Dilemma: What to Do?

[bleujazz3]

Monday evening 5 PM, I'd prepared a nice dinner for my elderly Mom and me. As way of discussion, our conversation involved what went into the meal, how it tasted, how it could be improved, etc.

It was mentioned that it was a high calorie meal, mostly because of the grated cheese and cream that comprised the sauce. As our conversation progressed, I mentioned Eric Clapton's early days as a guitarist, which led to speaking about his days with Cream. It was remarked that "Have you ever wondered how many times people refer to coffee, but seldom think to give a nod to Cream?"

Long story short, after I'd cleaned up the kitchen, ands sent Mom on her way home, I noticed that my fridge door butter compartment was missing an unopened package of cream cheese.

It's now 2:30 AM Tuesday morning. I don't know if Mom took my cream cheese or tossed it, thinking it was past expiration date. I've emailed her asking her about the cream cheese and that if she was having a little fun with me, Mom should 'fess up.

My problem is that if it wasn't Mom, someone else entered my apartment recently and took the cream cheese themselves, and a report will need to be filed with apartment management. Although I love my Mom, I also detest thieves. I said that I was not angry with her, but Mom would be reported to management if she fails to 'fess up.

I also said I was sorry for what will happen if she fails. As much as Mom may think this is just a little intentional prank, the motive behind it is more insidious than I can mention at this time.

I usually don't ask just anyone for advice, but several objective opinions would be welcome. Thanks for reading.

 

[Dave Merrill]

I know I know!

This is a stealth promo for Who Moved My Cheese?, right?

Sorry to derail, but you seem so serious about your potentially missing cream cheese I just had to yuck it up a bit. Seems like there's something much more serious on your mind than the food. I hope it gets cleared up

 

[AtomicJeff]

At 02:30 AM (your time), you need advice from a guitar gear forum on whether or not to report your elderly mother's insidious theft of your cream cheese?

 

[sprint]

Call the cream police

 

[RevDrucifer]

I pissed off my maintenance man last year when he displayed his lack of knowledge of an issue in my apartment, not knowing I run a maintenance department for a campus you can fit 10 of my complexes inside of. Since then, I’ve been highly suspicious of any activity in my apartment when I’m gone. They enter once a month to spray for insects and I never know what day they’re entering.

Since that time, I‘ve noticed things ‘missing‘ from my apartment, often being food items, but a couple other things. And EVERY TIME I go straight to “Maintenance guy is fucking with me” Here’s how that went-

Tupperware of pot- fell between the sections of my couch
Package of chicken breast- fell out of the bag and in the back of my truck. Smelled wonderful.
Bottle of marinade- saw it in the bottom of my trash bag when taking trash out, apparently I used it all
Bottle of vodka- found it next to my couch, probably from friends doing shots
TV remotes- Couch. Duh. I have a huge couch and rarely inspect the whole thing cuz I barely care about TV.
Extra sharp cheddar cheese- found the empty package under my couch
Loaf of bread- Never took it out of the freezer, despite believing I did

Noticing a pattern here?
this

 

[bleujazz3]

I pissed off my maintenance man last year when he displayed his lack of knowledge of an issue in my apartment, not knowing I run a maintenance department for a campus you can fit 10 of my complexes inside of. Since then, I’ve been highly suspicious of any activity in my apartment when I’m gone. They enter once a month to spray for insects and I never know what day they’re entering.

Since that time, I‘ve noticed things ‘missing‘ from my apartment, often being food items, but a couple other things. And EVERY TIME I go straight to “Maintenance guy is fucking with me” Here’s how that went-

Tupperware of pot- fell between the sections of my couch
Package of chicken breast- fell out of the bag and in the back of my truck. Smelled wonderful.
Bottle of marinade- saw it in the bottom of my trash bag when taking trash out, apparently I used it all
Bottle of vodka- found it next to my couch, probably from friends doing shots
TV remotes- Couch. Duh. I have a huge couch and rarely inspect the whole thing cuz I barely care about TV.
Extra sharp cheddar cheese- found the empty package under my couch
Loaf of bread- Never took it out of the freezer, despite believing I did

Noticing a pattern here?
this

As much as I'd like to say you were justified, perhaps a short term memory interspersed with regular male single's apartment behavior was the problem.

And come to think of it now, it may have been my error...perhaps recently had checked the cream cheese's expiration date, and had tossed it, but not noticed the empty spot until yesterday.

I feel badly now...I had felt that Mom was playing on my paranoid fear that someone might have entered my apartment and taken the cheese.

Mom denied taking the cheese (said she had no use for it) and was polite about it. (Her mild reaction tells me she was honest).

Since I've kept a fairly tight ship at home, will need to chalk this up to "cleaning out old fridge leftovers."

Maintenance had replaced a fridge shelf about 3 weeks ago, but the cheese wasn't noticed missing until yesterday. The cheese, had it gone missing, would have been noticed between then and now for sure.

Thanks for being somewhat serious about this...I had thought the worst of Mom playing on my paranoia as a prank. That type of behavior would have been unforgivable, and Mom would have been reported to apartment management for the theft.

Now, instead of paranoia, I've got my forgetfulness to be concerned about.

 

[bleujazz3]

I know I know!

This is a stealth promo for Who Moved My Cheese?, right?

Sorry to derail, but you seem so serious about your potentially missing cream cheese I just had to yuck it up a bit. Seems like there's something much more serious on your mind than the food. I hope it gets cleared up

Nope. Have not read the book. Yes, what was on my mind was Mom's motive for supposedly taking my cream cheese.

At 02:30 AM (your time), you need advice from a guitar gear forum on whether or not to report your elderly mother's insidious theft of your cream cheese?

I know, I didn't have anywhere else to turn...who's gonna call 211 for advice regards missing cheese? I'm really not that weird, but do sometimes feel fearful about outsiders accessing my apartment when I step away for laundry or mailbox...

 

[TG3K]

 

[∞Fractals]

At 02:30 AM (your time), you need advice from a guitar gear forum on whether or not to report your elderly mother's insidious theft of your cream cheese?

 

[RevDrucifer]

Now, instead of paranoia, I've got being human to be concerned about.

FTFY

 

[jellodog]

Here's a possibly related story from 8 years ago.

A guy kept having mysterious post-it notes left in his apartment by an unknown stranger:

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/

And here's the follow up. Turned out he had Carbon Monoxide poisoning:

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34m92h/update_ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/

Check your apartment for high CO levels.

 

[unix-guy]

Here's a possibly related story from 8 years ago.

A guy kept having mysterious post-it notes left in his apartment by an unknown stranger:

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/

And here's the follow up. Turned out he had Carbon Monoxide poisoning:

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34m92h/update_ma_postit_notes_left_in_apartment/

Check your apartment for high CO levels.

Probably better to post URLs directly. Putting them into code blocks doesn't show a link to click.

 

[skolacki]

There’s that jam band The Cream Cheese Incident. Oops my bad I meant The String Cheese Incident. Carry on…

 

[TSJMajesty]

I mentioned Eric Clapton's early days as a guitarist, which led to speaking about his days with Cream. It was remarked that "Have you ever wondered how many times people refer to coffee, but seldom think to give a nod to Cream?"

What, no, "What do coffee and Eric Clapton have in common?" joke?

 

[jellodog]

Probably better to post URLs directly. Putting them into code blocks doesn't show a link to click.

I believe that I know what I'm doing sir!

It was intentional because the XenForo forum code rolls up Reddit links into unusable "Media" links.

Screenshot...



You can't click anything... just a Reddit logo. It's infuriating! This is in Firefox with uBlock disabled (I thought it might be that). Probably tracking protection in the browser, but whatever it is, the result is the same.

So I usually just choose to let the user do the obvious thing and copy and paste the link from a code block. If they can't do that, then all is lost anyway.

 

[bleujazz3]

What, no, "What do coffee and Eric Clapton have in common?" joke?

Yeah. Went over just as well as the "I think I've done my fair share of shoveling snow and mowing lawns" joke.

 

[unix-guy]

I believe that I know what I'm doing sir! View attachment 133759

It was intentional because the XenForo forum code rolls up Reddit links into unusable "Media" links.

Screenshot...

View attachment 133756

You can't click anything... just a Reddit logo. It's infuriating! This is in Firefox with uBlock disabled (I thought it might be that). Probably tracking protection in the browser, but whatever it is, the result is the same.

So I usually just choose to let the user do the obvious thing and copy and paste the link from a code block. If they can't do that, then all is lost anyway.

Interesting... Maybe @iaresee can shed some light on it?

 

[Tonedeaf]

Been watching Raising Hope (hilarious), is your mom anything like Mee Maw?

 

[bleujazz3]

Been watching Raising Hope (hilarious), is your mom anything like Mee Maw?

Wish I could say I subscribe to streaming services, but I don't. My Mom has a sharp mind, and at social gatherings speaks very little and prefers to summarize her experiences in as few words as possible.

I'm the total opposite, and always try to encourage Mom to vocalize more (hang on, scratch my not having a sharp mind, doh!). Mom was an only child growing up, and she picked up a few bad habits regards work vs. talk. Mom passed those habits onto our family when we were young, and I still struggle to help Mom not focus so much about herself. Her speech dynamic has always been a sticking point with me and her, but it's only me and her where the issue seems to be.

IDK, maybe Mom still lapses into her doting matriarch persona to maintain her control; have never quite been able to understand things entirely.

When in a good mood, Mom can be a very nice and polite person, but as soon as the snark begins, Mom is sharpening her claws while trying to maintain a cool head. Mom does well in a medium-sized room of people, but because she wears hearing aids, doesn't always hear conversations at a distance.

Perhaps that's the most significant difference between Mom and I, I was blessed with very good hearing, but a strong imagination, which sometimes causes random associations more often than not. Mom's poor hearing allows her to focus on the person she's speaking to, while filtering out extraneous conversations and noise. Put us in a car together and watch the sparks fly, though. I don't trust her driving and I'm the worst front seat back seat driver. Ask me to drive with Mom, and I last about 25 to 30 minutes, then I'm ready for the rubber room.

 

[bleujazz3]

Wish I could say I subscribe to streaming services, but I don't. My Mom has a sharp mind, and at social gatherings speaks very little and prefers to summarize her experiences in as few words as possible.

I'm the total opposite, and always try to encourage Mom to vocalize more (hang on, scratch my not having a sharp mind, doh!). Mom was an only child growing up, and she picked up a few bad habits regards work vs. talk. Mom passed those habits onto our family when we were young, and I still struggle to help Mom not focus so much about herself. Her speech dynamic has always been a sticking point with me and her, but it's only me and her where the issue seems to be.

IDK, maybe Mom still lapses into her doting matriarch persona to maintain her control; have never quite been able to understand things entirely.

When in a good mood, Mom can be a very nice and polite person, but as soon as the snark begins, Mom is sharpening her claws while trying to maintain a cool head. Mom does well in a medium-sized room of people, but because she wears hearing aids, doesn't always hear conversations at a distance.

Perhaps that's the most significant difference between Mom and I, I was blessed with very good hearing, but a strong imagination, which sometimes causes random associations more often than not. Mom's poor hearing allows her to focus on the person she's speaking to, while filtering out extraneous conversations and noise. Put us in a car together and watch the sparks fly, though. I don't trust her driving and I'm the worst front seat back seat driver. Ask me to drive with Mom, and I last about 25 to 30 minutes, then I'm ready for the rubber room.

Well, I discovered that my closing statement about the rubber room didn't sit that well. While the media may eat this up, the fact is all of this has been tabled many times and is really closed for discussion. My door opens again when I have more important things to say, but for now, my heart tells me its time to recoup and unwind.