This started out as a simple gesture of kindness. We were at this party and since it ended late, some people (who did not have a car) needed to get home and no one wanted to take public transportation. So one of my friends who has a minivan said that he had room for 2 more people. Now, I know this friend and his wife and two twenty-something kids are a very volatile group, who can start an argument at the drop of a hat, so I said no thanks, I'll call a taxi. However his mother and sister felt that since they are related, they were safe...OK... I said my good-byes and left.
Next morning, the calls started coming in. First the sister: "Oh my Lord!" she says "I'll NEVER take a ride with that group again!" So I asked what happened. So the sister says that the wife was being a backseat driver and next thing you know the driver (my friend) and the wife started screaming at each other and he wasn't paying attention to the road and was swerving all over the place. The sister tells the driver you're going to have an accident, please pull over and cool down. This doesn't sit well with the daughter, who the sister calls a spoiled brat. According to the sister-- the daughter started throwing a full hysterical, screaming tantrum, and my friend, the driver, had to stay parked on the side of the road for an hour until his daughter regained her composure. The sister complained that she didn't get home until 2 o'clock in the morning.
Then the mother called me, and I had to hear her side of the story: I don't EVER want to take a ride with the sister again! I know she's my daughter, but she's a controlling little snob who thinks her word is gospel and she is the only one who's always right. So I asked what happened-- the mother tells me that everything was going fine until the sister started telling the daughter that she was a loser for not getting a high-paying job after graduating from college. And that the sister started pointing out the flaws of everyone in the minivan, naturally this set-off this short-tempered group and everyone was yelling at each other at the top of their lungs. The mother said that even she got into it, telling the sister to shut the ----up. Thank goodness, said the mother, that the driver kept his cool and parked the minivan on the side of the road until everyone calmed down.
Right after hanging up the phone I get the call from the daughter. Oh boy (I tell myself) here's more about this event. Sure enough, the daughter tells me that she never--ever! wants to speak to her aunt again for as long as she lives! Again-- I ask what happened. The daughter tells me that her aunt was being a control freak who kept telling her what to do with her life and putting her down, and that she got very upset and started crying telling the aunt to shut-up. Naturally (said the daughter) her father kept trying to keep calm, but because of the aunt, the driver's wife got involved-- telling the aunt to back-off. This got the driver involved, telling his wife not to insult his sister, then everyone started yelling at each other. Finally the driver said he had enough and parked the minivan on the side of the road--telling all of them that he would stay there until everyone had cooled down. That took about an hour. So I asked the daughter where was her brother during all this commotion, she said he just kept very quiet and told all of them to make believe he wasn't there, he did not want to be dragged into any of this!
As I did not want to take sides with anyone over what really happened and who was at fault, when I called my friend and asked him how was the minivan ride after the party, and he said that-- oh it was fine, I made no mention whatsoever about the drama that had been described to me by the others, being thankful that I made the right call by taking the taxi.
