History YMMV / NotAlwaysRelated

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation
** The mother in [[https://notalwaysright.com/this-does-not-spark-joy/138818/ this story]]: [[TheDitz Scatterbrained]] [[MyBelovedSmother smother]] whose mind is too far up in the clouds to stop and listen to her grown-up child's wishes (and what they're allergic to), or {{Jerkass}} who knows full well she's using a detergent her kid is allergic to, but just doesn't care [[ItsAllAboutMe because she herself likes it]]? The fact that she put clothing that the submitter was planning to donate back in their drawers in spite of them saying what it was for implies the former.
** [[https://notalwaysright.com/born-again-hypocrite/139306/ The father-in-law becoming a born-again Christian]] and becoming much more abrasive and rude to his family and friends over time. Several commenters question whether the guy's change of attitude might be indicative of a health issue -- like a brain tumor or illness -- and not a case of BeliefMakesYouStupid. Or was he just always an asshole, but his new religion gave him an outlet and "appropriate" targets? Or is he suffering from a self-righteousness addiction?
** The comments in [[https://notalwaysright.com/snow-time-to-slow-down this story]] seem divided over whether the submitter's dad was awesome for navigating out of a state about to get hit by a massive snowstorm (and only just barely keeping ahead of said snowstorm), or if he was just crazy for risking crashing his car and injuring himself and his family in rapidly deteriorating weather conditions just to not end up stranded in a hotel in Wyoming for Christmas (it's mentioned that semis are already losing control and toppling over).
** Is [[https://notalwaysright.com/put-on-all-the-calendars-the-date-he-moves-out/184124/ this cousin]] who frivolously buys things for himself and his family members merely very unwise with his money or are his bizarre spending habits the result of an untreated psychological disorder (especially since he buys his family members the same exact thing over and over again, such as constantly giving one person calendars)?
** The aunt in [[https://notalwaysright.com/is-senior-center-code-for-cult/193471/ this story]], zealously insisting that anyone old enough should be dependent on the services of a senior center, and particularly adamant that they join the one to which she belongs. Is it indeed a cult run by the director she clearly reveres, or is she senile and misinterpreting the words of a well meaning director? Indeed, she may be misinterpreting advice given specifically to her.
*** The [[https://notalwaysright.com/senior-center-is-definitely-code-for-cult/226873/ sequel]] shows that the director does indeed say that every senior 'needs' to join a center, and is in fact pushing for a law that would ''mandate'' it (though given that the director explicitly mentions wanting the law to bring more money into her center, it seems likely that her motives are selfish).
** In [[https://notalwaysright.com/singular-they-traces-back-to-the-1300s-as-it-happens/203022/ this story]], the submitter repeatedly tries to contact their mother to debate about something the mother posted on Facebook, which resulted in the mother trying to burn all bridges with the submitter and their close family (the relation was amended a few times later); it turns out the mother felt harassed. At least one comment points out lack of context about the family's background and past interactions allows a potential interpretation which makes the mother's reaction much more understandable:
--->'''Comment from user Lord Circe:''' [...] Now, was cutting you out of her life an overreaction? Yes, provided that this is honestly the single inciting incident, and not simply the latest in a pattern of you harassing her when she is doing something you think is wrong. You may think that you were trying for a "reasonable discussion", but you ultimately were just hounding her for not engaging with you.
*** Another point of contention among commentators is how the submitter mentioned that their mother was diagnosed with UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome. General consensus is that the submitter blames their mother's behaviour on her diagnosis.
** While no one's defending the Step-Aunt in [[https://notalwaysright.com/auntie-dearest-created-terror-all-on-her-own/224044/ this story]] for dragging the (child at the time) OP around Epcot all day, a lot of people pondered if she was trying to do the "Drink Around The World" challenge, where you get an alcoholic beverage from each "country" showcased at Epcot. Building from this, some wonder if that was her original plan for the day and she was bitter that it was interrupted by the request to take OP to ride the Tower of Terror. (Though many of those same commenters [[StatingTheSimpleSolution point out that]] the Step-Aunt could have taken the OP to the ride, dropped her back at the hotel, and ''then'' gone drinking and everyone would have been happy.)
** In [[https://notalwaysright.com/if-you-cant-act-like-an-adult-about-it-make-your-own-food/265216/ this story]], the submitter's step-father [[HairTriggerTemper blows his stack]] and demands that the staff at a fast food restaurant be fired when they get the family's order wrong three times in a row, with the submitter finding out from a classmate who worked there that the manager ''did'' fire half the staff afterward. The story presents this as [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the step-father getting a bunch of innocent employees at a restaurant fired]] by a BadBoss, but the comments point out that the staff messed up their order ''three'' times, [[JerkassHasAPoint leaving the step-father's complaints completely justified]] (assuming the orders were ''completely'' messed up all three times and the complaints weren't over extremely minor things) and suggesting that the restaurant may have been full of lazy slackers who didn't care about their jobs.
** In [[https://notalwaysright.com/she-lacks-the-bare-necessities-to-be-a-rat/273510/ this story]], the submitter and their mother take in an abandoned hamster. At some point after this, a neighbor comes in and remarks to the mother that she "didn't know [they] kept rats" upon seeing the hamster. The mother, who has a phobia of rats, is immediately driven into a panic attack and isn't placated until the vet reassures her the hamster is still a hamster and did not spontaneously morph into a rat. Commenters questioned the intent behind the friend's rat remark, wondering whether or not it was an InnocentlyInsensitive remark or a comment [[KickTheDog meant to deliberately trigger the mom's phobia]] (it's worth mentioning that the friend in question was the same person who found and brought the abandoned hamster to them in the first place).
** In [[https://notalwaysright.com/same-thing-happened-when-a-spider-crawled-across-my-keyboard/297659/ this story]], the submitter notices that their mother's computer has gone missing. When they ask their sister about it, she responds with "you need to ask Mom" in a serious tone while smiling, and their mother later admits to setting the computer on fire because of a ScreamerPrank that claimed the NSA was spying on her through her computer. Some commenters theorised that the sister may have been behind the pop-up, based on her reaction.

** The mother in [[https://notalwaysright.com/this-does-not-spark-joy/138818/ this story]]: [[TheDitz Scatterbrained]] [[MyBelovedSmother smother]] whose mind is too far up in the clouds to stop and listen to her grown-up child's wishes (and what they're allergic to), or {{Jerkass}} who knows full well she's using a detergent her kid is allergic to, but just doesn't care [[ItsAllAboutMe because she herself likes it]]?

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** The dad in [[https://notalwaysright.com/so-much-for-no-child-left-behind/196126/ this story]]; to make a long story short, the dad concocts an elaborate scheme to avoid taking his daughter (the then-young submitter) on a vacation to Mexico, lying to multiple family members and stealing his daughter's spending money in order to support the ruse, because he was mad at her over her choosing to live with her mother instead of him when he and the submitter's mother divorced and didn't want to pay child support. The story ends with the implication that the dad was EasilyForgiven for the incident, when (as pointed out by the site's commentators, who reacted to the story's ending with almost unanimous disgust) the incident should have been taken as proof that the family needed to cut ties with the dad, who is demonstrated by the story to be willing to lie to multiple family members ([[LiesToChildren including children!]]) to save money.
** Things did, however, get somewhat more complicated in [[https://notalwaysright.com/so-much-for-no-child-left-behind-part-2/209319/ the sequel]]. A few years after the incident, the dad and stepmom divorced, and the mother suspended visitation as she feared the dad's behavior would worsen as a result. Shortly afterward, the daughter did start visiting him after school and he actually acted like a dad for a while, but then he got a new girlfriend who didn't like her, and they end up breaking off contact. Years later, the daughter received a call revealing that he was dying in hospital, and began visiting him at his deathbed; she did end up forgiving him for his past actions -- because, you know, ''dying'' -- but couldn't help pointing out that his girlfriend, who had essentially ditched him at the hospital and left the matter in others' hands, had left him behind, just as he left ''her'' behind all those years earlier.
** The narrator of [[https://notalwaysright.com/more-entertaining-than-the-blob/219870/ this story]]. It is understandable that they're frustrated by her friend's extremely bratty and unpleasant young niece, as well as said niece's mother forcing them and their friends to babysit her child at what was supposed to be an adults-only gathering. However, readers in the comments were put off by the vindictive language and variety of colorful names used to describe the child, including calling her an "asshole", "rotten little crotch goblin", and "spoiled, destructive brat". They also pointed out that the child's bad behavior is likely a result of being badly disciplined (it's noted that once the unpleasant sister lost custody of the child, her behavior got better), which would put her mother more at fault than her in the scenario. Story-wise, it also doesn't help that in the anecdote described, the child doesn't actually ''do'' anything particularly horrible, aside from maybe unpausing a horror movie she wasn't supposed to be watching and then starting to scream and cry, for which the OP calls her a brat.
** The narrator of [[https://notalwaysright.com/we-hope-this-wasnt-memorable-for-either-kid/245061/ this story]]. A family goes to a county fair for the first time since the start of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, only for a {{Jerkass}} grandmother to bodily shove the submitter out of the way as he's trying to board a roller coaster with his four-year-old son and pitch her granddaughter (who is clearly too young for the ride and doesn't want to go on) into the seat beside the son. The end result is that the granddaughter screams and flails through the ride (catching the son on every swing) and afterward the son is so distraught that the family has to go straight home. While obviously nobody in the comments had much sympathy for the grandmother (especially since [[KarmaHoudini she gets away with all of her horrid behavior]]), few had sympathy for the submitter either and said he was just as responsible for the ruined day as she was since he made little effort to put his foot down in front of her and allowed the subsequent roller coaster ride from Hell to happen. Some point out that he could have also called security or taken his son off the cart so they could catch the next ride and be able to ride together as intended.

** While no one's defending the Step-Aunt in [[https://notalwaysright.com/auntie-dearest-created-terror-all-on-her-own/224044/ this story]] for dragging the (child at the time) OP around Epcot all day, a lot of people pondered if she was trying to do the "Drink Around The World" challenge, where you get an alcoholic beverage from each "country" showcased at Epcot. Building from this, some wonder if that was her original plan for the day and she was bitter that it was interrupted by the request to take OP to ride the Tower of Terror. (Though many of those same commenters [[StatingTheSimpleSolution point out that]] the Step-Aunt could have taken the OP to the ride and ''then'' gone drinking after OP got back to the hotel.)

** In [[https://notalwaysright.com/same-thing-happened-when-a-spider-crawled-across-my-keyboard/297659/ this story]], the submitter notices that their mother's computer has gone missing. When they ask their sister about it, she responds with "You need to ask Mom" in a serious tone, while smiling, and their mother later admits to setting the computer on fire because of a ScreamerPrank that claimed the NSA was spying on her through her computer. Some commenters theorised that the sister may have been behind the pop-up, based on her reaction.

** Things did, however, get somewhat more complicated in [[https://notalwaysright.com/so-much-for-no-child-left-behind-part-2/209319/ the sequel]]. A few years after the incident, the dad and stepmom divorced, and the mother suspended visitation as she feared the dad's behavior would worsen as a result. Shortly afterward, the daughter did start visiting him after school and he actually acted like a dad for a while, but then he got a new girlfriend who didn't like her, and they end up breaking off contact. Years later, the daughter received a call revealing that he was dying in hospital, and began visiting him at his deathbed; she did end up forgiving him for his past actions -- because, you know, ''dying'' -- but couldn't help [[KickTheSonOfABitch pointing out]] that his girlfriend, who had essentially ditched him at the hospital and left the matter in others' hands, had left him behind, just as he left ''her'' behind all those years earlier.

* AcceptableTargets: Narcissistic relatives often feature in Related stories, with the comments never having anything nice to say about them.

** [[https://notalwaysright.com/its-a-big-bright-beautiful-world-but-not-for-shrek/198238/ This dry-cleaning business owner]] has an unpleasant customer, who also happens to be their neighbor, and the submitter explained to their young son that the neighbor was Franchise/{{Shrek}} (now living alone, and transformed as a human), to make sure the son stops being afraid of the noisy neighbor. One day, the child asks the neighbor “Hey, Mister Shrek, where are you going? Were you really an ogre?”, and the mortified submitter scolds their son and spanks him "to teach him". The comments are almost unanimously against the submitter. Even the editors seemed to agree that the submitter stepped too far, as they added a ''ContentWarning for abuse'' to the top of the story.

** The narrator of [[https://notalwaysright.com/more-entertaining-than-the-blob/219870/ this story]]. It is understandable that they're frustrated by her friend's extremely bratty and unpleasant young niece, as well as said niece's mother forcing them and their friends to babysit her child at what was supposed to be an adults-only gathering. However, readers in the comments were put off by the vindictive language and variety of colorful names used to describe said child, including calling her an "asshole", "rotten little crotch goblin", and "spoiled, destructive brat". They also pointed out that the child's bad behavior is likely a result of being badly disciplined (it's noted that once the unpleasant sister lost custody of the child, her behavior got better), which would put her mother more at fault than her in the scenario. Story-wise, it also doesn't help that in the anecdote described, the child doesn't actually ''do'' anything particularly horrible, aside from maybe unpausing a horror movie she wasn't supposed to be watching and then starting to scream and cry, for which the OP calls her a brat.

** The narrator of [[https://notalwaysright.com/more-entertaining-than-the-blob/219870/ this story]]. It is understandable that they're frustrated by her friend's unpleasant sister's extremely bratty and unpleasant young child, as well as said sister forcing them and their friends to babysit said child at what was supposed to be an adults-only gathering. However, readers in the comments were put off by the vindictive language and variety of colorful names used to describe said child, including calling her an "asshole", "rotten little crotch goblin", and "spoiled, destructive brat". They also pointed out that the child's bad behavior is likely a result of being badly disciplined (it's noted that once the unpleasant sister lost custody of the child, her behavior got better), which would put her mother more at fault than her in the scenario. Story-wise, it also doesn't help that in the anecdote described, the child doesn't actually ''do'' anything particularly horrible, aside from maybe unpausing a horror movie she wasn't supposed to be watching and then starting to scream and cry, for which the OP calls her a brat.