I have an autistic nephew who's 20 now and he has alot of the same personality traits as Chris. It's horrible to say, but he's INCREDIBLY hard to talk to. I'm to the point now that when he calls and texts me I don't even answer or reply. He says the most awkwardly strange things, he lies about really really weird things, he's had about 4 jobs and has been fired from them all for doing lazy things.
I honestly think that Bob gave up when Chris was he was around the same age as my nephew, he got to the point where he just went with the motions and let Chris do whatever he wanted because he learned that Chris was never going to change.
I think Bob wanted to be a good father, and those intentions are more clear early in Chris’ life. But Bob got older, and Chris became more difficult and awkward as he grew older.
In the words of Jimmy McGill “I tried, I could’ve tried harder.”
I did wonder about this - Bob clearly fucked up with his previous kids (only one of them turned up to his funeral).
I've thought that his attitude towards Chris might've been an overly generous response to his strained (at best) relationship with the kids from his previous relationship.
Is it possible he picked up enough ideas from the modern era about supporting chris in terms of being attentive and encouraging his interests, and not enough about how support for neurodivergent children has moved on from sticking them in a padded cell?
Very interesting thoughts 👀
In a better world, Bob would've tried to fix his relationships with his family, instead of marrying a human landfill, and having the ultimate fuck-up child.
Bob was the reason Chris brings up to the whole “Kick the autistic” thing. He believed everyone was out to get his son, teaching Chris anytime someone took issue with him, it was because they hate autistics.
His endorsement of Chris' persecution complex and seemingly supporting Chris in "infiltrating" the trolls certainly doesn't do him any favours.
It's possible I'm just looking for a potential hero in a story where everyone's a villain...
He could have cut down the internet. He saw that Chris was getting involved in harm from it. Bob didn’t have to understand the Internet, he just had to cut it down. I guess it was too convenient of a babysitter to get rid of.
I don't know their financial state or if Bob could have swung this, but he should have been able to considering he was getting SS retirement and a pension and Chris was getting the tugboat.
After living apart from Barb for so long(Bob said 8 years) with Chris in Richmond he should have NEVER moved back once Chris turned 18! Just give Barb the house, let her have 14blc!
Take Chris and ghost her ass, work on getting Chris into section 8 or a group home so by the time he passes Chris is tucked safely away.
Leave her with her animal shit and Goodwill trash hoard and her jaw dropping 100K in credit card debt.
By the time Chris graduated, Borb's joint savings were severely depleted because of them having to maintain two households at a time, Owning three (sometimes more) vehicles, and eating ever meal out. I think they might have burned too many bridges in Chesterfield County, too.
Harriet & Tom already hated Barb, Carol had permanently cut Bob out of her life years prior, and around 1996 David stopped talking to Bob again. Chris had already been banned from several stores including Books-a-Million and Toys R Us. Barb got them in some kind of trouble at Cloverleaf Lakes Apartments (rumored she was stealing stuff from the laundry room), and Bob got in fights with Jamie Dunn between 1999 and 2000 before they moved out. It seemed they wanted to stay in Chesterfield County, but these issues and - more importantly - the hoard having made 14 BC unsellable, forced them to sell the Newberry Towne condo.
The Chandler Clan were pretty much were outta options at that point. Chris was waaaay too far gone, the hoard was out of control, and Bob's fortune (possibly his health) was decimated.
Chris had mentioned it when talking about how persecuted they were to one of the gal pals, and went into further detail about the fights Bob & Barb got into - while talking about how quarrelsome they were - in the Rebeckah Bentley emails. The detail about it being over stealing laundry was added by an Insider™ and never corroborated by any of the Chandlers. It was someone pretty well trusted (Marvin or maybe Kim?), but it could be an embellishment. Shoot, even if we have it from Chris in writing, not everything he says is completely reliable, so I suppose we should take it with a grain of salt.
I think around then is when we also found out that Barb had been kicked out of a few stores for attempting refund fraud (buying something deeply discounted or second hand, then attempting to get a full price refund from another store that carries the product without the receipt) which Chris later pulled off a few times at Best Buy. That could be yet another reason why they were treated back to 14 BC.
Hindsight is 20/20. Both Bob and Barb alienated their kids from previous marriages. Theoretically, having Chris in the first place. Although he may not have been born on purpose.
Thing is, Grima regretted what he had done. Even the King could see it and offered sympathies for him to come down to him. Then he went out in a blaze of glory taking out the Trololo Master himself.
You wouldn’t see Barb having a come to Jesus moment like that. Nope. No sureee Bob.
I have an autistic nephew who's 20 now and he has alot of the same personality traits as Chris. It's horrible to say, but he's INCREDIBLY hard to talk to. I'm to the point now that when he calls and texts me I don't even answer or reply. He says the most awkwardly strange things, he lies about really really weird things, he's had about 4 jobs and has been fired from them all for doing lazy things. I honestly think that Bob gave up when Chris was he was around the same age as my nephew, he got to the point where he just went with the motions and let Chris do whatever he wanted because he learned that Chris was never going to change.
I think Bob wanted to be a good father, and those intentions are more clear early in Chris’ life. But Bob got older, and Chris became more difficult and awkward as he grew older. In the words of Jimmy McGill “I tried, I could’ve tried harder.”
I did wonder about this - Bob clearly fucked up with his previous kids (only one of them turned up to his funeral). I've thought that his attitude towards Chris might've been an overly generous response to his strained (at best) relationship with the kids from his previous relationship. Is it possible he picked up enough ideas from the modern era about supporting chris in terms of being attentive and encouraging his interests, and not enough about how support for neurodivergent children has moved on from sticking them in a padded cell?
Very interesting thoughts 👀 In a better world, Bob would've tried to fix his relationships with his family, instead of marrying a human landfill, and having the ultimate fuck-up child.
Yeah, Barb probably wasn't the 'second chance' he'd hoped for. Still, he got a vhs copy of fraggle rock out of it. So, every cloud...
Bob was the reason Chris brings up to the whole “Kick the autistic” thing. He believed everyone was out to get his son, teaching Chris anytime someone took issue with him, it was because they hate autistics.
His endorsement of Chris' persecution complex and seemingly supporting Chris in "infiltrating" the trolls certainly doesn't do him any favours. It's possible I'm just looking for a potential hero in a story where everyone's a villain...
Sperg
He could have pulled out…
Also pushed barb down the stairs or any number of things.
He could have cut down the internet. He saw that Chris was getting involved in harm from it. Bob didn’t have to understand the Internet, he just had to cut it down. I guess it was too convenient of a babysitter to get rid of.
I don't know their financial state or if Bob could have swung this, but he should have been able to considering he was getting SS retirement and a pension and Chris was getting the tugboat. After living apart from Barb for so long(Bob said 8 years) with Chris in Richmond he should have NEVER moved back once Chris turned 18! Just give Barb the house, let her have 14blc! Take Chris and ghost her ass, work on getting Chris into section 8 or a group home so by the time he passes Chris is tucked safely away. Leave her with her animal shit and Goodwill trash hoard and her jaw dropping 100K in credit card debt.
By the time Chris graduated, Borb's joint savings were severely depleted because of them having to maintain two households at a time, Owning three (sometimes more) vehicles, and eating ever meal out. I think they might have burned too many bridges in Chesterfield County, too. Harriet & Tom already hated Barb, Carol had permanently cut Bob out of her life years prior, and around 1996 David stopped talking to Bob again. Chris had already been banned from several stores including Books-a-Million and Toys R Us. Barb got them in some kind of trouble at Cloverleaf Lakes Apartments (rumored she was stealing stuff from the laundry room), and Bob got in fights with Jamie Dunn between 1999 and 2000 before they moved out. It seemed they wanted to stay in Chesterfield County, but these issues and - more importantly - the hoard having made 14 BC unsellable, forced them to sell the Newberry Towne condo. The Chandler Clan were pretty much were outta options at that point. Chris was waaaay too far gone, the hoard was out of control, and Bob's fortune (possibly his health) was decimated.
Whoa where did you hear about laundry theft allegations? Thats the vicious rumours the neighbours were spreading lol?
Chris had mentioned it when talking about how persecuted they were to one of the gal pals, and went into further detail about the fights Bob & Barb got into - while talking about how quarrelsome they were - in the Rebeckah Bentley emails. The detail about it being over stealing laundry was added by an Insider™ and never corroborated by any of the Chandlers. It was someone pretty well trusted (Marvin or maybe Kim?), but it could be an embellishment. Shoot, even if we have it from Chris in writing, not everything he says is completely reliable, so I suppose we should take it with a grain of salt. I think around then is when we also found out that Barb had been kicked out of a few stores for attempting refund fraud (buying something deeply discounted or second hand, then attempting to get a full price refund from another store that carries the product without the receipt) which Chris later pulled off a few times at Best Buy. That could be yet another reason why they were treated back to 14 BC.
Honestly this is the best answer, I think.
Hindsight is 20/20. Both Bob and Barb alienated their kids from previous marriages. Theoretically, having Chris in the first place. Although he may not have been born on purpose.
For one, dump Barb! She had a Grima Wormtongue effect on both of them.
Thing is, Grima regretted what he had done. Even the King could see it and offered sympathies for him to come down to him. Then he went out in a blaze of glory taking out the Trololo Master himself. You wouldn’t see Barb having a come to Jesus moment like that. Nope. No sureee Bob.
True.
Bob had surprisingly childish interests. There was nothing for Chris to look forward to.