What is the most childish behaviour you have witnessed in an adult ?

[WildRosie]

Mine isn't dramatic but it was pathetic and cringeworthy nevertheless. Our hero was a work colleague of mine in his mid to late twenties, a little sensitive and utterly mollycoddled by his parents. One evening at work, he prepares to put his microwave meal in the microwave oven but, having read the heating instructions, he learns that said meal is "Not suitable for microwave cooking". Fair enough, that's a bummer, especially when you're peckish on a late shift. His reaction was to phone his Mum straight away and whine to her, rather than taking it on the chin and nipping out to the shops or for fish and chips. In other words, taking appropriate responsibility for his meals like a grown man should do didn't occur to him. His priority was to go crying to Mummy. Drip. Painful and ridiculous.

@BearSoFair

Some might say having an argument on a forum thread would be a good example of childish behaviour in itself

Ha ha - exactly what I was just thinking !

I agree people trying to point score against anonymous people on this kind of thread is beyond childish! 😂 I know MN is a debate forum but those two posters earlier on this thread were beyond ridiculous - no one cared which one of you was in the right, take your beef to private messages if you must persist with it!

My mother-way too many stories but the best one was her birthday

(Not a ‘big’ birthday)

She suddenly decided she wanted to go out for a meal so we all got summoned to turn up (my dad,myself,4 kids my 3 brothers and girlfriends)

I’d had a baby (no4) weeks earlier and had pnd,didn’t want to go but got us all glammed up and showed up

She threw a tantrum because we all got there 15 minutes early and we had to wait in the bar

I’m talking a full blown toddler tantrum-I’m talking on the floor squealing like a two year old while we all sat having a drink

We got seated after ignoring her so she sat and sulked through the starter

We got to the mains and at this point the baby started getting a bit hungry and started to grizzle

She kept making snide comments about ‘getting your tits out’ and ‘can’t you fucking shut him up?’

I ignored her and started feeding him which left me with just one hand to eat-a steak that cost me almost £15 for a lump of burnt meat the size of my palm-nothing else-when I tried to reach for a potato she snatched the bowl away out of my reach

She threw another tantrum (I’m talking stamped feet and dirty looks)over the fact my other 3 kids where starting to get a bit restless and had another go because I gave them crayons and pictures to colour in-it was ‘unnecessary’ and ‘if you’d brought them up right they wouldn’t need crap like that’

Dessert arrived-she moaned and moaned as the only thing she liked was cheesecake but she didn’t ‘fancy it’ and somehow this was all my fault-she had a right go at the poor waitress and my dad over this-tears and screaming at them

Got through all this without losing my rag

We got outside and she just blew her top-somehow I was meant to have read her mind and had a massive bouquet of flowers and a birthday cake delivered to the restaurant for her,have kids that just looked at her the whole time with loving looks because she was the worlds best nan and she wanted everyone to know it,baby shouldn’t have been hungry as I should have fed him beforehand even tho even at a few weeks old he would have refused it as he’d fallen into his own routine and I was greedy for having the steak (even though I paid my way for myself and my kids)

Sod the fact I was a skint single mum at the time,I had pnd so badly I didn’t know which way was up and this was all aimed at me not my dad,brothers or their girlfriends who didn’t have 4 kids,a lot more money and time to arrange all this,none of them where mindreaders either and none of them where Ill

I told her to take a long walk off a short plank-preferably off a cliff and when she hit the bottom she should fucking grow up and walked off

I found out months later that she’d rang everyone she knew to slag me off for my behaviour!

I was the unreasonable one who didn’t get her some shitty flowers or a cake and showed her up all night!

Im now nc and she can’t understand why

My nan: latest in a looong line of ridiculous behaviour. Asked me to help her dry up when I popped round. No problem, I go into the kitchen, she is washing a plate then dries it. I said did you want me to help? She starts ranting at me that I am horrible/selfish and "always take over" - she had asked me to follow the plumber upstairs to help him with an issue and discuss etc which I did and he was coming back later that day to resolve she then wouldn't hand over th teatowel and I said again, come on, I can dry. She still wouldn't... She then almost starts crying that "her friend would've snatched th teatowel and WANTED AND FORCED themselves to help" . I said well I'm not going to snatch it from you but I'm happy to help. She then handed it over. I don't know why she is like this, she has been like it since her children were young. Maybe molly coddled by everyone? I don't know, but very weird behaviour from a 67 year old.

My sister, a fully grown woman, still sends my parents links to multiple designer clothes and shoes about 6 months before her birthday and expects multiple presents from them, not just clothes but chocolate, expensive alcohol, etc.

I also know a woman who, at the age of 25, blatantly ignores people she doesn't like and makes it very obvious.

A person from my past, 28 at the time used to say "I want..." followed by something I would never give him. I would often reply "I want doesn't get." as if I was talking to a toddler.

He would pout, sulk, accuse me of being a bitch etc when I said no and have either a tantrum, give me the silent treatment or do the disappearing act. Also used to say "It's not fair." a lot when he didn't get what he wanted.

Blames others when things don't go his way or if he's messed up. He was always the victim and senior members of staff were either botched or bullies. Never took responsibility for anything and blame shifted.

An actual child has more empathy and emotional maturity than this horrible person.

At a previous job my coworker’s spouse died. The people closest to our coworker used their lunch break to go to the funeral, staying late to make up the extra time. One absolute arsehole started kicking up a fuss, whining to anyone who’d listen, complaining about how unfair it was that people got to leave during the work day and he had to stay. They were at a funeral and he didn’t have to do any extra work! I don’t think anyone who worked that day ever forgave him.

Another coworker took a few weeks off work to have an elective procedure. It was a necessary procedure however nothing life threatening. They then stomped and whined at the end of the year because they didn’t get a 100% attendance award. Apparently their absence shouldn’t have been counted, just everyone else’s.

100% attendance awards discriminate against people with health conditions. I’m surprised they are allowed under the Equalities Act.

When I was 16 I worked in a department store. A customer asked if she could take shoes from one concession into changing room to try on with clothes from another concession, one of the rules of the store was that because the shoes weren’t tagged we couldn’t allow customers to take them into changing rooms, and the clothes she was trying them on with was in a completely different part of the shop. I was a teenager, I didn’t make the rules. When I politely explained this to her (which I used to hate doing if this issue came up) she started shouting and having a full on tantrum drawing as much attention as possible and then shouted “YOU ARE LEAVING ME WITH NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE MY TROUSERS OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOP!!!! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT BECAUSE I WILL DO IT????” She then proceeded to undo her trousers and start pulling them down in front of all the customers.

A relative of mine. She phones you up, insults you, then really quickly says she has to go so you can't say anything back. The insults are really childish and completely unprovoked.