Podcasts

TL;DR at the bottom.

So, for those of whom don’t remember, there was a time where RT Sponsor dues were just $10 every six months. And when you’re thirteen years old, without a source of income aside from the very rare allowance your mom gives you, $10 is a lot of money. I was neck deep in my love of RT content, but I was dying to take it to the next level with Sponsor exclusive content. So, I bartered with my mom to cover the payments in exchange for chores. Hindsight, she probably got the better end of the deal, but I was over the moon. I got that star next to my name, and that was all that mattered.

Cut to a few years later, they’ve upped the cost from $10 every six months to $19.99 every six months. But, people like me who signed up prior to the price change were grandfathered in and were still paying the old price. However, Chelsea did state that if there was a lapse in payment, you’d lose your grandfather status. Easy enough, right?

If only it could’ve lasted forever. But my mom’s debit card expired, and as you could imagine, this lead to a lapse in payment. Obviously, I was distraught. I was a broke college student, my daily lunch was a bag of microwave popcorn and a can of Arizona Iced Tea. I emailed support and begged them for help, but they told me there was nothing they could do. I told my mom what had happened, and how sad I was, but she insisted I should call and ask to be transferred to whomever was in change. That there had to be someone who could change the price back. I called, got to the supervisor, and they told me the same thing: they couldn’t do anything to help me, and that they were sorry for my predicament. I blamed myself, and wallowed in my self-loathing for a few days.

Imagine my surprise when I’m having dinner with my parents, and I’m telling my dad this whole story, when my mom tells me she’s going to straighten it out. The exchange goes like this:

Mom: It’ll be okay, honey. I’m going to fix this.

Me: Wait, what does that mean?

Mom: Don’t worry about it. I’m taking care of it.

Me: I’m very worried now. What are you talking about? What did you do?

Mom: I just emailed support, told them I was your mother, and I wasn’t going to let them treat you like this. You’ve been a loyal customer and fan for too long, you deserve better treatment.

Me: … Please tell me you’re joking.

Mom: I just told them the truth. You’re a good kid. And you shouldn’t be punished for something that was an accident.

Me: I’m not being punished, it’s just their policy. Punishment would be banning me from the site because my mother is harassing their support staff via email.

Mom: Oh it’s not harassment. I was very polite, but I made it clear that I wasn’t going to let you go down without a fight.

Me: Without a fight?! Mom! What did you say?

Here’s something you need to know about my mom: she’s never one to take something lying down. Especially when it comes to her kids. The admin in our schools knew her by name, and knew she wasn’t one to be trifled with. She was like an urban legend. Whenever she felt we weren’t being treated fairly or got in trouble for something that wasn’t our fault, it would only take one phone call before the school was apologizing to her for their “mistake” and hope she would forgive them. I’m pretty sure she was on some sort of call list that immediately routed her to the head of school. Crazy parents wish they could reach my mother’s level. She’s capable of destroying people like a hurricane destroys a city.

So, I knew what it meant when my mom said she was “taking care of it”. It meant she was going to put the fear of god into them. And if they wouldn’t relent, I think she would have got on the first plane to Austin and “taken care of it” in person, which is the nuclear option. Your only choice at that point would be to move out of her way or get rolled over. It’s a terrifying sight.

She showed me the email, and it was everything I feared. It mentioned like ten times that she was my mom, how sad I was, how I cried, how wrong they were, how she wasn’t going to let this happen, they were going to fix this, and how this wasn’t how you treated a child (I WAS IN COLLEGE). Needless to say, I was horribly embarrassed. I needed to leave the country, assume a new identity, get plastic surgery to change my face, then make a new account on the site. The best I could hope for was that her email would go into a junk folder for crazy moms and they would never read it.

I was not so lucky.

A few days later, my mom shows me how she got a response from someone who was at the top of the food chain.

God strike me down, for it was the people’s Queen herself.

Barbara Dunkleman.

Her response to my mother’s unhinged email was nothing short of polite. She apologized for what happened, explained that her team, while growing in size, was still quite small. So they weren’t able to give my case the care it deserved. But reiterated what we heard from four different people at customer service: there was nothing that could be done.

But, Barbara graciously offered a year of free membership to compensate for my “distress”.

I was mortified.

Twelve years I was the girl with the terrifying mom in school, now her terror has spread amongst the RoosterTeeth staff.

If I knew this was how it would end up, I would’ve suffered through the loss of my grandfathered Sponsorship in silence instead of sharing my feelings with my mom.

To be perfectly honest, I actually avoided meeting Barbara at RTX because I was afraid she would remember my name. Realistically, she probably wouldn’t have. She meets so many fans and dealt with so many users on a daily basis, I was probably just a distant memory to her. But I wasn’t willing to take that chance. Go to a signing, introduce myself, then Barbara starts slowly backing away in case my mom is in the area.

And I thought I would take this story to my grave. But with everything that’s happened, and everyone sharing their stories, I thought what the heck.

Barbara, if you’re reading this, please know that I am sorry for my mother. Wish I met you irl at RTX when I had the chance.

TL;DR: Lost my grandfathered sponsor rates due to an expired debit card. My mom decided to intervene when I gave up hope, and sent a SCATHING email to RT support. Barbara herself responded and was very nice and helpful. I’m still embarrassed about this.

Like why do I care

For some back story I F20 am 23 weeks pregnant, my sister f22 is 28 weeks pregnant. My sister was the first person I told because I knew she was pregnant and I wanted her opinion on how to tell my family since it was very unexpected and I was scared. She started asking me early on what my baby names were and I told her that we had 2 girl names picked out and one boy name picked. She then pestered me till I told her, she then told me she thought our top choice for a girl name was cute but told me the other name we had picked out for a girl was ugly because it was the name of a character… The name was Ellis from Greys Anatomy. The boy name she didn’t say anything about, but a few weeks after that she told the family she had a girl name low and behold it was one of the first and middle names I had picked out for a girl. My boyfriend and I were hurt but decided not to say anything because then it would just start drama. Her husband m22 and her had their gender reveal. A few weeks after that and they are having a boy we were relieved to say the least until my BIL told my mom they were going to name their baby Elias. My BIL then continued to tell her that he didn’t even like that name but it wasn’t his choice. I’m upset because it literally sounds like the boy version of Ellis and she had told me that name was stupid. So with our gender reveal coming up we decided not to invite her. My mom and dad both think I’m an asshole for not inviting her. I mean even if I am the asshole it’s tomorrow so oops to late to now right?🤣

Add on: The dad and I both know the gender and have come to a final decision on a name and refuse to tell anyone anything now.

My(22F) sister(25F) had a fiancé(44M) who moved in to our childhood home about a year ago(end of August). He has to be the most vile man I know. He’s loud, unhygienic, and blunt. Their relationship was pretty rocky and once his parents moved away he sort of forced my sister’s hand into letting him move in. About a week later he proposed to her in our backyard. She excitedly asked me to be her maid of honor but I can’t lie I wasn’t exactly excited for her. To be honest, he has been rude to me in the past & commented about my chest once or twice. I was very vocal about the fact that I didn’t want him to move in ever & my sister sneakily moved him in once I went back to college for the fall semester. At least, I go to college so I am not always around him.

Anyway, he had been living in our home for about three months when the incident occurred. For context, the now ex fiancé has IBS & has been known to leave the bathroom quite messy after an attack. Well one day when he was home alone he had eaten fast food & felt an attack coming on. He raced to the bathroom & started using it but then realized there was no toilet paper. Keep in mind that he is a bigger guy with no common sense when it comes to his body & its dimensions. He thought that since he was home alone he would be able to go from one side of the house with his pants down while still having diarrhea. As he was walking he bumped into walls & furniture. He lefts a trail from one side of the house to the next. There was even brown hand prints on the wall. Once he was all finished he proceeded to go to work the night shift like nothing happened. He was completely oblivious as to what he had done.

My poor mom was the first to come home & discover the mess. She had to use Clorox wipes all over the house. She must’ve gone through at least two cans of wipes by the end of it. Afterwards, my sister came home & my mom sat her down & told her what she had found. They then came to the conclusion that my sister should break up with him.

This certainly wasn’t the first time that he had made a mess from his IBS attacks. He later went on to deny that he had gotten feces on the walls & furniture. Once she broke up with him, my mom called me to tell me the news & I was quite happy to be rid of him.

Fast forward to now & my Dad & I were chatting about what had occurred. I was going in on how terrible he was to him. My dad then replied by saying that he always liked him & that he had wished they stayed together despite all the craziness that he put her & my family through. He also said that I was too harsh on him & that I shouldn’t talk so terribly about him. I find it annoying that my dad never had to live with him yet he has such strong opinions on the man. I don’t know how my Dad could feel the way he does even knowing the story of poop gate. So AITAH?