Unsolicited comments from strangers - what’s your rudest/funniest one?

[maria199]

Bit of a funny one really but yesterday I was about to go for a walk near a nature area and I was putting my 4 month old in her pram. She had just been in the car for a little while so when I put her into the pram she started crying (don’t worry - she loves the pram and was fine as soon as we started walking!)

As I was putting her in a woman in her late 60’s/70’s walked past with an elderly man and she says to the man “oh a little crying baby! must be hungry!” She then asked me how old my baby was so I told her 4 months old and she says to me “she sounds hungry!” I said “no she’s just been fed (she had), she just doesn’t like being put down” (in a friendly way) and she says to me “oh you’ve spoilt her then!” and laughed. I was a bit taken aback because how can you spoil a 4 month old baby?? 😂

Anyway, she walked on and it wasn’t exactly a malicious comment but it did make me think why on earth do people always love to comment, especially to people they don’t know!!!

It just made me curious - what are the funniest/rudest/weirdest interactions people have had from strangers when out with their baby?

When I was 16 I worked on the checkout at Tesco. I was putting a big shop through for a woman who was probably in her forties and had to stop to change the till roll.
As I stood up side on to her, she said to me with a tone that venomous I haven't heard since "You won't be that slim forever you know."
Two children and 31 years later I near enough am - not that it matters. I still wonder what was going on in her life to feel it necessary to make that comment to a teenager.

I hope you never gave that hairdresser a tip for being such a horrible nasty person. The old man would have got a few choice words from me these days too- menopause has removed my filter.

This happened 3 times. Standing in the Speedy Boarding queue for Easy Jet. A man shouted at me "you won't get there any quicker than me".

I was a teenager when my youngest sibling was born. I was taking the toddler to the park with my boyfriend to give my mum a break when two women walked past and hissed ‘disgusting, that baby has no chance’.

Working in retail while heavily pregnant with my DS…
One lady told me “it’s a shame you didn’t think to lose weight before getting pregnant - you’ll be massive by the end. Oh well…congratulations” 🫠🤣
Another time I was serving a customer and had a small queue when a woman squeezed past them all to get to me at the desk and pointed straight at me and shouted “pregnant!” 😂 I was like “ehhhm….yes” and she replied at the top of her voice “I knew it!!! Remember when you tear and have stitches in your bits, they heal faster if you lie on the bed after your bath and let yourself air dry. Or use the hairdryer if you’re in a rush” 🤣🤣🤣 The queue of customers were all standing staring in disbelief 🤣 I just replied “just the thought I’m sure everyone wants on this lovely morning” and continued serving 🤣
People are loopy!

Heavily pregnant I walked into a butchers shop, the young men behind the counter started shouting ‘We know what you’ve been doing’

Walking through John Lewis with my daughter and an elderly lady pointed out where the reduced items were. I was shocked at her comment, and just carried on walking!

We got a rescue pup at 6m old. I took a month off work to get her socialised but TBF she was pretty good already just a bit timid.
I was on a walk to the town centre (to get her used to people and traffic) and encouraging focus on me and good lead walking. I was crossing a track in a field when I noticed she was looking behind us frequently and there was a guy walking quite purposefully behind us. I ushered her along but it was clear he was totally spooking her. He drew alongside and she disappeared behind my legs as he came up roaring at her ‘HELLO DOGGY HELOOOOOOO!’ She was absolutely terrified. He kept reaching out to her and she was spinning around my legs trying to get away. I told him he was spooking her as he was looming over her with his hands. He then told me that I was a failure as a dog owner, that I had failed to socialise her and she would be a nightmare as she grew older. He then said he would be walking that route every day and checking in on me as he was unsatisfied with my dog owning capabilities.
I told him she was fine until he’d arrived and scared the shit out of her and walked away in the opposite direction with him yelling ‘I’ll be watching you, you know nothing about dogs!’ I grew some balls and yelled ‘I don’t need your fucking unsolicited advice!’

Never saw him again and we walk that route everyday. And the dog now 5 and is perfectly socialised! Wanker.

I had this as well by a Turkish man! With the exception of the degree in facial recognition! It was in Germany.

He asked me where I was from and when I said England he just refused to believe it. Initially shouted ‘no!’ Then Kept asking where I was ‘really’ from. I remember it went on for an uncomfortable amount of time and he kept asking his colleagues’ opinions. Apparently everyone in the UK is blonde haired and blue eyed, not like me.

Loads of ageism. What a surprise. A rude person is a rude person. It’s not age dependent.

Someone came up to me and asked where the nearest Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was. When I said I didn’t know, they told me I ‘looked like the sort of person who would’.

I don’t know whether I should have been annoyed I looked like an alcoholic, or flattered I looked the sort of person who is clued up on local services.

My children looked very alike when young, however they have different hair colour, eye colour and skin tone to me. I’ve been asked whether they are my children - to rude!

Rudest comment every thought was asking a sale assistant in another care where the nursing bras were and being told I should come back after I had my baby. DS (5 days old) was in the pram next to me.

Fraternal twins could have different fathers, if the woman had slept with two men very close together. Amazingly rude thing to suggest though, obvs.

I was at a baby group with my then toddler. I'm a bit alternative and dressed my toddler in funky clothes. Someone said to me "I love your toddlers pyjamas".

It was about 10am. I was fully dressed. Why the hell did someone think I'd brought my toddler to a baby group in pyjamas. They were normal clothes with a print on the trousers!

My son has atopic eczema. It runs in his dad's family. The allergy doctor said he had allergy because I had eaten fish whilst pregnant.
A) it is common knowledge that the disease is hereditary and
B) I had not eaten any fish during the pregnancy as a report that came out just before said that they were full of heavy metal and should be avoided while pregnant.

I didn't have much faith in her competence after that.

Im so sick of hearing "you got your hands full" . I usually have a 4yr old and a 2yr old everywhere I go, these arnt all my kids, the rest are at school. But even when the older ones were younger, doent matter where you go its always " you have your hands full"!

I was eating my sandwich lunch at work having not long returned from maternity leave. Colleague walked past and said, “You’re not eating for two now, you know….” 😐

@maria199
I don’t know why people do that - offering unsolicited advice in terms of your baby. My DS is 25 now but I still haven’t forgotten all the things complete strangers came out with when I was out walking him. It’s bad enough that professionals gave different advice without complete strangers adding to the confusion. Really difficult, especially if it’s your first. I’m glad that you seem a more confident mum than I was.

Possibly outing as Ive told this story to friends.

When I had my first DC, I was in Waitrose (DC was about a month old and I was cradling them). An older lady (70s/80s) stops me, and says “what a sweet baby.” As she says this, DH suddenly appears next to me, the woman looks at me and says “and I suppose this is the father?”. As quick as anything, DH replies “oh no, Im just the side piece” 😂

But I think the worst one wasn’t actually me, it was someone I knew from a toddler group. We both had two year olds and she was very heavily pregnant so we were all excited the following week when she arrived sans bump and cradling a newborn, all very lovely except it emerged on the way she’d been stopped and given commiserations because she’d had a second boy.

I had 2 week old DS in a front facing sling. A woman came running up to me crying, telling me I was smothering my baby and I needed to save him right now.

There is definitely a particular type of older woman who loves to make comments like that to new mums.

Since I became a mum I've developed a hard shell to it and I either ignore them or if I'm feeling particularly exasperated, tired, fed up I will tell them in no uncertain terms that their opinion and butting in is not needed or appreciated.

I did this on a bus once and the woman spent the rest of the journey talking to another passenger about how some people are so rude these days and continuing to offload her parenting 'advice' within my earshot but not directly at me. Honestly. 🙄

I’ve got four dcs and we used to live in quite a rough area and people were always asking if ‘all those kids have the same dad’ blew their minds when I said yes and we were married too!

Walking down an aisle in M&S I was asked by a lady I’d never met if my twins were IVF or ‘normal’.