Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find the Corporate Dad in the Med look kinda attractive?

167 replies

iCod · 31/07/2026 09:47

You know the type - past the tiny kids era, so maybe 40 plus. Moans about choosing the holiday but once here's there he loves it.
wheels out a straw trilby that he thinks is beachy, crew clothing polo - collar popped , and patterned swim shorts (maybe featuring a lobster design)
slight paunch. Good legs.
Will be prevailed upon by his 12-year-old daughter to get an ill advised bracelet from the place they're in. Was given a leather one for 40th but can't remember where it went.
retires to the beach bar at 12 to check his work emails without the family seeing. Gets a beer as soon as is respectable

I love this guy. He's so predictable

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
ChristmasLightsLover · 01/08/2026 21:24

Toms! Or rather a pair of worn Toms that have been kept for these holidays…

CheeseWisely · 01/08/2026 20:30

NorthCoast500 · 01/08/2026 13:48

i feel so seen

Show quote history

By which description though 😉

JulietteHasAGun · 01/08/2026 18:02

I’m going away tomorrow on holiday, I have bought a hat 👒

Original poster
iCod · 01/08/2026 13:51

I think it's the hat. Either sex. It's quite annoying.

OP posts:
Original poster
iCod · 01/08/2026 13:51

CheeseWisely · 01/08/2026 13:24

When they’re out for a few work drinks or after golf and end up bopping up and down in front of a live band in their chinos and gilets. Dads Dads Dads that might once have been Lads Lads Lads.

Show quote history

Lolol

OP posts:
NorthCoast500 · 01/08/2026 13:48

CheeseWisely · 01/08/2026 13:35

Oh yea that’s the female version. Floaty boho dress, perfect tan with no weird lines, swinwear from a small designer, expensive sandals, a large straw hat or jaunty straw trilby, chic holiday handbag, some sort of on-trend tote for day, clutch with a strap for night, possibly raffia. Hair that looks like they’re fresh from a blow dry, perfect make up.

Meanwhile I am denim shorts, adidas sliders and the least creased t-shirt from the suitcase. A tummy control swimsuit I bought 8 years ago from Next or M&S. Hair wild and either salt and chlorine ridden or frizzy. Maybe a baseball cap (DHs) to disguise the latter. Carrier bag from Mercadona for the beach paraphenalia. Nighttime much the same but a white dress I bought hoping to look like the corporate wives but given my tan-resistant skin makes me look like a pink-tinged ghost, slightly wet hair as I was having too much of a nice time drinking Fanta Limon in a towel to dry it properly. Start with an attempt at minimal glowy make-up, which sweats off before we’ve reached the restaurant.

Show quote history

i feel so seen

CheeseWisely · 01/08/2026 13:35

JulietteHasAGun · 01/08/2026 09:31

Oh 100%. Sometimes wears a short sleeve shirt rather than a polo shirt. Battered deck shoes.

what’s the female equivalent in style? Floaty long slightly boho dress? Delicate sandals? Straw hat?

Oh yea that’s the female version. Floaty boho dress, perfect tan with no weird lines, swinwear from a small designer, expensive sandals, a large straw hat or jaunty straw trilby, chic holiday handbag, some sort of on-trend tote for day, clutch with a strap for night, possibly raffia. Hair that looks like they’re fresh from a blow dry, perfect make up.

Meanwhile I am denim shorts, adidas sliders and the least creased t-shirt from the suitcase. A tummy control swimsuit I bought 8 years ago from Next or M&S. Hair wild and either salt and chlorine ridden or frizzy. Maybe a baseball cap (DHs) to disguise the latter. Carrier bag from Mercadona for the beach paraphenalia. Nighttime much the same but a white dress I bought hoping to look like the corporate wives but given my tan-resistant skin makes me look like a pink-tinged ghost, slightly wet hair as I was having too much of a nice time drinking Fanta Limon in a towel to dry it properly. Start with an attempt at minimal glowy make-up, which sweats off before we’ve reached the restaurant.

Angelic999 · 01/08/2026 13:35

I wish the laugh reaction still existed.

CheeseWisely · 01/08/2026 13:24

GotANewFrockTooFuckingFat · 31/07/2026 10:28

Ditto - we call these men "Brown shoe dads" in my house.

Show quote history

When they’re out for a few work drinks or after golf and end up bopping up and down in front of a live band in their chinos and gilets. Dads Dads Dads that might once have been Lads Lads Lads.

GodIhatethepatriarcy · 01/08/2026 13:12

Last time I went to Rock in Cornwall all the men were pretty much indistinguishable from each other: Ray Bans or Aviators, coral shorts, Ralph t-shirts. Not a Croc in sight, obvs

BauhausOfEliott · 01/08/2026 10:43

StandFirm · 01/08/2026 09:46

I definitely recognise this Corporate Dad but ten years on, I am now familiar with Burnt Out Corporate Dad who is in his 50s, grew a lumberjack beard and proudly wheeled out all his faded 80s and 90s band t-shirts. He is also allergic to tech devices much like an ex-smoker who catches a whiff of cigarette at a restaurant terrace.

Edited

Oh, I think I like this one much better

StandFirm · 01/08/2026 09:46

I definitely recognise this Corporate Dad but ten years on, I am now familiar with Burnt Out Corporate Dad who is in his 50s, grew a lumberjack beard and proudly wheeled out all his faded 80s and 90s band t-shirts. He is also allergic to tech devices much like an ex-smoker who catches a whiff of cigarette at a restaurant terrace.

JulietteHasAGun · 01/08/2026 09:33

I wished Dh dressed like this but he wears his speedos which he bought when at uni 🙈😬😂

StandFirm · 01/08/2026 09:32

iCod · 31/07/2026 15:22

@Snackccident we all know though that Santorini Guy is messaging a young member of his team from work when he shouldn't be

Thus proving that predictable and decent are two very separate concepts!

JulietteHasAGun · 01/08/2026 09:31

Oh 100%. Sometimes wears a short sleeve shirt rather than a polo shirt. Battered deck shoes.

what’s the female equivalent in style? Floaty long slightly boho dress? Delicate sandals? Straw hat?

Goldenbear · 01/08/2026 09:17

Goldenbear · 01/08/2026 08:59

Unfortunately 🙄😀

Show quote history

TBH I don't think I'm on holiday with 'Corporate Dad in the Med', evidently more a Gordon Gekko wannabe, except, he doesn't think "lunch is for whimps', in fact the culinary destinations are the best part of his holiday and sharing that excitement with his teens- teen boy gets on board with this, teen girl more interested in taking photos of sunsets!

Goldenbear · 01/08/2026 08:59

iCod · 31/07/2026 21:20

@Goldenbear without the modesty to think they might just cope? 😃

Unfortunately 🙄😀

Runssometimes · 31/07/2026 23:53

Pssedoffathis · 31/07/2026 11:54

Us saddo LinkedIn corporate slaves do😂
I will give you a taster. In my feed right now the top post is from a man who has written a very long post about the fact his wife has left him with the kids this weekend and he has realised he doesn’t know how to do pony tales, and has watched YouTube videos and is still struggling to do them. Despite him being very good at tech he is struggling with pony tales.
the second post is from a woman who is excited that she is closing her laptop for two weeks to spend time on the beach either her kids.
then we have the man who has a daughter and is explaining about allyship to women in the workplace because now he gets it.
and then we have the woman who is ranting about juggling work and kids in the summer holidays.
repeat that over and over again.. until you fill up a whole feed.. and you have LinkedIn 😂😂

Show quote history

Jesus wept. Performative human-ing is the worst. Tying hair up, closing a laptop, stepping up to parent your own actual child are not objectives or achievements. I hate LinkedIn. Forced to use it. Would chew my typing fingers off before posting that shite.

On my holiday on a French campsite OP- might be different demographic, I - a woman for my in my 50s - as we walked around. I did a double take at a dad on the deck of their chalet, shirtless, wearing normal chino shorts and serving some sort of barbecued meat to small children.

No mum in sight but the guy was ripped. Hence the double take, I’m veggie and the meat was a turn off - but the rest of the picture- wow, it was like an ad. Beautiful children but utterly perfect, slightly tired looking dad. I recovered myself and stopped rubbernecking and my DH wryly said, yeah I wondered when you’d notice Mr Hench-dad. We had a good laugh. Holidays provide the opportunity to have a glimpse into people’s lives outside of their normal contexts. I imagine hench dad normally feeds his children fully clothed and unobserved. Or is perhaps self absorbed normally and Mrs hench has taken herself off to the pool or spa and the only thing he knows how to cook is steak and he’s failed to give them any veg. And this incompetence makes him far less attractive in my eyes.

Rinceyourrice · 31/07/2026 23:31

Is this why I fancy Miles Jupp a bit?

NorthCoast500 · 31/07/2026 23:25

Pssedoffathis · 31/07/2026 11:54

Us saddo LinkedIn corporate slaves do😂
I will give you a taster. In my feed right now the top post is from a man who has written a very long post about the fact his wife has left him with the kids this weekend and he has realised he doesn’t know how to do pony tales, and has watched YouTube videos and is still struggling to do them. Despite him being very good at tech he is struggling with pony tales.
the second post is from a woman who is excited that she is closing her laptop for two weeks to spend time on the beach either her kids.
then we have the man who has a daughter and is explaining about allyship to women in the workplace because now he gets it.
and then we have the woman who is ranting about juggling work and kids in the summer holidays.
repeat that over and over again.. until you fill up a whole feed.. and you have LinkedIn 😂😂

Show quote history

LinkedIn is not a serious place.

NorthCoast500 · 31/07/2026 23:22

CreativeGreen · 31/07/2026 14:23

I thought maybe it was because just above, a poster had said the AI looked like her own husband?

Show quote history

😂 yes this is why. Although you’ll be sorry for that rudeness when the robots take over…

I wasn’t being entirely serious anyway.

Original poster
iCod · 31/07/2026 21:49

I've done research on the feet today
they're ok

OP posts:
DundeeNewcastle · 31/07/2026 21:34

AI man needs a bigger belly and less pretty face. Also a friendship bracelet his daughter made him but that secretly makes him feel quite the rebel. Horrible toes too.

flippinnorastights · 31/07/2026 21:31

FairyBatman · 31/07/2026 11:18

I put your description into AI and it drew my DH 😂😂😂😂
He even has the shorts 😆

This is literally every man we know.

flippinnorastights · 31/07/2026 21:28

Sinkysocks · 31/07/2026 12:11

The watch isn’t a proper. It’s some sort of fitness watch but not an Apple Watch because he watches a million YouTube tech videos. It’s a Garmin and he’s forever fiddling with the settings. He’s mostly happy sitting around but occasionally he decides they should all ‘do’ something and starts looking at local places they should go despite the kids being perfectly happy in the pool.

OMG this is DP but he has TWO Garmins, one for every day and one for Golf. Shoot me now

Swipe left for the next trending thread