A late-night request to do the dishes turned into a full-blown family meltdown after one teen delayed helping to take a shower—despite thinking they had the all-clear.

What followed was name-calling, accusations, and some serious emotional fallout.

Read on for the story.

AITA for having a shower when my mum asked me to help with the dishes?

Yesterday, at maybe around 7:20pm, JUST as I was about to go into the shower, like clothes off, shower warmed up, my mum asked me to help with the dishes.

I texted her and I said I was just about to go into the shower, and she text me back, saying to come down after then.

I was going to wash my hair, which takes ages because it’s really thick, so i messaged her and told her i would be maybe 20 – 30 mins, and maybe she could ask my brother, to which she didn’t respond.

Around 15 – 20 mins later, just as I was about to get changed, she messages me and says she is going to take away things I’ve bought with my own money, that she is going to smash things.

Wait…what?

Maybe a bit of context, but she is menopausal, and can get really angry in an instant.

She has always been like this my whole life.

She also drinks every day.

I’m not sure how much, but she drinks at least 4 or 5 full glasses of wine every day, and she starts at around 3pm.

She buys 1 or 2 bottles a day.

As it gets later in the day, and the more she has had to drink she gets more irritated.

She started having a go at my younger brother, when she mixed up something I said (which was that I would be around 20 mins) for him saying it, and then backtracked when he said that wasn’t him.

Then, because I wasn’t dressed yet, I opened the door and shouted down the stairs that I would be down in a minute.

We just went back and forth about how I should have come down, despite her saying I could come down after.

My step dad, who never intervenes when she’s like this, only when he feels like we’ve done something, said he was sick of the shouting, and I just said fine, and slammed the door, which I shouldn’t have done.

Oof.

Something that will be important in a minute, me and my grandma, and my aunt, have a group chat for a show we all watch.

They were in the group chat asking if everyone was watching, and I said I wouldn’t be, and explained what happened.

In no way, did I have a conversation with either of them about it, just that we had a disagreement about the dishes.

This morning, she was fine, as she always is, like it never happened, and we were back to normal, and had a fun conversation.

But as I was helping her today, which was around 7:30pm, and by this time had had a few drinks, she accused me of speaking to my grandma about it to try and get her into trouble?

I said I told her what happened but we didn’t speak about it.

It ended with her calling me an “inconsiderate c***.”

That seems uncalled for.

She came upstairs an hour later on the phone with my grandma.

I’m not sure what the conversation was, but i heard her shout “f*** off” and then she came into my room, and called me a “spiteful b****” for getting my grandma to lie about what we talked about, which I haven’t done.

I assume my grandma said the exact same thing as me, which is what happened.

I know I should have gone down and helped, but I was one foot in the shower, and she said that it was okay to come down after, I’m just not sure if I’m an a****** or not.

AITA?

Most agree: This wasn’t really about the dishes—it was about deeper patterns of anger and control.

This person says Mom is toxic, and that’s that.

This person says menopause is probably not the sole reason.

And this person has some good suggestions.

If a clean body sparks this much drama, it might be time to take a long, hard look at what really needs washing.

Mom needs some serious help.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.