Man hides 200 ducks in mom’s house after years of junk gifts; plan hilariously backfires.
"My mother kept donating me junk so I hid 200 ducks in her house"
Amstroid
I'm not sure if this is a petty revenge, or even a revenge due to the outcome, but it started as a way to have some petty revenge to my mother. My mother is notorious for giving me junk. A few examples from last month:
Address stamps with my information on them from when I lived at home, 15 years ago. A dentist appointment card with appointments from 2006. About 30 keys... Just 30 random keys, without knowing where they fit on. USB sticks and memory cards ranging from a few MB to max 2G.
I love my mother and I know she doesn't mean this in a bad way. But I have told her to stop it so many times to no avail. When my father was alive it wasn't as bad, but now I really have to be careful when I or my wife go over, or we get another box of junk to take home.
She is still cleaning up the house since the death, so I understand from where it all comes, but some things are clearly meant for the bin instead of donating it to me. But last month I had really had enough and bought 200 plastic ducks online. When she was on holiday recently, I planned to take my revenge and hid them all over her house.
And by everywhere, I really mean everywhere. Some are very visible, like in the middle of the hall, in her washing machine or on the photo frames. But most are really hidden in places where she won't look directly.
Like in sculptures, between the roots of her plants, between 2 coffee cups, in the pockets of her clean trousers, between her clean folded sheets, on top of the showerhead, basicly in every nook and cranny of the house I could find. They are always hidden at height because she regularly babysits our toddler and I don't want him to be able to swallow them.
You would think that 200 ducks is a lot, but I recently ordered a new bag because there are so many places I can still hide some. The revenge part has "failed" a bit because she loves it. Every times she finds one, she's lauching and we get a photo of the found duck.
Edit:
The "giving junk" thing has been going on ever since I've left my parents house, so around 15 years. Long before the death of my dad last year.
And yes, I have tried everything from refusing it to accepting and throwing away in her bin. It just doesn't click for her, that if she find something, it doesn't mean that I can use it.
She had told me a few times that it is junk that she's giving me 😅. The current situation is that if I don't accept it, she stores it for later (read next visit). Or she takes it with her when she comes over for a visit.
Edit 2: So many people add stuff to my story and think my mother is senile, a hoarder or has problems throwing thing away, but it’s not like that at all. And I don’t want people to think that of my mom lol. She is way too kind for that.
My mother is a healthy 64 years young independent woman, capable of throwing away stuff. She has cleaned up a lot of stuff my dad collected over the years, like books, magazines, clothes and everything that my dad bought double, which we only found out after his passing.
Everything without real sentimental value or 0% usefulness has been thrown in the bin by her. The problem is with stuff that is between 5 and 1% usefulness, like a commentor said. Not the sentimental stuff, we went through that last year, after my dad died. But things that are virtually useless and in most cases are.
Things like appointment cards from 2006, 30 random keys, vacuum bags while she knows we have a Dyson because she bought one herself because she likes our Dyson so much, dried out paint bins, those plastic pots you get when you buy new plants, to name a few others.
Things most people know are junk but she somehow thinks are useful for me. She even said sometimes that it’s junk but might be useful for me. Stuff that, when I point it out, she knows is stupid to give me, like that appointment card from 2006.
And yes, we are helping with clearing the house, whenever we can and she wants our help, obviously. But this is the PettyRevenge Reddit, not the LookAtMeHelpingMyMom, so I like to keep the story relevant to the revenge part.
Here were the top rated comments from readers in response to the OP's post:
Piso-Tincto
Your mother is getting a chuckle every time finds one? Sounds like you brightened up her day to me. How petty becomes wholesome. hahahaha.
Super_Reading2048
Buy bigger ducks your toddler can’t swallow and hide them in low unexpected places. She or your toddler might find them & it is fun either way.
Amstroid
Oooh! I read your comment and bought 50 bigger ducks. And another 50 glow-in-the-dark versions for in the veranda and terras.
Best 30€ spend in a long time 😂
101010-trees
Wholesome and petty. Did not expect that.
lyndzyzas
Our rule in the family is whenever mom gives you something, take it and say thanks. Then check with the other siblings if it’s not just crap. “Hey, anybody want Uncle George’s army mess kit?” Nope? Trash it. This means less junk at mom’s later for us to clear out. She’s happy we took it, everybody wins.
Prof_Exzenter
My wife started doing this to our family. The ducks are tiny, maybe 1cm high, and we find them everywhere. I made a coffee and found one in the coffee jar. There was one in the shampoo bottle. One in a clean pair of socks.
The best part is the rest of the family has joined in, so when one is found it's celebrated, and just means you now have one more duck you can hide somewhere. No one admits to hiding them, but we all know we're all doing it and having great fun while we do.