My MIL wouldn’t stop opening my packages so I got petty and sent her something...UPDATED

My MIL wouldn’t stop opening my packages so I got petty and sent her something...

My MIL has this habit of tearing into every single package that shows up at the house. She doesn’t check the name, doesn’t ask—just runs to the porch and rips them open like she’s in an unboxing video no one asked for.

Lately I’ve been ordering a lot of supplies for a small claims case I’m preparing—binders, page protectors, labels, all with my name clearly on the box. But she already opened one of my big legal-supply boxes and tried to act like it was for my FIL (when the only thing I ordered for him was a tiny padded envelope). She knew exactly what she was doing.

I refused to give her the reaction she wanted—yelling, cursing, so she could play victim. Instead? I got petty. I ordered the biggest, loudest, most intimidating vibrating adult device I could find. Overnight shipping. My name front and center on the box.

Now, I already have a camera installed outside by the front door—not just for package watching, but because I’ve got a gravel pad project going on and I’m suing the original contractor. I don’t need him showing up unannounced, so the camera is there for safety as much as anything else.

The day the “package” was out for delivery, I got the “5 stops away” notification. So I sat by the window and waited. Thump — package hits the porch. Then? Her footsteps. FAST. She bolts to the door, grabs it, and vanishes into her room.

Silence. Fifteen minutes later, I come out to walk my dog… and there it is. The box. Wide open. Sitting on the living room table. No one hiding it. No one mentioning it. Just…sitting there. She hasn’t said a word since. And me? I’ve never known such peace.

NOTE: I’m not the only one she’s treated this way, either. She did the exact same thing to my father‑in‑law’s sister — it got so bad that she ended up leaving in tears and going back to her country. So it’s definitely not just me; it’s a pattern with her.

Here's what people had to say to OP:

SitcomKid411 said:

Love it. I was hoping that you were saying that you did a glitter bomb or something. That would’ve been epic.

Minflick said:

My husband and I lived with them for a year when we relocated. Both MIL and FIL opened our mail, and justified it as coming "to their home." We got a PO Box. THEN they got mad that we’d taken our mail away! They were huffy for weeks about it. Too bad, so sad; problem solved.

Andionthebrink said:

This was EPIC. I would have done the same to my mother...she is a busy body like that too. Does she only do it with Amazon or the mail too?

vbligh said:

Excellent! My mom lived next to me for the final 10 years of her life. If we were gone, she'd pick our packages up for us and stack them neatly on our counter. Once I ordered something for her and told her about it.

When we got home a week later, there it was, unopened, on the counter. I asked her why she didn't open it, and she said, "It was addressed to you, and I have no business opening it up." I miss her so much.

Petal_Calligrapher23 said:

Does she know its illegal to open someone else's post? Threaten her with it. Embarrass her with it in front of others. My mother did this too and l got fed up with it. I worked for PO and before I got the police involved I got a boss to speak with her. She was embarrassed to hell, full on tantrum, stopped speaking to me but she didn't do it again.

Slightlysanemomof5 said:

Can you special order a tee shirt for her to open? World’s nosiest MIL. I’m petty that way. Yours is better though.

moon_ferret said:

In my house we call that an emotional flashbang. And we try to make sure we don’t do it to each other as my 31 year old son and my 20 year old son both still live with us.

The 31 year old is good about warning me that he has something coming that I don’t want to open. Because God knows I have opened packages without looking. But I don’t do it on purpose and I am not an awful person like someone sounds like they are.

That1LoudGirl1989 said:

I did something similar once. My husband and I lived in the converted garage of my in laws for a few years to save up for a house. Then I found out that when we take trips, my in laws would sleep in our bed. I felt so disgusted and disrespected.

My mom taught me no one is supposed to sleep in your marital bed. Like ma’am, I'm with your son in that same bed. Eww. So before our next trip, I left my rabbit on the bed. Didn’t hear a thing on the trip. Came home and everything was exactly how we left it. Satisfaction complete.

UPDATE:

Since my first post, so much has happened that it honestly feels like I’ve been living in a soap opera no one asked me to audition for. Not long after, MIL didn’t get her way with a package and decided to throw a full-blown tantrum outside. That was about the time I realized this saga needed its own subreddit, because clearly this wasn’t going to be a one-time incident.

Then came the infamous letter and the laugh, followed by her treating the security camera like it was her personal stage. Every time that red light blinked, she acted like she was starring in her own reality show. By the time bricks got delivered and she appeared in pajamas muttering at the camera, she had spiraled into what I can only call “surveillance drama mode.”

Things got even weirder when I caught her peeking out the window, so I gave her a little wave. That tiny gesture was enough to send her spiraling again, twisting it into some story about me saying goodbye. Around that time, I handed the old camera account over to my FIL and set up my own fresh one, just to keep the peace.

For a short while, it went quiet on my end. She stopped talking to me completely, but instead started working overtime guilt-tripping my husband. He wasn’t having it though — he shut her down every time.

Meanwhile, real life was piling on. The county first approved our RV pad, then suddenly turned around and said no. All that money and planning felt wasted. As if that wasn’t enough, MIL suggested walling me off from the rest of the house, like building a literal barrier around me would fix her issues.

My FIL told her no, thankfully, but just the fact she even suggested it showed me how far gone she was. At the same time, I ended up in the hospital for my mental health. The stress and constant triggers finally caught up with me, and I had to get back on my meds and reset. I’m not ashamed to say it — it was what I needed to start stabilizing again.

Through it all, my FIL had his “idiot moments,” sure, but he’s also the main reason I haven’t completely lost it living here. At least one person in this house is still on my side. And then came the latest chapter: I went to clean up outside after finding my dog bleeding, and that apparently set her off.

She completely lost it, going full ogre meltdown over me “violating her swamp.” The best part? I actually caught her on camera going full Shrek mode at my dog — like he could understand a single word she was saying. She stood there ranting and waving her arms while my dog just stared at her like, “Lady, I’m literally just existing.”

So that’s where we’re at now. Tantrums, cameras, county setbacks, hospital stays, swamp theatrics, and even my dog getting yelled at like he’s part of the drama. I’m back on my meds, getting steady again, and focusing on the fact this isn’t forever.

Oh, and by the way — remember that wall I said MIL wanted? Yeah…it’s up now. I’m officially closed off from the rest of the house. But honestly? It’s fine. I built myself a tiny kitchen and renovated my room, so now it’s basically a little dorm. My own space, my own rules.