Have you ever overheard people talking about you?

My brother and sister in law

They'd been together for about 7 years and she so badly wanted to get married

I've never wanted to get married-each to their own,it's just not for me

Any-whoo,they took the piss big time (I've written about it on here under another username) and I'd had enough-no matter how much everyone gave them,they wanted more

On the day itself,I'd nipped to the loo and the bride and her mate walked in-and started slagging me off-not only was I a failure in life for not getting a ring on my finger,but I was a shit single mum,was rolling in money-and they didn't see why they should pay taxes to support 'her brats' (I worked but got tax credits),what did i think i looked like in my outfit?(guess she couldnt afford something nice-she looks like a fucking hippo crossed with a charity shop') and that my kids would grow up to be on the dole

The venom was breathtaking-id done nothing to earn it

I sat on that toilet,cried,pulled my pants back up,dried my tears and walked
downstairs,picked up their wedding cake and walked out

Not spoken to them since

Within 3 months they'd spilt up,got back together as she was pregnant and are still together but very unhappy-they thought that getting married would stop the cracks (I heard this from friends)

My kids have all grown up,all have great carrers (all bar one as she's too young but has big plans) and are amazing adults

She's stuck working in a dead end job (16 hours a week,so not to mess up their uc) while he sits at home watching the TV all day-the resentment is unreal on her side

Normally I wouldn't dream of gloating but she fucking deserves it

In my early twenties I worked as a runner on a team with two boy runners a year or so older than me. I was walking round the corner to the lift and could hear one say 'I want to leave early but need to drop this to the post room'. The other laughed and told him to get me to do it 'her thighs could use the exercise'.

I appeared and said 'what?', they both looked like rabbits in the headlights and each replied with 'what?'. Then we shared a lift for several floors. I think I skipped dinner that night it was horrible! My sister told me to ignore it as men say stuff like that to show off.

Oh plenty.

I’ve learnt to ignore it and not dwell. Life is too short and they’re only showing themselves up.

I've heard loads "I just don't like her", "there's something not right", "she's not very bright". This from colleagues and fellow students over years.

I'm autistic with two degrees, a post grad and have just written a book.

I was at work when I was 18/19, working in retail. I was putting out stock and could hear some of the boys talking about me in the aisle over.

One of them said “Ahhh, I would give Tink a good seeing to. Would love to get in on that. I don’t care that she has a boyfriend, I’ll make her forget him like that” and proceeded to snap his fingers. Just made me feel really degraded to be spoken about like that.

What he didn’t realise was that I had edged round to the end of the aisle and was listening to the whole thing. Two of the boys were doing that weird eye dodging thing like “Oh this is going to blow” and he still didn’t get the hint.

He turned round and was bright red and I said (and I am quite proud) “I wouldn’t touch someone else with the end of your c**k, let alone let you anywhere near me with it at any given time.”

We never spoke again. He was a friend before that.

I had a classic one in work years ago. I was responsible for ensuring that reception was always covered but there were a couple of staff who were resistant about taking their turn. There was always sniping. Once one of them screeched at me, "it's not in my job description!" and I said, "oh yes it is, because I was the one who put it there!"

Anyway she'd had a rant - and the weird thing was, this issue aside, neither of us ever bore a grudge!! - and she flounced off down to her office. She was in full midflow, calling me all the names of the day to the others in the room, when I walked in. Her face was a picture!! I wish I could remember what I said but I can't; I just know it was something scathing, and I walked out! She did apologise. I thought it was funny tbh! Her opinion was nothing to me.

It all came to a head when three of them complained about me to the MD, and a meeting was arranged. The MD knew their game, spoke to me in advance of the meeting and asked me to attend. OMG the look of horror and shock on their faces when they walked in and I was sitting there beside the MD was priceless! I was dying to laugh!!!

The then-ringleader gave off about it to a work friend of mine and of course she told me!! She'd said, "We walked in and there the bitch was sitting there!" Too funny! Plus they ended up worse off than they had been to start with!

Arranged a 60th birthday lunch for DM. All the family were to meet at a nice pub, I was on time but last to arrive as I had ordered a huge bouquet of flowers and had stopped off to collect them on the way. Walked into the pub to hear DM putting me down, calling me a bitch etc I just stood quietly behind her while all the other family members gazed over her shoulder at me while she ranted. I just quietly said I stopped to collect your bouquet and placed it on the table in front of her. DM just sat there mouth opening and closing like a fish and insaid quietly obviously I won't be staying and I walked out.

I overheard exH telling his friend that I might not be beautiful and I'm a bit fat (I was a size 12!), but I'm loyal and look ok when I've got makeup on.

At our wedding reception!

That was a long time ago now and I've since married a man who thinks I'm beautiful all the time 😊

Not overheard but DH asked me to check his emails because the Wi-Fi was rubbish where he was. I read an email from a 'friend' of us both criticising me. I answered as if from DH and told her to bog off, basically. Told him I'd done it and he was quite relieved. Utter bitch.

One of the "cool" girls in school who was a bit rough called me "the leader of the nerd gang" . I was right there in the corridor beside/behind her. She was embarrassed when she realized I was standing there and said she was talking about someone else. She was a bitch though

Yes, more than once. I prefer to hear, no matter how painful. My SIL will bitch about me and then go silent when I enter the room, I think you coward, say it to my face.

Two colleagues.
’Not very bright is she?’
’No not all there at all’
’Only thing she has going for her is long hair’
Followed by lots of giggles. From a woman in her mid-late twenties and a man in his fifties.

I'm sorry you experienced this. I've had this too at school and also on my Mums side of the family. If I walk into work and people are in the staffroom laughing, I automatically think they're laughing at me. If I walk onto the playground to pick my daughter up from a school, I automatically think some mums are laughing at me if they're laughing. It's horrible. I like a lot of banter with people and I like to laugh myself. But when others laugh and I'm not in the conversation I automatically think it's aimed at me. Bullying in most of my school years and my Mums family has ruined me.

Did you ever tell them you heard what they said @raidFlySpray? I'm sorry that happened to you.

When my father was staying with us for Christmas I heard him speaking critically of me & DH to my brother on the phone - my brother had never (and would never) invite him for Christmas, so the disloyalty of this really hurt me

My father used to talk about me in the third person when I was in the room. Not sure that isn't worse.

On a coach home when I was a teenager and fell asleep I woke up to hear some girls talking about me. “I feel sorry for people like her because she’s ugly and has a disability as well. Nobody is going to want to look at her twice, surely?”

I know I’m ugly, didn’t need telling, but it still hurts to hear it. And now whenever anyone tells me I’m not I just think that they’re obviously saying it to be nice. Not least because when I did have a BF at school who was always telling me that I was beautiful, when I asked him if he really thought that he said “no, but it’s the right thing to say isn’t it.”

I have the benefit of being visually impaired so am unable to see myself in a mirror. Now it doesn’t bother me anyway, but growing up it did.

I received a text from a friend that she meant to send to her husband. Confused at first, I realised she was talking about me. You know that shock you get that goes right through you? When I pointed out what she'd done, she was mortified. Cue end of very long and very close friendship.

A close relative accidentally called me and unfortunately they were talking about me when I answered. It was devastating. I remember my heart racing as I heard the full conversation and making the decision to hang up as I couldn't endure listening anymore. I never told them that I heard but never answer the phone to when they call anymore. It was unspeakably hurtful.

I read this and thought how nice to focus on something positive.
So here's mine - a friend I've known for a long time, and I love him, but we never tell each other how much we mean to each other. We were talking on the phone and I heard his boss ask in the background who he was talking to. He said "Sony - best friend Sony". It meant the world to me.

Thank you for saying that. It was a while ago and it really knocked my confidence, because I really thought we all got on well and it made me doubt how well I could read people.

I never mentioned it to our bosses because I was too upset and just wanted to get the job done. I don't work with them anymore but if I see them out and about, they're super nice to me. I'm always a bit gutted that people can be so two faced.

I had a nice one. We were on holiday in a very friendly place where people fawned over babies. Mine - who loved being fussed - had been passed around for half an hour while we waited to be seated at a busy restaurant.

During the meal, I was breastfeeding my baby when one of those rare silences suddenly fell, when through chance it happens that no one is talking at that moment. Through the silence I could hear an older woman across the room remarking, "Oh THAT'S why that baby is so cheerful: she's breastfed!" Not true; she was just cheerful by nature, but it was what I needed to hear. I'd had a tough time getting breastfeeding established and was still finding it challenging, and people back home were already telling me I should stop now she was over six months old.

I'm sure she never imagined I would overhear.

I did! I was 15, doing after school IT work to try yo salvage my grade that our head of year had offered us after major issues with the IT teacher not turning up to lessons etc. I thought I was the only one who turned up and was happily sat in a booth at a desktop going through what excel was. The teacher supervising was a relatively young man who taught maths usually and was spending the time marking his books. He was quite new to teaching, usually a proper lad with the boys but quite good at his job. I didn't know two other 15 year old boys in my year group were there as I couldn't see over my booth but he was in their presence and obviously knew all 3 of us students were in the room. The boys started talking about girls they liked in the year and tore into my appearance and how nobody could pay them to go near that. I was genuinely surprised that the teacher who they had wrongly assumed would allow them to talk this way went absolutely MAD at them, told them they're on the path to serious misogyny and no girl will want them either if they ever speak like that again and to get on with their work. They apologised and he didn't care to even respond to them. It was actually very very nice, I had never expected him to deal with them like that and it meant more coming from him as he was kind of on their level and would be involved in sports/ football/ men stuff. Anyway by the time I was gorgeous in 6th form they did want to know me and I thought they were horrid so I'm glad it never damaged me too much haha

It's quite fun to say nice things about people when you think they may or may not be just out of earshot. This especially goes for people who might not accept direct compliments because they think you are just saying it out of politeness, such as your own teen if they have low self-esteem. But if they think it wasn't meant for their ears, they might believe it and be pleased.