Do you know who my brother in law is?

My mother had a sister who was for all intents and purposes, estranged from our family. It was mostly out of her embarrassment about being related to Sybil, and Sybil's ill behaved off spring. This aunt lived a very luxurious lifestyle in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She had married a fairly intelligent man who was a Vice President at Bamberger's/Macy's. They had a fancy life of tennis clubs, european vacations, and not one but two gay children. They were true one percenters.

Even with very little contact (they did fight over my grandmother's jewelry), my mother still took full advantage of who her sister was married to when it was time to return something to Bamberger's. There was one instance in particular when she was returning Lewis's torn Mighty Mac jacket. Lewis had got it caught on something or it was just worn out causing the asbestos like filling to pour out of a sleeve. Since his OCD could never stand for having a leaking jacket and Sybil refusing to spend on a new one, the only solution was to return it. When the sales clerk saw the jacket and deemed it not returnable, Sybil did the only thing she could think of. She screamed at the top of her lungs, "Do you know who my brother in law is?!" Obviously the clerk did not. So then Sybil explained he was the Vice President of the store and that she was going to get him on the phone right that instance. These were the days before cell phones so personally I think the store clerk should have called her bluff. Instead the lady who wished she took the day off, caved.

Sybil left with a new jacket, one size up of course. She used the "Do you know who my brother in law is." line at least three more times. I even think she used it in Nordstrom once.