Misconceptions people have about you

[Poetryinaction]

Do you find people assumenthings about you? I get this a lot. Just silly things. Like, people assume I love stationery. I don't. I think it's useful to carry a biro but I couldn't care less what it looked like, and I haven't carried a pencil case for the past 20 years.

That I’m middle class - I'm far from it. I am well educated and I have a good job, but many people are very surprised to learn that I grew up on a council estate.

Posh. DH hates that people assume he is a Christian, I have a strong faith and work for a Christian charity, and for some reason people think Christians marry Christians. Um. Not always!

Colleagues assume I'm a bit prudish and very serious. Had an audible gasp from someone when I swore once and a shocked "you just swore" whispered at me 😂

Friends assume I'm super organised because of my job. I'm not, I have a rubbish memory and feel like I'm forever remembering to do things / be somewhere just in time.

Family assume I'm a bossy cow to poor DH who I'm lucky to have. We're actually a good team but I was a fiery pain in the arse teenager and the reputation has stuck.

That I'm not very clever.
I have platinum blonde hair, love make up and high heels so for some reason people assume I'm not particularly bright or educated.

I have a PhD and work as a senior academic at a university.

I'm not very politically minded - my manager told me this.

I tend not to share discuss politics on social media because I don't find the conversations fulfilling. We had a really good debate around brexit just before the stay/leave referendum and she said it was one of the more interesting conversation she'd had.

Was a nice compliment because I don't think she considered me particularly informed before then.

People seem to assume I am vegetarian - I have no idea why!

At school people assumed I was fat (I wasn't, I was just awkward in my skin), that I was poor and came from a council estate (I grew up on a normal, average housing estate & lived in a semi-detached but went to a private school where everyone else lived in great big houses with gardens & pools).

At uni people assumed I was boring because I don't drink much and hated tequila slamming and pissed people throwing up.

Now people assume I am together all the time and that I am super confident because I run my own business which I built from nothing. Most of the time I'm shitting myself and winging it. 😂

At work because I'm one of the third generation owners that I'm rich and posh. When in reality I haven't been worked in it for that long and prior to that I made my own way as yet I haven't seen any major perks from the business.

Also people that don't know me that I'm fairly innocent and proper, when I actually I can swear like a trooper, love a good dance/party and prior to meeting my husband 20 years ago dated a far few men and would now if I was single.

That I'm fun and trying to be funny. I'm definitely not either.

I think it's my face. I have cartoonish features, which don't suit my demeanor at all. I also have the faint remains of foreign accent, which people seem to see as very light-hearted.

I'm actually a fairly cynical and dour person and it irritates when people think I'm being funny.

Somehow people think I'm posh and up myself - I think it's because I have resting bitch face and look quite polished. Really I'm a scatty, friendly, self-deprecating brummie with a crazy sense of humour so couldn't be further from the truth!

Also that I'm some kind of paragon of pure virtue. Everyone is surprised when they learn how naughty I was in my teens and twenties! Ditto smoking, I used to smoke 20 a day and people always say "you don't look like a smoker" - whatever that means!

That I'm permanently happy, upbeat and a real goody two shoes

I have suffered with mental illness, ptsd and very low self esteem. As a result of a real shitty, violent childhood, I went off the rails in my late teens

It would probably really shock some people if they knew

That I’m tough and can cope with everything life throws at me. Ended being off with stress and anxiety for 4 months 🤣

That I’m outgoing and make friends easy.

When in reality introvert and have bad social anxiety. I do make ‘friends‘ easily but they always seem shallow friendships to me because they don’t know the real me. Only my best friend of 30 years knows me - not even my DH

Zisforstripyoss I love your username

People (mainly my in laws) think I’m aloof. The truth is that I’m an introvert where they’re extrovert and I tend to just let them get on with it while I quietly sit back and observe.

I'm autistic so very socially awkward and quiet, people assume I'm standoffish and unfriendly when I just struggle with small talk.

People also assume I'm boring and a goody two shoes because I'm pretty serious and don't like big parties when I actually have a very dry sense of humour and have a lot of tales to tell about scrapes I have gotten into.

That I'm straight, and that my only real relationship has been my husband.

I absolutely stunned my colleagues during Never Have I Ever at a work hen do last year.

People seem to think I'm stuck up, play by the rules and am quite boring. I think I'm the opposite 🤔

That I'm a nice person, little do they know

I am really goofy too - but don't at all look it.

That I sail cheerfully through life without any problems.

I do have a few, but I am very private about such things and don’t like to discuss them, even with close friends.

That I enjoy cooking and can sing.
I've had several cookery books bought for me by different work colleagues. I don't enjoy cooking at all.
Whenever I have been in a pub and karaoke has been on, people who don't know me well assume, wrongly, that I must be up for singing and always try to get me to choose a song.

That I deny myself 'bad' foods because I've never been overweight (really not true, I love eating!).

That I'm tall.

That I'm a ball breaker with men...I'm not , I have everyone's backs who deserve it at work regardless of sex and my son's are my absolute world although to be fair I will make sure they will always respect their partners 🙄..maybes too much though 🤷

That I’m extremely confident and independent. On the surface I am, but underneath I’m very insecure and a bit lonely.

ChaToilLeam I so get that and I understand why you don't...I'm the same