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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be shocked at my brothers helplessness

56 replies

whelker · 17/10/2010 11:20

My brother (13) is staying with me for the weekend and he is literally useless at doing anything. This morning I found him trying to get his toast out of the toaster with a knife and when I told him not to he had no idea why you shouldn't do it. On Friday when he arrived I asked for his help to make his bed up and he couldn't put a pillow case on a pillow. I know he's only 15 but have never seen anyone so inept

OP posts:
YunoWhatYouDidLastSummer · 18/10/2010 10:51

I slide the knife into the top of the toast, like a sword into a sheath. That's not dangerous is it?

tryingtoleave · 18/10/2010 11:13

My mil uses a knife to get the toast out of the toaster and couldn't understand why I was horrified. I use one of the wooden skewers I keep for poking cakes.

RiverOfSleep · 18/10/2010 11:16

I use a knife, stuck into the toast rather than the element. I am not dead yet.

huddspur · 18/10/2010 14:21

I hate the way that some parents baby boys. My brother was exactly the same as OPs DB until he came to stay with me for the summer holidays when he was 16 and I domesticated him.

saltdog · 18/10/2010 16:21

Typical male by the sounds of it although it is your house so maybe you should have been feeding him/making up his bed.

Bumpsadaisie · 18/10/2010 16:24

TBH, if my toast got stuck I might have used a knife before I read this! Blush

I never realised. How can you blow yourself up? Is it really dangerous?

I've got a degree from Cambridge too you know but I am dead thick in some ways. Blush

saltdog · 18/10/2010 16:25

Bumpsadaisie You can electrucute yourself

Bumpsadaisie · 18/10/2010 16:26

But how? The outside of the toaster is metal too but it's no problem to touch that? Is the element insulated, then?

glitzy · 18/10/2010 16:28

I have always used a knife - do get some horrified looks from DH when he sees though.

saltdog · 18/10/2010 16:29

Yeah the element is insulated but if the knife touches the element then the current will run up the knife into you (provided the knife is metal) and this can be fatal.

FindingMyMojo · 18/10/2010 16:35

oh my brother was babied to bits too (youngest of 5) - his mother did everything for him forever. He still lives with his mum (he's 22 but in fairness is an apprentice so can't afford to move out really), but she did report to me last week that he now has a GF & cooked said GF a perfect steak, mash & veggie meal so something has gone in afterall. Don't give up.

I use a knife but only to gently prod the middle of the toast with so I can flip it up. So sensible madness?

dertitude · 18/10/2010 18:45

Typical man. End of

xynia · 18/10/2010 23:59

Sounds like the usual male ineptitude when it comes to domestic duties.

HansieMom · 19/10/2010 00:33

Tippychooks, did you go and clean and cook for your 17 and 19 year old brothers? I sincerely hope not.

Heracles · 19/10/2010 00:43

Typical man. End of

End of what? End of being embarrassed at stereotypes?

fastedwina · 19/10/2010 00:51

I use a knife, but turn the swith of first. C'mon folks, it ain't rocket science!

EvilAntsAndMiasmas · 19/10/2010 01:09

OMG @ 46 year old who has never changed a pillowcase. Does he have the world's smelliest bed? Or just a succession of willing slaves. More info please.

Totally agree re: boys getting away with being domestically inept. My parents are usually not sexist at all, but I know that my brother gets away with not helping where I would be kicked out of the door for behaving that way.

PigletJohn · 19/10/2010 01:33

I am stunned at a 13yo boy pretending not to know how to fit a pillowcase. I hope he has learned now. Maybe he can't make pastry either. I understand there are some 13yo girls who pretend not to know how to change a plug or fit a door lock.

EvilAntsAndMiasmas · 19/10/2010 01:47

I don't know how to change a plug or fit a door lock (not surprisingly, since plugs hardly ever need changing these days and my landlord would be pretty peeved if I changed the locks). Nor does my brother I'm willing to bet.

OTOH bed changing is someone done every week or two - someone is doing it presumably, so he should be learning.

First week at university I was asked by at least three boys how to work the washing machines, with looks of panic on their faces. Ok not everyone wants their kids to take charge of the laundry, but not teaching them how to look after themselves (clean and fed) is just cruelty IMO.

EvilAntsAndMiasmas · 19/10/2010 01:48

...Also if I didn't know how to do something, I would either ask (and then remember) or youtube it. You can find out how to do anything online, even surgery, it's scary [hgrin]

nomedoit · 19/10/2010 04:36

Are there actually any substantiated reports of anyone suffering fatal electrocution with a toaster?

ClimberChick · 19/10/2010 04:51

I feel a study coming on. About time MN got involved in some science research.

Goblinchild · 19/10/2010 07:05

Child of 12 that I know did it, and got a severe electrical burn to the palm of his hand that required reconstructive surgery.
I saw the bandages, and the damage once the bandages came off. It was a mess.
He was wearing trainers with rubber soles, perhaps that stopped him frying.

piscesmoon · 19/10/2010 07:16

I admit to getting toast out with a knife-I try and remember to switch it off first.
I would show him how to do things-it is very handy to be inept and then people do it for you!

cumfy · 19/10/2010 08:29

Perhaps natural selection isn't over after all [hgrin]

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