Dear Prudence,
My (25F) partner of five years (29M) was helping me and my parents move a piece of furniture that belonged to my grandmother over to our new home. He thought (correctly) that the mirror on the piece would fit in his trunk if he closed it a few times. My mom got extremely angry even though nothing broke, and has been claiming for days that he doesn’t respect anything (the furniture) and by relation, must not be treating me well in our relationship. He claims he wasn’t being disrespectful because he would have done the same to any piece of furniture, he knew it would fit, and sees no reason to apologize. I know he didn’t have ill intentions, but I don’t know what it will take for my parents to realize this. They really liked him before all this and I don’t know what to do.
—Mirror, Mirror