Your two choices were: 1. Telling your mom you didnt like her tone or 2. The silent treatment.

I got fired many times - usually i worked as a contractor so going on to a different site was not a big deal, i didnt consider myself "fired" but neither was i retained - but i can tell you, you probably need to come up with better choices than those two.

One, pay attention to detail, make sure your work is flawless so they cant yell at you. Then it wont matter so much if you have a rotten personality. Thats what worked for me. But you have to be really really really good at your job, whatever it is.

My mother and aunt were ****** ****** b*tching at me as i was washing my mothers kitchen and dining room walls. I wanted to start with the ceiling. They were, no you have to start at the bottom of the wall because there will be streaks. Well the way i did it, there was not a single streak, and it looked like it was freshly painted, not just washed. Those two old women admitted they were wrong WITHOUT ME SAYING ANYTHING, just from my results. They respected me at least a little after that.