In today’s story, cousins are as close as siblings – and by that I mean they are sometimes mean to each other.

There’s a twist, though, that involves revenge against bullies and a grandmother willing to lay down the law.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

Apparently, I’m Known As The “Queen of Pettiness” To My Family

So, apparently, there’s been a title going around in my family and I’m just now hearing about it.

I learned this from my cousin’s (35m) fiancé (32f) who wanted to meet me at my cousin’s request. He also wanted to tell her the story of what I did to “earn” that title.

I had to laugh because (a) I remembered the story and (b) my title was fairly accurate.

Here. I’ll tell you the story and let you decide.

She has three cousins who would torment her.

I had three cousins in my family that did not like me for me. I was a Class A nerd who loved video games, science fiction, novels, D&D, writing, etc.; Still am, I’m happy to say.

However, my cousins (we’ll call them TeTe, CeCe, and DeDe) were determined to change me and their way of tormenting me.

I’m not going to get into what they did to me but I will say that DeDe was the one I ended up hating and refusing to acknowledge or talk to.

But this story is about me and TeTe.

TeTe gave her a TV antenna but not without a cost.

During the age of antenna TV, I was gifted one on Christmas and TeTe gave me his old antenna so I would stop going into his room.

However, he made it his mission to make me do things for him with the threat of taking it away.

Luckily, I had a plan to stop that, and it became a part of my pettiness.

She had to go to the laundromat with TeTe.

Anyway, I was in middle school and TeTe was going to high school when our washing machine broke down.

So, on Saturday, my grandma instructed us to walk to the laundromat and give us the exact amount for each of our clothes. The laundromat wasn’t far; it was about a ten-minute walk for me (I’m a fast walker).

My grandma wouldn’t let me go alone for two reasons: (1) I didn’t know the way and, (2) more importantly, I lacked street smart.

I’m not kidding. The only way I can go anywhere by myself was if I could recite there without pause. Luckily, I’ve grown over the years but, back then, I was forced to walk with TeTe, who was a nightmare at that age.

TeTe was girl crazy.

He was obsessed with girls and looking cool and would chastise me for not having the same priorities as him.

He would even try to force me to talk to girls with cheesy pick-up lines and then berate me when I refused.

Eventually, he stopped when I embarrassed him in front of his crush, but that didn’t completely stop him. This, however, did.

TeTe refused to carry the laundry bags home.

So, after got done washing and drying our clothes, we put them in our designated black bags before walking home.

However, TeTe would never want to carry his own bag and force me or my brother to carry it.

He would claim that it makes him look uncool when he’s trying to pick up girls and threaten to take his antenna back if I refused.

He would even run away to force me to return and carry them. And the only time he would carry his laundry would be on the last leg of the trip (a few blocks from my grandma’s house).

This happened a few more times until I had enough and spoke to my grandma about it.

She tried to get out of going to the laundromat with TeTe.

I showed her that I could get to the laundromat by myself and wanted to start going there alone.

I made up a reason for wanting to spend more time at the library. That was partially true as Saturday was my “Library Day”; I would spend all day at my city’s library.

But my grandma was a grandma, so she knew there was more to it so she asked me to recite the directions. I couldn’t and she apologized to me and told me to “do what I do”. So, that’s exactly what I did.

This time, she responded differently to TeTe.

The next time we went to the laundromat, TeTe remarked that he overheard me and told me that, if I did that again, he would take my antenna.

This was where I tilted my head and said “Hm”.

When the clothes were done, we packed them and he ordered me to carry them and I said “No”.

I told him that slavery was abolished and I was not put on this earth to stroke his ego.

She didn’t carry the laundry bags home.

He tried to usual tactic of running away to leave me with the clothes. However, this time, I left them.

I even heard the manager calling for me, but I ignored her. (Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I know this was a terrible idea.)

When I got home, TeTe smirked at me until it donned on him that I didn’t have the bag.

He yelled at me to go back, and I told him “No”.

He pointed out that my clothes were there, too.

I told him that I already knew that. I then walked past to get in and said, “Grandma is going to be curious why we came back with no clothes, and you know I’m bad at lying.” (It’s true. I’m a terrible liar.)

She decided to buy a new antenna.

He fumed but went back to the laundromat to retrieve the clothes.

However, when he came back, he did exactly what I thought he would do and took back the antenna.

I shrugged and walked to my grandma.

After reciting the directions, I asked her if I could go to RadioShack and buy a new antenna. She asked me why and I simply shrugged while telling her that TeTe took back his antenna.

She wanted to force TeTe to give it back, but I objected saying that he’s just going to try again later.

She called the cops.

When I came back with the new antenna, TeTe became even more upset and stole it from me while I was at the library.

He laughed and tried to rub it in my face about how I should have just done what he said.

My face went blank and, in front of TeTe, simply walked to the house phone and proceeded to call the cops. (Again, hindsight…)

The cops arrived and TeTe’s face went ghost white while my grandma’s face went beet read.

TeTe finally got called out on everything he did wrong.

I did get admonished by the cops and my grandma for wasting their time.

TeTe, on the other hand, got into so much trouble for many things: forcing me and my brother to carry his stuff, taking back a gift, stealing my stuff, being a bully among other things.

Though I was grounded for a few days for calling the cops (again, I got lucky), TeTe got three weeks of punishment.

TeTe loved to tell the story.

I never spoke about it again as I was done with the situation. However, TeTe was impressed with the fact that I got one over on him without hitting him.

He had stopped picking on me and, though we’re not friends, we’ve become cordial.

He told everybody about it and, when my other two cousins tried to bother me, TeTe had to remind them that I had a flair for pettiness.

They didn’t listen, and I had to teach them their own lesson.

TeTe’s fiancé loved the story.

My TeTe’s fiancé found the story to be hilarious and asked me if I’m still petty.

I told her that I am, but I try not to be malicious about it. It’s meant to make people get the point.

She tells me that I’ve earned the title. We wholeheartedly agree.

It’s impressive that the revenge was so successful that the cousin actually proudly tells the story.

Let’s see how Reddit responded…

This reader thinks TeTe respects her.

Another reader thinks she deserves a second title.

Here’s another title suggestion…

Another reader wants to know how she got revenge on the other cousins.

Her cousin certainly learned not to mess with her ever again!

Sometimes you have to scare them straight.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.