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?

I was 26, my eldest was a couple of weeks old and I was in town with him. Ex had walked so I was on my own with him (and therefore needed to go out to shops etc). I was sat at a bench, BFing DS (not showing anything, had a shawl covering things etc). An older lady also sat at the bench was lovely - really encouraging about the BFing and saying how lovely to see it. All great. Then a middle-aged guy came up to me and started saying how disgusting I was for BFing in public. The lady jumped up and gave him a telling off - turns out she was a retired midwifery matron. She was my hero :)

Another "cheer up, it might never happen" comment to me.

My friend answered "it already has, her husband died last month".

The strange man just stared & walked away without saying sorry.

When I was about 17 I was asked by an old man in a shop if it was hard being a young mother! I replied I had no idea as I wasn't one, I was buying cotton wool and cotton wool ear buds which made him think I had a baby for some reason!

I had a similar one in Tesco's café! Just sat down and baby started crying. I was about to feed him and she made a similar remark, "does he need feeding" she calls over from another table. "Yes he does" I reply honestly! And talk back to my baby "it's feeding time isn't it". Although as someone who is breastfeeding, it made me really conscious that she is now watching what I'm doing! I was half expecting another comment.

There was a women next to me in a book shop, made a comment about if the book I was choosing was too serious and difficult for me to understand. I may have a very feminine and high pitched voice (think Bernadette TBBT) with a lisp however, I am a policy geek and that collects historical education policy texts for pleasure.

Was the Turkish guy you encountered in Germany too??

This was more than 10 years ago so maybe he was so shocked and confused at a brunette brown eyed Brit he’s gone on to do a facial recognition degree in the meantime.

I had a summer job when I was 18 and got into a discussion with a customer about a landmark outside. I mentioned it had been there for about 20 years and she said “wow worked here that long have ya?” 😳😂

It really wasn’t a joke. She was asking so genuinely and waiting for me to respond. The other young people I was working with who overheard were in hysterics. All I could say was “No…”

Spent the next few weeks terrified I looked like a middle aged woman rather than a teenage girl.

Walking down the street with my newborn twins in a pushchair a stranger passing said ...you were a bit greedy! I just replied that they were a BOGOF!

Another time working as a nurse in a cardiac clinic I was chatting to a patient for his annual review who had put on a few pounds and suggesting he might perhaps lose them again ...he replied that I was a right one to talk....I'm a size 14 ...ouch....think I touched a nerve!

I keep thinking of more!

As a teenager doing a paper round a random man in a van stopped me and said “Where are you from then? Poland I presume? God, they’ve even got their kids taking the jobs now.”

Obviously the racism is horrendous but the ridiculous thing is I’m white british. I hadn’t even opened my mouth for him to have wrongly thought he heard an accent.

I returned a lamp to John Lewis once as it was faulty. Decided to purchase a different lamp that had not been stock previously. The sales assistant felt the need to point out it was more expensive than the lamp I had returned. Must have believed I was unable to read a price tag. I politely point out, I was aware of the cost difference.

It wasn’t about me, but I still remember the ghastly couple who came into the library where I worked, and asked for some book about Nietzsche. My colleague, who had been made to leave school at 15, and was very conscious of her lack of education, had never heard of him and certainly didn’t know how to spell it, so quickly became very flustered.

One of the vile pair whispered (audibly!) to the other, ‘God, she’s so stupid!’ upon which I quickly took over.
Thankfully the vast majority of our borrowers were nothing like these!

walking down the street with brand new DS1 many years ago, and a bloke looked into the pram and said ‘babies… they all grow up to be rapists and murderers’ and walked off 😮

To be fair a lot of these aren’t rude, particularly. Like the lamp - mildly annoying perhaps but I’d jus take that as someone letting me know and say ‘yeah that’s fine thanks.’

Should have channelled Nursey from Blackadder. "It's a boy without a winkle".

I had the same! Shopping for a maternity bra. My baby who was maybe one month old was in the pram in the shop but with my mum. The assistant asked me when I was due. When I pointed to the pram and said a month ago, her response was "oh, we have to ask everyone that who buys a maternity bra". We both knew she was full of shit but it was a quick comeback from her.

There was a 12 year age gap between myself and my baby brother. I used to like taking him out and about with me. I remember getting odd looks and tutting from a group of older women. One of them approached me and bellowed at me how shocking it was to have a baby at my age. Her face was a picture when I quietly explained that he was my baby brother and I was simply in town to give my mum a break .

I did find it rude and patronising. I was being judged upon my physical appearance and my speech impediment. I am unfortunate that I have a lisp due to being deaf. I have had comments made on more than one occasion that suggests due to my lisp and being a curvy with larger breasts means I must be lacking in intelligence.

Genuinely asking, why did you think that? Did I miss something?

"oh god imagine if X had been a twin, I'd have killed myself" said to her mate whilst sitting opposite me and my baby twins.

"oh my God what's Wrong with him?" said in almost terror to me when our with my eldest who was about 2. He used a nasal cannula for oxygen so had tapes on his face to hold them in place.

Visibly disabled child then twins. And a lot of time on public transport. Some people are utter dicks.

I had this! I was actually working on my PhD and was very happy to tell her that.
I then refused to keep serving her as she was so mean and small minded - I said this, clearly. I risked the job, but her daughter came a bit later by herself and apologised on behalf of her mum. I told her to not judge a book by its cover, and to be kind, unlike her mum.

Tbf that's probably just based on her experience of people trying to be cheeky and swap a more expensive model for their return. It's likely protocol rather than assuming you're stupid

The lamp I had returned due a fault had been reduced in the sale to around £20.00. It was clear from the tone and the way it was said that she was presuming I could not finance a higher priced lamp. The lamp I was replacing it with was around £70.00.

If you read my other post you would maybe realise that I get quite irritated with strangers presuming what my level intelligence and income must be. I dress smartly and elegantly, unfortunately I still have a lisp, am 5’2 curvey and look and sound younger than I am. Therefore I could not possibly be highly educated.

Had an old lady jab my stomach with her walking stick as I left Greggs holding a sausage roll who then said “you don’t want to be eating many more of them do you?”

best part was that I was a maximum of a size 10 at the time!

Was dropping a parcel off after the gym at about 9:30pm and popped into our local McColl’s which has a Post Office counter.

There was a man in his 60s muttering ‘fucking pathetic’ I wasn’t really paying attention at first, but then he started saying things ‘have people not got anything better to do, posting this late at night, fucking pathetic’

I ignored it, posted my parcel, then went to the back of the shop to get some milk. He then started yelling at me across the shop, telling me how ‘fucking pathetic’ I was for posting something so late.

I told him I’d only had the chance to do it now because I had kids and had been to the gym, and asked what it had to do with him.

He then asked me what the fuck I was doing all day, to which I replied ‘working unlike you by the looks of things’, I may also have told him to fuck off.

It was just very weird. I don’t understand why he thought he could be in the shop at that time of night, but I couldn’t.

Years ago we knew a family of parents, young boy about 8 and a toddler, many people remarked on how like his father was, they were like peas in a pod. Some people wouldn't believe that he wasn't the boy's father, the mother had been widowed very young when the boys father died, she had remarried a few years later!