I find April Fools day distressing

[Username947531]

Does anyone else hate it? I've got CPTSD and find it very hard to trust people. It's caused ASD type behaviours where i like things to be clear and often take things at face value. April Fools is hideous for me as I hate pranks at the best of times. Laughing at someone's distress and confusion is a horrible thing to do.

I do an activity that I love. It was a gorgeous day today so I went to said activity and the people running it had pranked everyone by displaying some information that would make the activity much harder. When I asked if it was a prank they promised me it wasn't. Of course it turned out to be one. It ruined the experience for me and now I can't trust the organisers. I feel irrationally upset about it and don't know how to get over that.

Why do people think this stuff is funny?

Its not funny - its dire and boring

gosh i can’t remember ever being pranked or this even a thing anymore!

how old are you?

did anyone else fall for it

organisers sound horrendous.

Nearly 50! Everyone else thought it was hilarious.

so others turned up? on bank holiday monday everyone thought it was funny to waste their time to turn up to a non event?

wait i’ve just seen it

and the people running it had pranked everyone by displaying some information that would make the activity much harder.

oh that doesn’t sound so bad op!

This is everything that is wrong with society. Ban joy! The perennial victims are weeping.

No you misunderstand. The activity took place as normal, just some of the information at the start was incorrect. Imagine it was cycling and they had added a huge hill to the course which turned out not to be the case.

You know there are people that live in war zones right?

I’m autistic and I can’t bear it. I play a word game every morning and today they’ve made it impossible as a ‘joke’ and it put me in a right bad mood to start the day!

Some pranks are funny. DD shouted down to me to please get a giant bee out of her room today, I rushed up and it was a large letter B she'd drawn on some paper.

Made me chuckle.

I get it op. I too hate pranks. I'm glad I've been at work and no pranks have been played on anyone.

There are also disabled and neuro diverse people who take part in activities and this prank made them upset and confused about whether they could complete it. That's OK is it because others live in war zones?

This is completely irrelevant and just designed to put the OP down.
It’s possible to be concerned about more than 1 thing at a time.

It doesn’t sound very funny. Maybe enough for an eye roll but certainly not hilarious. But April fools day is part of the culture.

so is this enough to make you want to change clubs? Given that it’s April fools day and these sort of japes are par for the course, has it really destroyed your trust in them for the next 12 months?

Do you hate all pranks or is the issue that this was an unsuitable prank?

I hate April Fools day. I find it tedious and irritating. I also hate pranks in general and pranks shows on TV. I don’t like pranks that are set up to involve random people and not targeted to those you know would be happy and accepting of participating.

Well op it's not going to stop or change

April fools day will still happen every year, not sure what you are expecting?

Is the word game NYT connections? If so, it is still basically a word game, you just need to think what words the emojis represent.

I hate all pranks but I can put up with them if they don't negatively affect others and if they are not played on me. I accept some people find them funny. The ones I find horrible are ones that cause others distress or confusion.

and yet you’re on mumsnet 😆

As pranks go, it's harmless. It wasn't designed to single out one person and make them look stupid. It was a joke that the organisers created, everyone saw the same thing, they obviously revealed at some point that there wasn't a massive hill on the cycling course, and nobody was pointing and laughing at anyone in "distress".

That is not on the same scale at all as something like candid camera or those awful Ant and Dec style "pranks" which are indeed designed to target an individual and make them look stupid.

It’s not, but I do have friends that play that one!

Don't think it was a non event just an addition to the event.

That's the way I read it too. A sign saying that Parkrun was going to be 13 miles today rather than 3. Or that rather than using a mountainbike to come down the hill, today it'd be completed on a unicycle. Or a new rule made it compulsory to carry a heavy weight up a hill as well as your usual rucksack.