What is the cheekiest thing someone has asked of you?

[Conniebygaslight]

There have been many but reading on another thread about the CFery of a school mum reminded me of a time when my DC were at primary.
A mum asked if I’d mind picking her DC up from school and taking them to another school a few miles away where they were competing in an intersports thing. My DC were competing too so I agreed assuming she was working.
When we got there, said mum was already there in the front row with her DH & DPs. I asked what was going on, she replied that they wanted a good seat and parking so didn’t want to wait until their DC finished school so they could get their first. I was absolutely stunned…I still laugh at the audacity of this years later🤣🤣

Back in my 20s, I used to make a lot of my own clothes. Anyway, I'd designed and made a nice red and black floral velvet fitted dress for myself (it was the 90s!) and a CF friend saw it, liked it and went out and bought the exact same material and then also asked me to make it for her (for free!) - in the exact same design because she 'really liked it.' She added that I'd need to make it 'the next size or so down though' as she was 'much slimmer' than me. I was so gobsmacked and young and stupid, I didn't say anything (don't worry, I would now!)

A mutual friend told me later that she'd taken CF friend aside and told her this was all very poor form and that friends don't directly copy someone else's dress they'd designed for themselves. Didn't stop CF going ahead anyway and getting someone to make it for her (and then complaining about having to pay because I wouldn't do it!!).

The funniest bit was one night I was wearing my dress to the same event CF was wearing hers and someone asked me if I'd copied CF's.

I was 8 months pregnant with twins. I could no longer cope on my own with my autistic 3 year old who loved to run away. DH raided the last of our savings and paid for our 3 year old to go to nursery.
CF friend found out that my 3 year old would be in nursery and declared that it was great because now I could look after her 3 year old as, her childminder was away for a month. She was delighted that this would save her money.
She was very offended when I explained that we didn’t spend our savings so that I could watch her child.

She'll be lucky ... NY to Vancouver is a 48 hour drive each way

One of my team at work claimed she’d sprained her ankle getting on the plane back from holiday. Expected her to have a couple of weeks off max but she kept extending and extending her sick note. Claimed she couldn’t walk at all for over six weeks. Eventually, she extended her sick note yet again on the grounds that she still couldn’t walk and simultaneously put in a CF holiday request (flying abroad) which entirely overlapped her sick note.
The holiday was refused on the grounds that she hadn’t given enough notice (which she hadn’t). At that point her absence had also triggered Occupational health assessment and an email went out to inform her (nothing to do with the holiday).
The very next day at 9am she pranced into the office walking absolutely fine and handed in her notice! Afterwards rumours abounded that she had been out and about looking totally fit for a while.
I could never understand her reasoning cos she’d seemed entirely happy in her work and the job that she got subsequently was lower paid, anti social hours and gave her a long and expensive commute! She really did shoot herself in the foot! 😂

Without looking at a map, that's like staying at your friend's house in London for free for a week.....and then asking them to drive you to you other friend's house..... in Istanbul.

When my DC were 3 and 1 someone I knew asked me if I could look after her kids for the day so she could go to work. Their childminder wouldn't have them because they had a sickness bug.

Errr. Nope.

She sounds like Queen Mary, wife of George V, apparently when she was honouring various members of the nobility with her presence if she admired something that was code for 'deliver it to me', this was once a dining table and 18 chairs!

A few of us regularly looked after a classmate of DCs as his mum was always running in late to pickup, struggling with family commitments, poorly parents etc. Or so she said. Fed him, took him home with us many times so she could handle miscellaneous dramas emergencies.
One day I got a call to say my mum had an accident and was going into surgery. I needed childcare fast, just till DH returned from work. An hour at most. So I called mum of classmate. No apology, no ‘how’s your mum’ just ‘can’t help you Geller, got to stay in and wait for adult(!) DC to arrive’ for some flimsy non urgent reason I’ve since blanked out.
We didn’t babysit again and after the other mums found out, neither did anyone else.

Strange woman she must of been having a good old nosy watching you in your garden. We had this with neighbours at the back of us we have a large back garden with high fence the woman behind us used to stare out of the window. They had no back garden when they came out of there back door there was a hilly area that led to our fence. My husband heard her tell her children to climb the fence on to our shed to access our garden to use trampoline, swings etc. This happened when we were out and we only found out when our neighbour told us. I caught the children in the garden when my husband was out in the car and told them not to come in again they could of hurt themselves. We found broken eggs on the trampoline for a couple of months after this most likely thrown from there upstairs window.

This year, my neighbor from 2 doors away asked me via WhatsApp to take in a small parcel for her at lunchtime as she was going out. I am disabled and it is painful and difficult to get to my front door so I said yes.
The deliveries (plural) started at 9am, the first one was one of those massive water bucket things for gardens, it took up all the space in my tiny front doorwell and the delivery guy had to push it in as I couldn't pick it up. The next deliveries were massive yucca plants in ceramic pots (x2), 4 bags of compost and multiple bags of pebbles/stones. I couldn't bring them in my house as the water bucket was blocking the front door and I was speaking to the delivery guy through my doorbell. I rang my neighbour who asked me if I could nip across the road and ask some men from the pub to help me.

She really is quite sweet though tbf.

Do you mean that you were waiting for a man you’d never met before, to come to your house for a ‘hook-up’ ( guessing this means sex?) and you were bothered that he wanted a sandwich making?? 😮
I’d be way more bothered about my personal safety than the contents of a sandwich!!
Or am I getting old?🤔

So what would you call her?

I let a friend stay with me after she left her husband. She lived rent free for months. She didn't even take me out for a drink to say thanks!
We're not in touch now.

My sister who is a notorious CF did this at my grandparent's old house. She knocked on the door, there was only a kid at home and she asked him to look around, and went in. The mum turned up and was clearly WTF are you doing in my house with my child? Wasn't first thing in the morning but still very cheeky.

Freecycle seems to attract the cheeky fuckers.

I gave away a nursing glider chair – it was in excellent condition and the only thing was a small amount of the vinyl upholstery had peeled away.

Woman duly collected it and then started bombarding me with text saying that I needed to pay her to have it re-upholstered.

Did I mention that this item was given away to this woman for free?!

I had this on Vinted… sold a pair of jeans for £4. They were clearly not new but perfectly wearable and looked fine. The buyer had already knocked a pound off and when they’d received it proceeded to bombard me about how the jeans had clearly been worn etc etc. they were clearly marked and priced as second hand jeans. I told them that I’d refund if they paid to send them back and they got very shitty with me. I went onto their profile and there was
review after review from sellers saying how this person was a scammer. Just so pathetic - over a £4 pair of jeans!

I had similar happen to me. I was actually full and one of the mum said her friend was desperate and couldn't find childcare could I have the baby. I said I was full but she kept asking and giving this sob story so I took on an assistant to accommodate this child did the settling in sessions and the first couple days then the space she actually wanted in nursery became available and she asked me to refund her the money for the hours she hadn't used that first month. I was furious I lost money for two months till I filled the spaces and I never wanted to care for that many kids anyway

A family my DD used to look after their kids during school holidays asked my DD if she wouldn't mind looking after their 2 kids all weekend as they were going to a wedding and planning on staying overnight.

On the Saturday morning my DD arrived at their house to find that the mum thought it would be a nice idea to organise a sleepover and each child had a friend staying for the weekend plus another couple of friends were coming over for tea later that day!!!!

Fortunately my DD knew all the kids and they were all well behaved!!! After that she always asked how many children she would be looking after!!

I have a few but here are my top two:

DD1 was at primary school. DD1's friend's mum was trying to get back into the workforce and asked for help on her CV, which I did. She got a job
She then asked if her daughter could come home with mine to play every day, as her DD hated after school care. Mine did too, which is why I had changed my work hours. Girls were fine together but mum would offload onto me at pick up, but never socialised outside of this- other mums yes, but not me.
This went on for about a year. Then one day, she mentioned that her son was already home, and she had spent the afternoon at home with her husband. They did not want to collect daughter it would give them time to relax. That killed that arrangement. And we have never spoken again.

We used a house sitting service. Someone lives for free in your home and looks after your pets while you are on holiday. It works really well and most people are lovely.
last year, returning from a long haul trip, our flight was changed to arrive 3 hours early. So rather than 2pm, it was 11am. I messaged our house sitter 4 days before to tell her this. She was furious and asked that we just wait at our home airport for those hours, until she was due to leave. She was really angry that she now had to fill 3 hours. I was totally bewildered

I used to commute to London every day. As did many of my colleagues. I would commute by train from Waterloo to Winchester then by bus a further 35 minutes to my village and then a 10-ish minute walk home. So reasonably significant journey.

I did this for 8 years and including through my pregnancy before I went on maternity leave at 8 months.

The very new girlfriend of a friend of DHs' lived in the 'Winchester environs'. The first time I met her was when she invited DH and I to dinner at her flat. While there she told us that she was going to France for 2 months, and happily, as I was 'passing by' twice a day she thought it would be ideal for me to pop into her flat and water her plants. In order for me to do that I would have to get off my train then get a taxi to go to where her flat was. Then I would have to taxi back to the station and get my bus home. I was extremely pregnant when she suggested this and when i weakly commented I would be going on maternity leave soon she brightly said 'Oh you have more time them to do it!'.

I fucking did it. I fucking did it. twice a fucking week until I gave birth and then DH did it for me.

I have no idea- no idea at all why we did this. I am cringing at myself- and angry with myself for thinking that this was okay.

About 3 years later she and her partner (DH's friend)n stayed with us for a week while they did a sporting event that was near our house. I had not actually seen her in all that time and had put on 3 stone after a traumatic childbirth, breaking my pelvis and being bedbound. She looked me up and down and trilled ;'Heavens! I see I shall have to teach you how to eat properly!'.

I used to be such a fucking pathetic mug. But that did it for me and i have been a recalcitrant non-cooperative bitch since then and no-one walks over me.

I run a business. And I developed a circle of work acquaintances (other freelancers) when I lived in the city. It was nice at the time. We’d go to the same events, catch up and it would be lovely. But I worked in marketing whereas they all worked in design.

I would often find myself dishing out free advice or doing little free favours, never asking for anything in return. On the one occasion I did ask a woman for some advice, she put together a quote. This, after I’d spent a day writing her website copy for free! (NOT that I expected anything in return!!) It was a sting, and reminder never to ask for help from anyone.

Anyway, I’ve really injured myself this year and have been dealing with endless pain, sleepless nights and I’ve barely been able to leave the house since Christmas. I haven’t had any choice but to keep working. It has been quite the challenge.

The people from this group know this. Yet for the last four months, it has amazed me how many of them have texted to ask how I am, only to follow it up with a “could you just do this for me”. Some of them have done it more than twice!

I now count this experience as a blessing. It has taught me the value of saying no, protecting my energy, and understanding the important boundary between work and play. These are not my friends. Yet it amazes me how they would imply we are to get what they want. I feel like a mug for being so nice all these years. I’m just so grateful I have toughened up!

I have changed my phone number and will never hand it out again. And if anyone emails or messages for advice? I shall say, “sure… but I’m not taking on any new work right now, given my situation. I’d be happy to quote in future, when I am recovered…”

CAF!

Ha! @everlastingpanini The cheek! I wouldn’t beat yourself up, if you still do. You’re in the nice camp. It took me until a severe back injury this year and the grand age of 46 to learn the lesson of saying no, of setting boundaries and speaking up.

I learned a technique for dealing with people like the lady you mention. It’s the parrot technique. I used it on my MIL a few times. And it works! It’s all powerful. All you do is repeat what they say. And look at them, hold their gaze. Not aggressively. Just with bemusement. Nine times out of ten they squirm. It’s fun to watch

After everything I’ve been through of late, I feel unstoppable. If any fuc&er thinks they’re going to walk all over me or say what they want, they are sadly mistaken. No longer will I reflect on what I could have said. Or done. I’ll just do it. Not with being nasty. No. Confidence and assertiveness. I’ve been practicing, LOL! On anyone I can.

Someone who knows I’m unwell asked for some business advice recently, on a Sunday. I ignored his fifth text of the year, asking for much the same. And then took three days to email him. Via my work address. And I dealt with him professionally. He emailed again a week later, asking for more help. (Probably because I’ve changed my number!) I deleted it.

People will continue to treat us like mugs until we say no. And if they have an issue with that? Well, it just proves we did the right thing!

Oh the free work.... don't get me started.

A friend I hadn't heard from a while back rang me up wanting some copywriting done for his new venture, I was to be paid in 'future equity.' I emailed him asking for more details and I'd let him know how much it would cost and was told it had been put on ice for now. What a surprise!

Another person would just send me marketing copy and saying, can you quickly look at this? I'll pay you if you want. (Knowing full well if I did ask to be paid all hell would break loose.) Yes, I can rinse a page of copy in half an hour but the reason I can do that is my twenty years of experience, which I deserve to be paid for. Not to mention that I have my own deadlines that I get paid actual money for and I don't want to give 15 or 20 minutes of brain energy to someone else's project for free.

And don't get me started on people wanting to meet for coffee to 'pick my brain'. A morning gone, all I do is give advice, and I pay for the coffee!

I don't do anything for free now but I should have been a lot stronger from the start.

Took DD to her friend's party in the park last year. The mum dumped food, drink, cups out, still in sealed packets & went & sat on a park bench to 'have a break' with her partner, leaving me & and another dad alone with the kids. Tbh we weren't even sure kids who just turned up were even supposed to be there!

The mum came back half an hour later, did the cake & announced she'd love to pack up & take a quick stroll to the market in the park. The dad & I said we'd walk the kids up to the playground (next to the market) & she could meet us there in about 10 minutes.

Over an hour later she rocked up, saying to one of the kids their mum was on the way. Parents had plenty of thank you's to the 'host' mum. umm.... But she did literally nothing...😂

Reminds me why I don't leave my DC alone at park parties.

I had a member of staff who worked certain set hours and I had to sign off a timesheet. She wanted me to sign to say that she had worked until 4 but wanted to go at 2.30. She was furious when I refused and genuinely thought I was unreasonable despite the fact that it would have been gross misconduct for both of us.