A man’s family vacation to Venice, Italy, has led to a looming divorce after he abruptly left early due to his mother-in-law using his toothpaste. The incident was revealed through an anonymous Reddit post by a 38-year-old man, who shared the sequence of events that triggered his early departure.
Initially, the vacation was intended to be a romantic getaway for the man, who described himself as the “solo breadwinner” of the family. However, plans changed when his wife’s mother expressed her desire to visit Venice, a place she had always dreamed of seeing. Despite not originally including her in the trip, the couple decided to bring her along.
The couple also brought along their 5-year-old daughter, whom the man assumed would be staying in a separate room with his mother-in-law. However, to his dismay, his wife booked a room with two queen beds instead of two rooms with king beds. “I planned for this to be a romantic getaway, and did not want my daughter in the room with us. We could easily afford two rooms, but my wife wanted to keep an eye on her as well,” he explained.
The situation worsened when the man found his mother-in-law frequently invading his personal space. She consistently used his wife’s expensive products, including face wash, shampoo, and lotion, without asking. This invasion of privacy continued to escalate, with the mother-in-law even searching through his suitcase for a hair tie.
One day, after returning to their hotel from exploring the city, the man was dismayed to find his daughter sitting on the bed with her grandmother, whom he described as “unhygienic.” However, the final straw for him was when he woke up one morning to discover that his mother-in-law had been sharing his toothpaste with him and his wife. He explained, “For the last few days, she’s been sharing the same toothpaste as me and my wife! I don’t like the thought of her putting her toothbrush close to (or even on) the toothpaste nozzle and I was ill the more I thought about it.”
Frustrated, the man confronted his mother-in-law, asking if she was only there to freeload off him and his wife, as she hadn’t contributed to any expenses besides her plane ticket. Despite his repeated polite requests, the situation only worsened, with his mother-in-law getting upset and informing his wife, who then angrily confronted him. Feeling overwhelmed, the man decided to reschedule his flight and returned home early.
In a later update, the man revealed that his wife had been ignoring his calls since the incident, and her mother was now looking into divorce proceedings.