To not want to hear how busy people are, all the time?

[Lamour]

I really am sick to the back teeth of people saying how busy they are. Lots of people are busy. Most just get on with it.

There is a mum I bump into at the school on a regular basis. Every conversation I have with her (usually initiated by her in the first place) goes along the same theme, of how terribly busy she is, and how her life is so hectic, and she has this on, and that on, and oh she's just so very very very busy. She volunteers this information. I have long since stopped asking her how she is as her reply is always "busy". We used to meet up but I got fed up with her asking me to meet her and then saying "I'm so busy for the next 6 weeks" and pencilling me in for a half an hour coffee in 6 weeks' time.

I also have an acquaintance on my Facebook friends list, who tells the Facebook world on a daily basis how busy she is, and lists the things that she has done each day. Then everybody marvels about how she fits it all in, and how she must surely be superwoman. Said woman does have several children, but IMO does a lot of unnecessary things and puts pressure on herself to make everything perfect. She will do something during an evening, such as ironing everything in her ironing basket, or wrapping up teachers' end of term presents, and then put a photo on Facebook of it, and again bleat on about how very busy she has been and what a busy evening, and how it's not easy to do things like ironing or present wrapping when you have several children.

It just feels competitive, and silly. As I said, lots of people are busy, but most just get on with it.

[TwoFourSixOhOne]

We're really busy, DH and I , I mean, we work ft and our evenings are full with DC stuff and music lessons every day, three DC, weekends fill up with stuff despite our best efforts.

But we are so laid back that everyone thinks we have loads of time, and consequentially we get asked to do stuff for family and friends because, as they keep telling us, they are so terribly busy that they can't manage it themselves...

I might start telling people I'm busy busy busy.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Alvin. ..phew..I am a bit paranoid

[Alligatorpie]

I tell people I am busy as an excuse not to make plans. I am busy (as is everyone around me) and if someone I don't really want to meet up with tries to pin me down, I will say i am busy " for the next 2 weeks "or whatever and hope they don't keep asking. If someone told me they were busy for six weeks, I would take it as a sign they didn't want to meet up.
I don't think I am busier than anyone else, I just think life is too short to hang out with people I don't want to be with.

[AThingInYourLife]

Am I the only one to think it is wonderful to include a nap as one of the things you have to do on a busy, busy, oh-so busy day?

:o

A lie in is basically just a nap taken directly after a night's sleep.

I think I'm going to be busy tomorrow.

And of course drunk busy tonight.

My life is exhausting :o

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

Yanbu. I have a friend like this. She has a nice job two extremely well behaved kids, plus useful husband. She is always "flat out", and yet, even though she is so busy, she is always taking on extra stuff - pta bake sales etc. And then she wipes her brow and complains about how busy she is. Probably it annoys me because I am never over stretched or double booked, and so appear lazy and un dynamic next to her. I do look ten years younger though. (bitch emoticon)

[IbeginHere]

Oh god I have one of those on fb.

I think her last three status have been along the longs of

'busy busy busy',

'Just finished my 15hr day, time for a cuppa'

'A busy and productive day'

She is a TA with 2 dc who likes to cross stitch in the evenings.

How much busier is she than anyone else, really?

[AlvinHallsGroupie]

A thing

execllent idea busy drinking and watching showjumping

[CuntAlors]

I'm the busiest person in the world. Right around the time that dh comes home from work. I've mastered the art of looking dishevelled while moving a pile at 5pm. Busy busy busy.

[valiumredhead]

She is a TA with 2 dc who likes to cross stitch in the evenings.

Judgey or what?!

If you don't say you are busy you get called lazy.

Can't win really

[AThingInYourLife]

"She has a nice job two extremely well behaved kids, plus useful husband.

Does having badly behaved kids give you extra busy points?

Man, this is the thread that keeps on giving!

I am going to be flat out tomorrow. :o

I always thought people with well-behaved kids put the hours in at home making them that way.

Fucking slackers!

[IbeginHere]

If you don't say you are busy you get called lazy

Really?

We all have to declare we are busy othewise we are deemed lazy?

I did not know this rule.

[TheSmallClanger]

I would rather be lazy. Laziness is related to decadence, which is fun. Being busy isn't really fun.

I am very suspicious of people who proclaim themselves to be busy. If I have something to do which means I can't do something else, I will say "I have to take the dog to the vet" or "I have to pick DD up from gymnastics" or "I need to go to the supermarket now because we have nothing to eat and everyone including me is hungry". I don't just blether on about how busy I am. They do it because they don't want to do stuff and want to sound virtuous.

[IfNotNowThenWhen]

of course having badly behaved kids makes you busier! You have to say everything ten times! I should know.

[JohnSnowsTie]

The irony is, when someone bleats on to you about how busy they are, you don't take them seriously, do you? You sort of glaze over and nod as their credibility diminishes.

Busy people don't tell you about it. They don't need to. It's like people with genuine problems don't go on about them all the time. It's people with trivial issues and no sense of perspective who harp on.

A woman I used to work made a point of mentioning that the last email she'd sent me had been blasted off at 3a.m. She had to point it out in case I hadn't noticed. Which of course I hadn't - I tend to read the content of emails, not the time at which they're sent!

[getyourgroove]

nokids From what you said, you aren't always busy though. You slob about (quite rightly) for most of the day and then are rushing around busy for an hour getting the stuff you need to be done, done. I suppose i depends how people define busy.

[Southeastdweller]

Yep I hate it too. People I know who say it are never, ever busy. It's mainly about justification I suppose, and sometimes about wanting to keep others at arms length.

I wanted to cheer Nigella Lawson a few years ago when she said that "people bang on about how busy they are as if they're reading War and Peace in their spare time".

[greenformica]

Maybe she feels overwhelmed and not 'just' busy? Maybe you are just catching a glimmer of her chasing her tail and struggling to keep her head above water?

[ihategeorgeosborne]

I sometimes say I'm busy if I don't want to do something to be honest. If there is a mums night out somewhere and I really don't fancy it, I have said "I'm busy then". Also if I can't really afford to do something and don't want to I say I'm busy. I just always hope they don't ask me what I'm doing instead!

[cat]

I would contribute to your thread OP....

But sorry I'm far tooooo busy.

I've got church tomorrow at 9, followed by Gymboree at 11. Then I'm updating my baking blog whilst DH takes the DCs swimming.

Monday is Book Club and a lengthy stroll round Sainsbos.

HTHs

[FuckThisShit]

I'm generally too busy not giving a flying fuck about how busy (or not) other people are. In fact I have just had a huge cull on FB so I don't have to get updates on people's busy shit and bollocks.

[mashpot]

I call them busy bores. Get efficient for Gods sake. Totally agree that the really busy people aren't always bleating on about it.

[PlumSykes]

I don't know how the busys do it. If I manage to make the beds and go to the supermarket between 9am and 3pm I am impressed with myself.

[FoundAChopinLizt]

Many people distract themselves constantly with busyness; they are terrified of having free time as they might have to get to know themselves and realise they don't know what the point of it all is and we're all going to die sooner or later So they keep busy, in case they fall off the wheel and down the rabbit hole.

Mixing metaphors.

[SprinkleLiberally]

I dunno. I don't go on about it, but I am really busy. I work every day and evening. Run kids to activities. See family and friends and do one hobby. Lots of people do this level of activity with little "free" time. If they say something occasionally it's ok. If they go on constantly it's a pain.

[BeCool]

I read somewhere this week that BUSY is the new FINE.

"Hi how are you?"
"Busy!"