My mother has a unique skill/gift.

My mother has a unique skill/gift. She can make anyone feel like they should immediately and abjectly grovel and apologize for existing. Sometimes she is so good other people will tell the object of her attention they should apologize. It's really impressive. She should have been some kind of lawyer - one of the nasty ones. Or maybe a business executive. She's gotten so good, she doesn't even need to say anything. I mean, of course she says something anyway, but her whole demeanor changes.

And she really needs to stop with the pre-planning everything everyone is supposed to say and do in her head. She is inevitably angered and disappointed. Shockingly, we cannot read her mind. Even if we could, you don't seriously think you get to control everyone else's thoughts, opinions, and behavior?

She's not even messed up in some fun kind of way, like, say, Tennessee Williams' crazy Southern matriarchs. She's just mean. Like, how freaking insecure do you have to be to require such absolute control over everyone and everything? Down to their thoughts and how they express them, their speech and how they speak.

It's absolutely amazing how she has everybody conditioned. Plus, even if she gets her immediate grovelling, her guaranteed scripted follow-up is to not accept the grovelling. Because you can't keep stringing people along with extended apologies and grovelling until you feel better about yourself if you accept the first apology.