*sigh*

[wretchedotis]

ok. so i'm a horrible person and accidently left our son's jacket behind at my girlfriends parents. Her and I and my little guy went to her folks place for dinner on my mid-week access. I have a 2 hour window for this access. Its a 40 minute drive from my house.

Being late for his return already (15 mins late to her door), I didn't want to turn around and fetch the thing. At the time I was thinking I'd save myself some grief, as certainly I'd hear about it if I was 40mins to an hour late returning him. In fact, I was thinking that would be just the excuse she needs to call the cops.

So I get to her door with the little one, he's happy to see Mom, and wants to be the one to break the news that his jacket was forgotten. The next thing I know she's raising her voice and I can see where things are going. I beat a hasty retreat to the car, and keep my mouth shut.

I get home...
the OPP call me.
Seems she wants to report me for STEALING my son's jacket.

I get an email...
I'm negligent and she's going to call the cops, CAS, her lawyer, and whoever else she can think of....

When does the drama end?

[billiechic]

WOW all that over a forgotten jacket??

What did the cops say??

[dadtotheend]

What a goof. Calling the cops???????!!!!!!!

Holy Drama Queen Batman.

[wretchedotis]

Originally Posted by billiechic

What did the cops say??

That this was not really a police matter, and that his report would reflect it was a misunderstading and I was fully cooperative.

Which hopefully, is true. To be quite honest I lost my temper on the man. Better him than the ex though...

[standing on the sidelines]

what a case of hitting a fly with a sledgehammer. All that fuss over a forgotten jacket. My god that is taking it to the extreme.

[NoahsDaddy]

You're "negligent" because you forgot a jacket? Wow, that's a new one.

Let her call her lawyer; it's quite obvious that you're dealing with someone who lacks general common sense. If she wants to spend the cost of 10 jackets to involve her lawyer over the fact that you forgot it one night, all the power to her. The irony in this is that I assume you pay child support? How do you "steal" something that you contributed to the purchase of in the first place? On top of that, what were you going to do? Wear it yourself?

There's overreacting and then there's what you've just described.

I suppose she has never left anything behind when she's taken the child somewhere?

[#1StepMom]

I feel your frustration. My husband and I deal with the same type of individual. We have had the police called on us for being 20 minutes late dropping the child off, even after we left 2 voicemail messages (one on her home phone and one on her cell phone) letting her know we were running 15-30min late!

But, she claimed to "never have received the messages" and called the police and tried to file a report against my husband for kidnapping!!!

Thankfully nothing came of the police report.

We also get emails from her about how negligent we are for ridiculous reasons much like forgetting a jacket, or a hat, or mitts. Yet when she fails to pack necessities for the child's weekend visit... and we have to run out to buy a pair of pants and a sweater (because she didn't check the weather forecast and only sent shorts and t-shirts) ...there is no way in h-e-l-l that we can accuse her of being negligent! The one time my husband tried to call her on her actions (or lack thereof) she went to court asking for a restraining order against my husband for "verbally abusing her" and fearing that she may become a victim of physical abuse! (And my husband is not one to ever raise his voice or his hand - but of course, how could she know that if she only knew him for a few hours and was under the influence the entire time, right? *Roll Eyes*)

When dealing with irrational people like that... you need to keep all your communications and interactions as documented as you possibly can, and keep them to a minimum. At least that is what we learned over the years. It has helped keep us from becoming victims of her whimsical intents to cause harm.

Hang in there. Don't dispair.

[strotter1006]

Wow.... that's crazy over a coat.

[CSAngel]

Wow - my ex forgot the kids shoes when he dropped them off at the daycare once. I didn't realize I should have called the police!

[Mess]

I once got a tirade from my ex because she heard from the teacher our son was at school without a hat (January) and how could I be so irresponsible and I'd better straighten up. The email was a full page long.

Turned out she had lost his hat that morning on the bus.