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Things you should be able to do as an adult

140 replies

ThePolishWombat · 09/09/2019 19:42

but can’t Blush
I’m convinced that everyone has at least one skill that they’ve just never mastered that every other adult around you seems to be able to do!
I’ll start:

I cannot for the life of me work out chopsticks Blush
And do you know what makes that even more embarrassing? I’m married to an Asian man for Christ sake Blush He’s tried to teach me numerous times, but it would appear my stupid, European fingers and brain just can’t work together to eat the beautiful food he cooks with the traditional eating apparatus Confused My 4yo can do it and I can’t Blush

What’s yours?

OP posts:
Diagonalli · 10/09/2019 17:03

put a duvet in a duvet cover without it taking forever

StockTakeFucks · 10/09/2019 18:03

Can't drive or ride a bike

Shannith · 10/09/2019 18:15

@AnneWeber you have no idea how much you have improved my life.

Why I have never thought of doing this before is utterly beyond me.

I feel like I have finally achieved at the age of 45, adulthood.

SunsetBeetch · 10/09/2019 18:20

Give directions. I can get myself places no bother, but explain it to someone else? I can't do it! My heart sinks if a car pulls up to me or I hear an "excuse me, love" in the street.

TreacherousPissFlap · 11/09/2019 09:15

DH has the dishwasher issue. He just hurls things in there, doesn't bother to anchor down the plastic pots, piles things on top of one another and then looks on with an expression of affronted bewilderment when stuff is not clean when he comes to empty it.

I've given up explaining now

thesnapandfartisinfallible · 11/09/2019 09:21

Iron. I bought a steamer and the iron can go fuck itself.

sueelleker · 11/09/2019 09:36

*Yes to the fastening of bras behind the back!!!!
I have to fasten at the front and swivel *
I buy pull-on bras. Brilliant invention.
I believe you can get tuna in ring-pull cans.
And I use Iceland frozen mash-it's beautifully creamy, and you can just microwave however much you need.

theconstantinoplegardener · 11/09/2019 09:39

Parallel park
Upload (download?) my photos onto the computer
Transfer money online
Put air in my car's tyres
Find and repair a puncture in a bicycle wheel

Graphista · 12/09/2019 00:00

"Make up. (Bloody clueless so I've given up.)" I very rarely wear make up but when I do it's the way my generation learned and is pretty basic. My dd is one of those into all the contouring etc and she is AMAZING. She has spent a lot of time teaching herself (in her own time) but she's honestly that good that she's now starting to get friends telling others to get her to do their make up for special events (milestone birthdays, engagements, christenings, first communions...) at one point it was getting out of hand both in terms of her time and in using HER make up on them (which isn't cheap!) so I said to her she needs to charge them! This reduced the cfness a little so she wasn't being bombarded and also meant she wasn't out of pocket. She's even been approached to "go pro" by the woman that owns the salon her best mate works in (she's on a hairdressing apprenticeship) but the woman was offering much less money than she's currently on in an unrelated job. - meanwhile I still can't do eyeliner that looks the same on both eyes!! Unfortunately between ocd and allergies I can't have her do my make up.

Op I even kill cacti! Even cut flowers barely last 2 days!!

Graphista · 12/09/2019 00:00

"I am very reassured that it’s not just me who found Bingo stressful." not at all! It's fucking gladiatorial in my opinion! On one occasion I mistakenly called house on a U.K. Wide big jackpot game frankly I'm amazed I got out with my life!!

"I can't play cards or chess."
There's being able to and REALLY being able to too though right? I mean I can play blackjack, gin & chess at a base "I know the rules" Level and know what constitutes a run, how the pieces move but the advanced strategic gambits?! Not a clue! My parents know how to play bridge and cribbage and all sorts and dad plays chess very well, used to be in a club but they didn't have the patience to really teach us. Bro plays poker sometimes I think but lives miles away and we don't have the closest relationship.

I was rather hoping Victoria Coren-Mitchell was an mner and on this thread and would go "I'll teach you to play poker"

Graphista · 12/09/2019 00:01

Dad did teach us all car maintenance the problem is most modern cars require specialised electronic equipment to do stuff that we used to be able to do on our cars ourselves with just dexterous hands and kitchen towel to wipe off the oil!

"Can't work Excel. I've done the training, managed fine in the session, can't for the life of me remember how to do it when I'm on my own." I bloody LOVE excel! I muddled through using it when it first came into my workplace, then the next place I worked the boss noticed I was doing a lot "the long way round" and sent me on a course. That gave me a taste and I ended up enrolling in a business IT night class and learning all sorts! I'm not current but I find I can still muddle through pretty well. The trick is not to be afraid to try. Give it a go, save as you go along and make changes and even if what you do doesn't work just don't save that version and return to the old working version and try again?

PowerPoint though? Not a Fucking Scooby! Even though it was (barely) inc in the nightclass (don't think teacher was a fan)

"Understand mobile phones, data roaming, Wi-Fi? Whenever we go anywhere, I'm outraged that my phone won't work, until one of my DCs put the Wi-Fi code in" I've started a hundred thread about issues with my iPhone which I'm currently trying to sort out. Long story short I'm going to have to do a hard reset - twice!! (After a very important phone call I've got to deal with tomorrow I'm not brave enough to try it before then) That's how much I've fucked it up!! Also fucked up the backing up to iCloud bit so I've actually had to write out manually all my contacts and calendar stuff (and numerous other bits and bobs) AND email myself the photos I don't want to lose

BertieBotts are you in Germany because dh in army? Because if so you could probably find an army instructor willing to teach you, they're not strictly supposed to moonlight but many do.

"what do you mean you can't google? You just type in a query and it answers it" I disagree - yes that is the basics but to search effectively and know which sources to trust and which to ignore is a real skill.

Knitting - I can knit a square - cast on cast off I can even knit and purl - but no idea how to increase/reduce no of stitches to shape and can only knit in one tension! Can sew a button or a badge (girl guider of many years) on but beyond that? Forget it! Thank god for wundaweb and high street seamstresses (I'm 5'2" with short legs jeans are ALWAYS too bloody long!)

PickAChew · 12/09/2019 00:04

What’s 100m? Is it like the whole distance of the street or to the next lamppost?

Depends on the street. I lived in one that was about 150m. Last one was 1km. Current one is over 2km and spans our suburb and through to a village.

ThePolishWombat · 12/09/2019 07:18

I can’t get my head around Chess either.
Just seems to be so many rules to remember, what piece can move which way etc - I just don’t really see the point in learning Confused

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 12/09/2019 09:19

Sunset you'll just have to perfect the "Sorry, I'm not from round here" shrug.

No DH not in army.

penelopewynter · 12/09/2019 09:54

Haha @NoClueWithStyle!! Your post made me Grin That was totally me with the directions prior to satnav! Don't know why I ever bother stopping to ask when I remembered not a jot of what they had just said! If I was lucky I could ask my passenger; "I assume you got all that?!". Grin

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