My mom came over to my apartment while I was at work and decided to “help” by deep cleaning everything as some kind of surprise. I never asked her to touch anything, but she went through my kitchen, my bathroom, even reorganized my closet like she pays my rent. When I walked in, she was smiling, candles lit, acting proud of herself.

Then I saw my couch. Dark blue fabric covered in pink candle wax splattered all over the armrest, hardened and stuck deep into the seams. She tried to say she “accidentally knocked it over” while dusting and that she was going to fix it. Fix it how? Melt it deeper into the fabric? That couch wasn’t cheap, and now it looks like a crime scene because she wanted to play interior designer in my place.