There is nothing worse than being at a family gathering and having a distant relative pester you about your love life or your career. And it normally happens to the women of the family more than the men. Some have had enough, and as a result, they’re starting to create brochures and pamphlets to hand out to family members at different family events, in order to try and spare themselves those awkward encounters. It’s actually a brilliant idea, and we’re loving the results.
Comedian Mary Beth Barone was one of the first examples that we saw a couple of months ago when she was on a family vacation and had scheduled a date during that time because understandably she didn’t want to hang out with them. She printed them a pamphlet, which answered every question possible that family members might ask her about her outing as a proactive effort to avoid conversations with them.
The ingenious pamphlet had a Frequently Asked Questions section, which was full of Q&As like, “Who is this guy?” (“My friend Sam’s brother.”), “Are you dating?” (“No, we’re just getting to know each other.”), and “What’s the parking situation in Miami?” (I’m not sure but it’s going to be OK.).
Mary Beth’s pamphlet went completely viral and started a new trend among women, as we saw with another woman, Melissa Croce. She came up with a brochure of her own, which she passed out to family while attending her cousin’s wedding.
i jokingly told my coworkers i would make a brochure to hand out to relatives/family friends at my cousin’s wedding but i was too committed to the bit to quit: pic.twitter.com/CcBVe4V47N
— Melissa Croce (@melissacroce) June 15, 2019
She titled it, “So You Haven’t Seen Melissa Croce in Several Years: A Primer.” It had everything that noisy family members would need to know in regards to her job and living in New York under a FAQ section – as well as the very clever “Choose Your Own Adventure” flow chart for the truly bold who dared to ask why she’s still single.
While it may have started out as a joke, Melissa was “too committed to it to quit” so when she realized how great the idea was, she had to follow through. Her brochure came complete with a cover page which featured a picture of Melissa, incase any family members were confused about who she was.
Image Source: Twitter
The job FAQ featured questions like, “What do you do again? Something with books?” For those of us that have jobs that are not so traditional, it’s a question we can probably relate to when family members become condescending in their querying.
Image Source: Twitter
Melissa’s “New York FAQs” section was another one that was great at preemptively neutralizing all judgmental, awkward, or cringe-worthy questions she receives about living in New York.
But the fun wasn’t done yet. Her true masterpiece was the “Why Is Melissa Single?” flowchart.
The top row provides four distinct but completely valid reasons for Melissa being single: she’s busy with work, she doesn’t meet a lot of people and dating apps are hell, it’s just not her priority at the moment, and men are trash.
Image Source: Twitter
With such reasons, she shouldn’t have to further explain herself, however she followed up by including an acceptable versus unacceptable response for each reason – thus creating a flow chart to teach her family how to speak to her. Genius!
The cherry on top was the brochure’s ending which read, “Thanks for coming on this journey!!! Let’s never do it again sometime.”
I need to bring this to my next family reunion.