Answer me this - why do arguments centred around one's family always happen over the smallest things?

This evening, I was in a pretty good mood, having left work for the weekend. I grabbed a change of clothes, slapped on my shoes and headed for my girlfriend's house. Nothing new there and while I knew we were expecting a full house (her dad, brother and his girlfriend had returned from London with a van loaded with gear and that took up most of the driveway, as he can't seem to comprehend how long my car is. Perhaps it's a dominance assertion, who knows?)

All was going swimingly, people had conversations to share and we were all getting on like a house on fire. We'd slapped a film on, as the sky box was broken (again) and we were getting around that little issue. Then the man of the house (present for about 3 days a month on average) decides to get his curry out of the take away box and all hell breaks loose. Why? Because Bex had all of the bowls in the dishwasher at that moment in time. Personally, I'd have thought that was alright, as there were plenty of plates and you can slap the madras and rice onto there and Bob's your mother's brother.

But no.

As her dad launches into a tirade about the fact that all seven bowls are in the dishwasher, I interjected. I was sick of hearing over the various conversations with Bex about how her dad gets when he starts rolling, so I decided to take a bullet for her. After all, there is no point in arguing or losing one's temper over something so trivial as this. We weren't deliberately stopping him from eating, we hadn't purposefully stacked the dishes to one side and all of a sudden decided to throw them in the dishwasher on Friday afternoon as an afterthought. But that's what he thought.

I received the brunt of the attack and even a brief lecture on how members of the house of Islam wouldn't even stoop so low as to insult someone in their own home. I merely retorted, stating that I was "protecting my interests".

Yes, perhaps I did overstep the mark and from my point of view, it's high time that someone did. It worked for the Egyptians, after all :P I just hope that he got the message that I am not a man to be crossed. I wouldn't speak to Bex like that and since he's treating people like adults around here, I'd hope that he wouldn't either.

Sure, I may have stirred up more trouble than it's worth, especially when I've got to go out for drinks tomorrow night with them, to celebrate a family birthday, but if he wishes to play tyrant, then I can show him that this sort of "domestic abuse" will not be tolerated, especially when my nearest and dearest are the victims.

I half expected him to throw me out and I'd have quite easily have walked away, though I would have offered Bex the chance to escape with me at least for a while, until the smoke cleared - possibly in the nearest pub.

I've no idea how I kept my cool there. Especially when I sat there less than six feet from him and listened in as you could hear him metaphorically break his shotgun, remove two smoking cartridges and replace them with two more, before cocking it once more and taking aim. I took it like a man and I'd do it again if I have to.