Teen daughter does impression of entitled father; he's furious.

'Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!' said someone who was fighting back tears after getting absolutely destroyed by a brutally accurate impression.

No one likes to be made fun of, but sometimes it's a great way to make a more serious point. At least, that was one teenager's thought! But after her show got mixed reviews, she (u/Throwaway61565) came to Reddit to ask:

'AITA (Am I the as*hole) for literally showing my dad how he behaves everyday when he gets home from work?'

My f16 father m46 is the 'breadwinner' while mom is a sahm (stay at home mom). She handles everything around the house like cooking, mopping, washing, laundry, etc.

I'm the oldest and I try to help but really there's only so much I can do while my dad just gets home at the end of the day and literally complains about everything. Like how the carpet isn't clean or how the food is cold.

As a result; I'd have to listen to a huge argument daily between him and mom. It's exhausting but honestly...I think that my dad is in the wrong here. I tried talking to him to get him to see how his behavior is but to no avail.

So what I did was pick a day off for him and pretend to act like him. I put together an outfit that looked like a suit and put black tape over my lips to look like a mustache. at 6pm. I went inside the house. Shouted 'I'M HOME!!' then sat next to him in the living room and started kicking my shoes while complaining about the state of the house at the top of my lungs.

He glanced at me confused asking what I was doing. I ignored him then started yelling about the carpet being dirty, shower not ready, the kids needing to be quiet and so on.

He kept staring while mom and my siblings laughed. My youngest brother kept pointing towards me saying 'this is daddy'. I then proceeded to yell about dinner then berated my mom for not preparing it before time.

My dad stopped me and in a serious tone asked what I was doing. I turned to him and said 'WHAT?! CAN'T A MAN EFFING REST AFTER WORKING LONG HOURS!!' in the most macho voice I could muster. My dad got the hint because this was the common phrase he uses daily.

He went quiet and avoided looking at me. I stopped the act and told him I was trying to show him what he's like everyday when he comes home from work. He said nothing, just went outside and refused to speak to me.

Later he went on about how I 'mocked' and invalidated him. That he does work hard and me doing this was disrespectful and invalidating. Mom said it was funny but also thought I hurt my dad's feelings and I could've gotten the message across some other way instead. AITA (Am I the as*hole)?

What do you think? Did OP take her stunt way too far? Or perhaps was her father not ready to face his own behaviors?

Reddit was totally on OP's side, and they ruled a big NTA (not the as*hole).

mimiuniverse says:

NTA. You held up a mirror to his behavior, and he didn't like what he saw. That's on him. I hope he gets the message.

Neither-Entrance-208 comments:

He didn't even realize he was looking in the mirror until the end. Then all the feelings crashed down hard on him. Hopefully, he'll learn. Good job at figuring out a method that illuminated the situation.

BenevelotCeasar writes:

The fact he went quiet, instead of exploding in anger, to me says there is hope! Like many, MANY dudes his age he struggles to process those emotions, but he recognized he was feeling more embarrassed / hurt than angry it seems.

The key is to understand and withhold judgment, to re center the convo on not just his pain, but everyone’s feeling pain, and moving forward. That’s tough, and you’re a kid, it’s not your responsibility to do it. You would be morally justified to say F off. But I always ask do you wanna win, or be right? Being right often feels hallow. I hope you win!

cschmidtusa says:

I am going to go with NTA. This is GENIUS! He didn't hear your words or your moms words the many times you both told him the issues. Instead, you made him 'watch himself' and people don't like when a mirror is held up to their actions.

As well, you are 16, and it is not your job to help regulate your parents emotions. If your dad feels bad, that is on him. Your other methods fell on deaf ears, this one appeared to hit home. Good for you, OP.

MoonChaser22 adds:

What a lot of people don't seem to get that being a SAHP is it's own job in a way. SAHPs frees up money not spent on childcare (my sister is a SAHM because she would earn less than childcare would cost, so they actually have more net income with her not working) and handle a lot of the household chores allowing the working partner to spend more of their time off relaxing and spending time with the family.

As such, when the working partner clocks off and returns home the SAHP should also 'clock off' and distribution of household tasks should revert back to being an even partnership. The SAHP is your partner, not your maid.

So, there you have it!

This teen may not have 'honored her father' but she definitely did him and the rest of the famliy a favor.