"I covered the knobs in glitter and for the office went a touch further and rigged a little folder of glitter over the door to the office before the in-laws came over," shared the OP.
In one recent anonymous post on Reddit, a woman shared that her mother-in-law tends to snoop around her home, especially her bedroom whenever she comes over. "On one occasion I followed her as she went upstairs (i was going to get something for my child as the bedrooms are upstairs) and she walked past the bathroom on the main floor and up the stairs behind it," the OP shared on the AITA thread.
"She didn’t hear me and I caught her walking straight into my room and rifling through bills on my dresser." When confronted, the woman said that she had lost her way while looking for the bathroom. "She walked right past the one on the main floor and another one in the upstairs hallway to go into our bedroom," the OP shared.
Since that incident, the woman "installed an exterior doorknob that requires a key on our bedroom door and one on the door to our office/spare bedroom." But, despite that, the woman doesn't miss an opportunity to get into the room and it really ticks the OP off. "My husband says that I just get annoyed at this because everything she does drives me crazy and since we’ve put locks on the rooms we don’t want her in, there isn’t really a problem anymore."
Since they only use the keys to the bedroom when the mother-in-law comes over, the woman was unable to find them. But, her husband said they wouldn't need them since he was pretty sure his mom would not try to snoop. However, the woman was not convinced and decided to set a trap to see if she would try to rummage through their personal stuff.
"I covered the knobs in glitter and for the office went a touch further and rigged a little folder of glitter over the door to the office before the in-laws came over. I left it one side unlocked (French doors) and it was set so if you walked in the room you would get covered in glitter."
Sure enough, the mother-in-law wanted to use the toilet and her son showed her the bathroom, but when she came back, she was furious and covered in glitter. "She completely lost it and started screaming at me so I yelled back and now my husband is saying I went too far and I’m the asshole."
People were quick enough to side with the OP, telling her that she was not wrong to do what she did. In fact, they pointed out that the fact that her husband did not establish boundaries with his mother is the bigger issue here.
Apparently, in an edit, OP mentioned that her husband saw the post, and the comments under it have helped him see things from her perspective. She also added that they would soon begin couple's therapy. It really is a sweet gesture, isn't it? Glad something good came out of the whole situation.
References:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/rsnfcq/aita_for_setting_a_glitter_trap_to_catch_my/
Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Tim Robberts
