out and would be able to search another store for her.
In the first part of the tantrum that formed from being told it was sold out, she kept insisting they check, which they did. Refusing to hear them out, she flips out and starts aggressively asking every other employee in the store. They’re all stunned at how unreasonable she is being and then her mother finally steps in and tells her to relax. She starts going off on her mother and yelling at her to shut up and how she’s not leaving until she gets the coat.
Her mother literally had to pull her out of the store and demands we all go home immediately. The mother makes a B line to the car and my ex ran behind her and snatched the keys from her hand. She started to yell how we’re going nowhere until she gets the coat. Mom goes straight for her and they start wrestling in front of the Central mall area.
I’m standing on the sidelines slowly fading into the crowd as everyone starts recording. I knew from there I wouldn’t stay with her and that she had some serious issues to work out. At the time, she must’ve been about 24.
I still cringe at the thought of this memory ’til this day.”
Dad’s Friend Is A Jerk
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“A friend of my dad wanted me to come over and fix his PC. I didn’t have anything else going on that day so I stopped by and took a look. The power supply had died so I explained that if he’d buy a new power supply I could install it for him and all would be fine.
Well his response was, ‘Nah, hardware’s fine, it’s a Windows problem.’ We went back and forth for a while with me explaining it was a hardware issue and him refusing to accept that any physical part of the machine could be broken until eventually he just shouted, ‘WELL FINE THEN! THIS MUST BE USELESS SINCE YOU WON’T FIX IT,’ and picked up the tower and threw it out the window of the second floor of his house directly into his swimming pool.
I left promptly after that and was asked a few weeks later to help him pick out a new PC by my father. I, as promptly as I left before, told my father he’s crazy if he thinks I’d ever help that jerk again.”
First She Steals, Then She Freaks Out
“My girlfriend’s sister.
We were in the process of moving into a new apartment and while her and my girlfriend’s mom were visiting, her sister stole my girlfriend’s laptop. My girlfriend noticed that it was missing that night and we called her mother the next morning to ask about it.
She said my girlfriend’s sister had brought home a new laptop but she didn’t know where she got it from. I went over to their house and sure enough it was my girlfriend’s laptop. It was the same brand and model, it had an SD card stuck in the card slot like my girlfriend’s laptop, it had the same background and password. When I confirmed that it was my girlfriend’s and started to walk out, her sister completely lost her mind.
She started throwing stuff, screaming at her mother and me at the top of her lungs while we were trying to calm her down. I eventually had to just take her mom with me until she calmed down.
She supposedly used to steal stuff from my girlfriend all of the time when they lived together, and when my girlfriend and I moved in together it happened literally the one time she was over.
She was 32 when this happened. She never explained why. Classic klepto. She hasn’t been able to get a job for years because she has two separate shoplifting incidents on her record. She just steals stuff and acts like it is owed to her.”