What's the most ridiculous thing anyone has said to you?

[chimamandafan]

I occasionally volunteer at a local community centre. It's managed by a woman who tells anyone who cares to listen that she has a medical condition that means she can't eat. She looks well-nourished but I've always been too polite to ask her questions about her condition.

I volunteered at an afternoon event today. I get the seniors to their seats and make pots of tea. Cake was served. The woman who never eats was standing there eating cake.

'Look at you, eating cake! Are you better?' I said. 'Oh,' she said, 'you know me, you know I can't eat because of my medical condition.' 'But you're eating...' She walked off and is apparently really pissed off with me. Apparently I'm rude.

There are some real weirdos around, aren't there?

Oh dear lord. Just awful now. Such a shame.

Oh, just remembered one. When I was 15, a girl in my class at school kindly took me to one side, and explained to me that I’d never get a boyfriend if I kept answering questions in class. In order to avoid a life of lonely spinsterhood, I should get some questions wrong on purpose, and giggle more.

What made this all the more ridiculous was that we were at a girls’ school

@bonzaitree I'd have told her I was much too busy dealing with rude customers.

Ordinarily, but if somebody tells you they cannot eat, and then wanders about eating, that would leave me confused!

You're possibly quite right 😂

We have been NC for almost 4 blissfull years...says it all.

"You can't be in labour, because you haven't asked for any pain relief yet."

I insisted on an examination, lo and behold I was 7cm dilated and they rushed me to delivery.

(Also, I had asked for pain relief, but it had never materialised.)

I love this one 😂

My daughter tells me that her neighbour, a teacher, thinks that the sun and the moon are the same and that it doesn't shine so brightly at night because it is night time.

I have odd hair
It's not curly enough for curls but not wavy enough for waves
It's a dream to straighten

My sil-get your straighteners as hot as you can and train your hair to stay straight
Do this enough and it will learn-I did and look at my hair

She followed this up with 'if you break your straighteners,just use your iron

Silly cow has poker straight hair that she doesn't even have to brush let alone 'train'

I've never followed this advice as I don't want to burn my hair off

Bit of a feminist side track but a few years ago I was very, very physically fit and strong. My upper body was very built. I took my younger brother bouldering (rock climbing indoors), it was the first time he'd ever been and the wall we went to needed newcomers to be accompanied by experienced climbers, which I was more than qualified to do.

Went to go and visit my parents that evening and we talked about what we'd done that day and my dad turned to me and fully earnestly said "so we're you able to do at least some of what [brother] could do?". I was fuming. Brother instantly protested "she was my instructor, she can do everything!". Dad couldn't see what he'd done wrong.

Brother was not physically fit, just a boy so he must have been better, obviously. Maybe only ridiculous in context, I guess.

This may be apocryphal but I heard of a master at a reunion of former pupils at an elite public school asked an OB 'Was it you or your brother who was killed in the war?'

When I had my first appointment at a pain management clinic. The doctor asked if I had any thoughts on why I had so much pain. I replied it was due to the genetic condition that runs in my family and told him what it was. He then asked how long I’d had the condition. I said from birth.

I know HCPs sometimes ask seemingly obvious questions to check whether you understand something, but this guy was genuinely serious when he asked how long I’d had a genetic condition.

When I was 18 I had a bad car accident. My face was full of stitches, about 30 IIRC. I worked in the emergency services. They sent the 'welfare' guy to see me. He very unhelpfully said to me, "Well, that's your looks gone then". Not the best thing to hear at that time.

FWIW, I have a couple of small scars left, 40+ yrs later. But I rarely think of them now. And I've still got it! Hasn't stopped blokes wanting to marry me, and nobody ever mentions it. So a retrospective 'up yours' to him and his shockingly miscast welfare role

My husband had no time for Princess Diana, believing all rumours of her affairs with Hewitt etc. When I told him that she was pregnant again he said ,'Huh. I bet it isn't hers'!

I have a rare autoimmune condition that doesn't have a cause in that it's autoimmune

Doctor "so why do you have this?"
Me "it's autoimmune"
Doctor "and what causes that?"
Me if I knew that I would be able to find a cure and then be very wealthy!

It's interesting, isn't it @DrSbaitso .
We also seem to have regressed in other ways...."how did your husband propose to you?" "He never proposed, we just discussed our future together" 😲

I had a dental abscess (filling had cracked in a big back tooth) and needed antibiotics to settle it down before they could treat it.
I saw an emergency dentist (usual practice, not usual dentist) who was extremely confrontational and belligerent when l said that to the best of my knowledge l was only able to take one particular antibiotic, having reacted badly at some point to every other one l'd ever been prescribed. Some of which l'd taken for years, then developed extreme allergy symptoms.
"How do you KNOW you're allergic? Have you been tested?"
No doctor has ever questioned me on this in my 64 years. Every time l've been in hospital they have to give me two red wristbands with my allergies written on them (it's not just antibiotics), and just accepted that this is the case. There are actually red flags on my medical records relating to it.
Yet this man, who had never seen me before, and knew nothing about my medical history, despite this information being on every medical form I've ever filled in at the practice, was adamant about prescribing medication and send me home with it, knowing l lived alone and had l developed anaphylactic shock, l could have died.
Eventually after a stand off he very grudgingly gave me a prescription for the antibiotic l said l could tolerate. Which is one which is known to be very effective for dental abscesses, as it happens.
Then l went straight to reception and said l never wanted to see him again, and l wanted the reason put on their system. They didn't question it at all, and updated my records there and then.

So far as l'm aware, he's not at that dental practice now. I'm still with them.
I wonder if this wasn't actually a one off.

"I am allergic to Vitamin C"
She was a pain in the arse, that one.

There are genetic disorders that manifest in later life (I have one)

Not dissimilar to the OP, l worked with a man who insisted he was 'allergic to dairy' and always had black coffee, but if any of us took in cake with cream and/or chocolate, he was first in the queue, and then back for seconds.

We get some corkers on a Facebook group about living in the Algarve. A while back an American man was thinking about retiring here and wanted to know if Portugal had running water. He received a LOT of replies 😂

The exact thing happend to me. Young girl in a fiat 500, told me it was stupid to stop at red light when there was nothing in front of me and that she was so upset that I had damaged her car with my bad driving🙄

To the previous poster talking about homeless people having card machines - it is true that the people selling the homeless magazine do now have card machines! I’m sure that is what they meant. I once told one of them that I couldn’t buy the magazine as I don’t have cash and she said she had a card machine. The local one outside our co-op has a card machine and so does the one stationed outside the Waitrose!

That dogs are way harder and more tying than children. Said to a group of mothers who all had teenagers or young adults.
There was utter silence in response then everyone burst out laughing.