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AIBU?

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Original poster

Your favourite unreasonable AIBU?

357 replies

Fulbe · 29/07/2025 23:21

There are so many wonderful examples of these, please share your favourites. Bonus points for links.

I remember one when OP was annoyed if the cost of children's birthday gifts weren't higher than the cost of hosting the party per child.

And the classic from a few weeks ago when OP thought it was ok to block the shared driveway and thought their neighbour who lived at the end was the unreasonable one.

I bet there are better ones out there though...

OP posts:
Thread gallery
43
Calliecarpa · 31/07/2025 08:04

PennyRest · 31/07/2025 04:46

That absolutely mad one about dolphins being arseholes. Funniest thing ever and if anyone can link it I’d love to read it again. It was just SO unreasonable.

This one? ;-)

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3386868-AIBU-to-be-livid-how-dolphins-are-portrayed-compared-to-how-they-are

Absolutely just beyond mental. "I am SO. ANGRY! at the way people think dolphins are cute and awesome and clever even though they commit GANG RAPE and MURDER and are EVIL and click at each other for CONSPIRACY."

😂😂

AIBU to be livid how dolphins are portrayed compared to how they are? | Mumsnet

I am angry and sick and tired of how dolphins try and make out they are nice and friendly and cute when they are anything but. They are one of the mos...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3386868-AIBU-to-be-livid-how-dolphins-are-portrayed-compared-to-how-they-are

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 08:02

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 07:10

Another favourite of mine was the OP who was incensed she wasn’t thanked in her son’s speech at his engagement party. The reason he didn’t thank her was because he was thanking his future in-laws for throwing them the (very fancy) party. Not only had OP done nothing towards the party, she had actively tried to change the whole thing from a catered event with professional planners and decorators into what she wanted - balloons from Amazon, leftover confetti, Morrisons party platters and a family friend DJing. Apparently she should have been “allowed to help” by bringing all this in over the couple’s heads (and those of the PILs, who were actually paying) and it was adding insult to injury that she wasn’t thanked (for nothing).

A special mention goes to the saga of Tom and Jess: two colleagues the OP thought were having affair; her dilemma being should she contact Tom’s wife (on the basis of having met her at one office party). This one sticks in my mind because, while the OP was actually pretty reasonable, some of the replies were utterly bizarre and got more and more batshit as the thread went on. People were advising OP to inform the wife via a “burner phone”; to contact the hotel she’d seen them in with increasingly complicated ruses to get confirmation they’d stayed there in just one room, to get a copy of the invoice… it hit a peak when she was advised to raise it formally at work, because “it would all be on the hotel CCTV as proof”. Because yes, hotels never attempt to protect the privacy of their guests - or to follow the basic principles of GDPR - and will hand CCTV over to anyone who asks.

I found Tom and Jess!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4021263-to-tell-his-wife?

To tell his wife.... | Mumsnet

I work with a guy, We'll call him Tom. Last year our work hosted a summer party, after some drinks, Tom was acting inappropriately with one of the gi...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4021263-to-tell-his-wife

ImogenBrocklehurst · 31/07/2025 08:00

Idontjetwashthefucker · 30/07/2025 22:03

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5382825-do-you-want-a-receipt?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Here you go

Show quote history

Wow, the OP really is frothing at the mouth on this one. 🫤

Lulubo1 · 31/07/2025 07:56

I remember one where the OP's cat got into a neighbours house and couldn't get out. She was asking if she should break into the house, as the couple had just moved in and were not home for the weekend. She said it was the neighbours fault her cat got in through the catflap. She even threw food in an open air vent in an attempt to coax it out. She finally got in contact with the neighbours and they let her in, but the cat had pissed all over their new rug and she said the neighbours were unreasonable for asking for money to clean it. I can't find the link, sorry.

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 07:55

SprayWhiteDung · 31/07/2025 07:50

Even if you were quite happy to automatically use the shower gel bottle (possibly with pooey hands as you handle it to open it) instead of an easy-dispense bottle on the side of the sink labelled 'hand wash'... OP was such a 'strong' character, who seemed so convinced that she must be right, if I had been the friend, I'd have been terrified of doing the (arbitrarily) wrong thing and being endlessly berated for it by OP.

Show quote history

Not to derail, but I think that was what made me side with the OP. She’d said quite clearly that she’d run out of liquid soap, but dozens of posters kept replying with “OMG why don’t you just buy liquid soap?!”

Somethingtosayagain · 31/07/2025 07:54

ExercicenformedeZ · 30/07/2025 21:20

Sorry, forgot to link!
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5280534-sad-about-how-life-has-turned-out

She had me at "I have a cat, we barely see her"

Posters like this who just REFUSE to do the social dance and try to take a morsel of reassurance from anyone, let alone undertake to take some responsibility for improving their lot.

Your favourite unreasonable AIBU?
Gmala · 31/07/2025 07:53

I can't remember the full context of the thread, but there was a lady who said when she went out shopping on her lunch hour she took her lanyard/fob from her office building off so as not to disrespect retail staff. Her friend did not and she thought this was unreasonable. It was clearly bonkers how the OP genuinely thought working in an office made her better than retail staff and thought she was doing a Good Thing but instead just outed herself as up her own hole. 😂

SprayWhiteDung · 31/07/2025 07:50

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 07:13

Really? I remember that one and just kept thinking the friend must be a bit thick…

Show quote history

Even if you were quite happy to automatically use the shower gel bottle (possibly with pooey hands as you handle it to open it) instead of an easy-dispense bottle on the side of the sink labelled 'hand wash'... OP was such a 'strong' character, who seemed so convinced that she must be right, if I had been the friend, I'd have been terrified of doing the (arbitrarily) wrong thing and being endlessly berated for it by OP.

ConcernedOfClapham · 31/07/2025 07:42

ConcernedOfClapham · 31/07/2025 07:34

Yes! This! It was the thread that kept on giving!

Please find a link… 😆

Show quote history

Just seen there was a link posted on p.2 Thank you! 🙏

ConcernedOfClapham · 31/07/2025 07:34

PixiePuffBall · 30/07/2025 16:17

The one who refused to say why her child would be sharing a room with their uncle in the holiday home... so that an empty room could be used if someone got ill. Or something

Yes! This! It was the thread that kept on giving!

Please find a link… 😆

Vvvvvvvvv · 31/07/2025 07:29

PixiePuffBall · 30/07/2025 16:17

The one who refused to say why her child would be sharing a room with their uncle in the holiday home... so that an empty room could be used if someone got ill. Or something

This one enraged me 🤣🤣 I was like JUST ANSWER THE BLOODY QUESTION. So illogical, it infuriated me!!

Imnotgonnamiss · 31/07/2025 07:22

Meadowflower2023 · 30/07/2025 18:45

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5273256-to-think-my-sibling-is-being-totally-unreasonable-about-sleeping-arrangements-on-this-trip?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

This one? I just couldn’t get my head around it!

Show quote history

That is just bonkers.

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 31/07/2025 07:14

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 07:13

Really? I remember that one and just kept thinking the friend must be a bit thick…

Show quote history

I guess you were in the 18%…

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 31/07/2025 07:13

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 07:10

Another favourite of mine was the OP who was incensed she wasn’t thanked in her son’s speech at his engagement party. The reason he didn’t thank her was because he was thanking his future in-laws for throwing them the (very fancy) party. Not only had OP done nothing towards the party, she had actively tried to change the whole thing from a catered event with professional planners and decorators into what she wanted - balloons from Amazon, leftover confetti, Morrisons party platters and a family friend DJing. Apparently she should have been “allowed to help” by bringing all this in over the couple’s heads (and those of the PILs, who were actually paying) and it was adding insult to injury that she wasn’t thanked (for nothing).

A special mention goes to the saga of Tom and Jess: two colleagues the OP thought were having affair; her dilemma being should she contact Tom’s wife (on the basis of having met her at one office party). This one sticks in my mind because, while the OP was actually pretty reasonable, some of the replies were utterly bizarre and got more and more batshit as the thread went on. People were advising OP to inform the wife via a “burner phone”; to contact the hotel she’d seen them in with increasingly complicated ruses to get confirmation they’d stayed there in just one room, to get a copy of the invoice… it hit a peak when she was advised to raise it formally at work, because “it would all be on the hotel CCTV as proof”. Because yes, hotels never attempt to protect the privacy of their guests - or to follow the basic principles of GDPR - and will hand CCTV over to anyone who asks.

I remember the engagement party one - she was definitely unreasonable!

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 07:13

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 31/07/2025 07:09

A poster who expected her friend to know that she should use shower gel to wash her hands without explicitly saying so. Poster’s friend asked where the soap was, op kept saying “on the side of the bath” but never mentioned she actually meant the shower gel.
What really got me was that the op just couldn’t accept that the majority voted that she was unreasonable and kept arguing that you could wash your hands with shower gel. Despite everyone agreeing that it was indeed possible but she needed to actually let her friend know that she meant the shower gel, because her friend wouldn’t know that that’s what she meant. Even changed my username.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5315696-to-find-this-bizarre-friend-and-soap

Edited

Really? I remember that one and just kept thinking the friend must be a bit thick…

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 07:10

Another favourite of mine was the OP who was incensed she wasn’t thanked in her son’s speech at his engagement party. The reason he didn’t thank her was because he was thanking his future in-laws for throwing them the (very fancy) party. Not only had OP done nothing towards the party, she had actively tried to change the whole thing from a catered event with professional planners and decorators into what she wanted - balloons from Amazon, leftover confetti, Morrisons party platters and a family friend DJing. Apparently she should have been “allowed to help” by bringing all this in over the couple’s heads (and those of the PILs, who were actually paying) and it was adding insult to injury that she wasn’t thanked (for nothing).

A special mention goes to the saga of Tom and Jess: two colleagues the OP thought were having affair; her dilemma being should she contact Tom’s wife (on the basis of having met her at one office party). This one sticks in my mind because, while the OP was actually pretty reasonable, some of the replies were utterly bizarre and got more and more batshit as the thread went on. People were advising OP to inform the wife via a “burner phone”; to contact the hotel she’d seen them in with increasingly complicated ruses to get confirmation they’d stayed there in just one room, to get a copy of the invoice… it hit a peak when she was advised to raise it formally at work, because “it would all be on the hotel CCTV as proof”. Because yes, hotels never attempt to protect the privacy of their guests - or to follow the basic principles of GDPR - and will hand CCTV over to anyone who asks.

NoSoapJustUseShowerGel · 31/07/2025 07:09

A poster who expected her friend to know that she should use shower gel to wash her hands without explicitly saying so. Poster’s friend asked where the soap was, op kept saying “on the side of the bath” but never mentioned she actually meant the shower gel.
What really got me was that the op just couldn’t accept that the majority voted that she was unreasonable and kept arguing that you could wash your hands with shower gel. Despite everyone agreeing that it was indeed possible but she needed to actually let her friend know that she meant the shower gel, because her friend wouldn’t know that that’s what she meant. Even changed my username.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5315696-to-find-this-bizarre-friend-and-soap

mrschocolatte · 31/07/2025 07:02

I have just stumbled blindly into this thread after spending 20 minutes on the current receipts one. Gosh, that was something else!
Anyway, I agree with all of the above but would also like to throw in the one where the OP was disgusted that her DP gave her a lab grown diamond engagement ring costing him a fair few bob. She couldn’t accept they were still real diamonds despite so many posters telling her they were.

CoffeeCantata · 31/07/2025 06:55

The ones where a 40 plus woman is sobbing because her husband/partner has only got her flowers, chocolates, a meal out and the WRONG present for her birthday.

I’ve seen one or two of these and I despair of my sex when I read them. I know no-one as immature, pathetic and spoiled as this in real life, yet clearly they exist.

SmurfnoffIce · 31/07/2025 06:53

I like the one who gatecrashed her brother's engagement party and couldn't understand why they were upset. I can't link as I don't remember any specific phrases to search for. I know there was something about drinking champagne...

These were two separate threads, but similar, and both came to mind for me too as soon as I saw the title!

Engagement party sister wanted to use lunch at her brother’s house (which she didn’t know was the engagement party) to introduce her new man and his two daughters. Brother said no, as he had something planned that was very much family only. OP then (insanely) went to their mother to ask her to intervene. Mother refused. OP then turned up with her new squeeze and his daughters at 4pm, on the basis that “lunch would be over by then” 🙄 and walked in on her brother and his fiancée announcing their engagement.

In the champagne one, OP’s in-laws were having dinner guests and had very specifically not invited her and her husband. Because husband “really wanted” to see one of the guests (parents’ old friend) they turned up anyway after dinner, refused to get the hint to bugger off when they weren’t offered a drink - leading to OP pushing her husband to take FIL’s very expensive champagne and pour it for her himself. Apparently PILs were always excluding them from social occasions and OP had no idea why…

TofuEater · 31/07/2025 06:47

A recent one where the OP's teenage son rounded up a gang to beat up a younger boy in the presence of a teacher. But the actual question was should the OP report the teacher for touching the boy as she got him out of the room. 100 result but the OP kept defending her son

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5338168-wibu-if-i-complain-about-this-teacher

cstaff · 31/07/2025 06:14

About 15/20 years ago I came across a crazy bridezilla story. The bride had asked one guest to paint a portrait of the bride and groom. She also asked another guest to make a wedding cake with muffins on the side. Both of these guests were also expected to pick a wedding gift from the wedding list. The gifts were really random also. One was a bike for the bride or groom and another was a designer handbag i think.

Once word got out alot of the guests cancelled. Even the brides mother got involved and tried to convince her daughter that what she was doing was wrong.

sesquipedalian · 31/07/2025 06:03

@ Noshadelamp

I missed the wank mitten thread, so thank you for that - I laughed out loud at the poster who quoted from it -
“My friend's Mum got so sick of him leaving deposits everywhere as a teenager that she knitted (yes, knitted) him a little mitten to mop up after himself. She then washed it weekly and put it on his bed all nicely ironed. This is no joke. It did eradicate the wanky tissues scenario, though."”

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