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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To miss the days when people were just 'thirsty'?!

884 replies

Babycham1979 · 12/08/2015 13:43

What's all this shit with, 'hydrating'? It's called drinking fucking water!

Whenever I hear someone claiming to be 'dehydrated', I want to reach for my revolver. No, dear, you're not dehydrated, you're just thirsty. It won't hurt you to wait twenty minutes for a drink.

Advanced capitalism, combined with nanny-statism seems to have fostered a nation of adult-babies who can't got five minutes without a snack, needing a piss, or a plastic bottle to suck on. It truly does my head in.

I can't remember the last time I sat through a film or a play without multiple audience members nipping out at least once during the show. Yes, I do appreciate that SOME people suffer incontinence, or might have needed a shot of insulin but, come on, not on this scale!

OP posts:
MitzyLeFrouf · 16/08/2015 14:16

No it's someone having a drink of water.

TheStoic · 16/08/2015 14:17

What is the imposition, charis? You having to look at them as they drink, and that irritates you?

MitzyLeFrouf · 16/08/2015 14:18

Charis I haven't run out of any answers, you are just getting more ridiculous by the second. You think it's normal behaviour to think a person sitting opposite is being aggressive by having a bottle of water on the table?!

MitzyLeFrouf · 16/08/2015 14:19

If you do think they're being aggressive by doing that and you're unwilling to seek help for that paranoia perhaps working from home would be the best solution.

TheStoic · 16/08/2015 14:22

If you do think they're being aggressive by doing that and you're unwilling to seek help for that paranoia perhaps working from home would be the best solution.

I agree. That is not a normal or rational reaction to a person drinking water in your vicinity at work.

treaclesoda · 16/08/2015 14:26

It's ridiculous of you to suggest that lightheadedness or headaches etc are only psychosomatic illnesses. You have no idea what someone's physical issues might be. Some people have perfectly valid reasons why they feel better if they drink more. In my case, low blood pressure. After that, it's purely personal choice if they drink a litre in one go, or a litre throughout the day. I can't drink a large drink in one go, it makes me feel ill (although no doubt you'll be telling me that it's only by choice that I feel ill, and it's all in my head), so if I'm feeling off colour and want to drink small amounts regularly, then that's what I'll do. I don't think I have a moral obligation to suffer dizzy spells just because someone else doesn't like the sound of me drinking.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 16/08/2015 14:28

Tenieht - how do you know people aren't feeling thirsty. Do they have to fill in a questionnaire for you? We are all different - and even if you are not feeling thirsty, they can still feel thirsty. We are not all like you thank God.

And if people are having regular sips of water because it stops them feeling thirsty, that is entirely up to them, and none of your business.

And 'thirst is not real' - words cannot express the utter ridiculousness of that statement. I am feeling thirsty now. It is a real feeling, entirely unaffected by marketing.

Some people would do well to heed the advice that it is better to stay silent and have people suspect you are stupid than to speak up and prove that you are.

Onepot · 16/08/2015 14:28

If you are feeling thirsty then you are already dehydrated. The one of the main reason for elderly people being admitted to hospital is because they are dehydrated, because their body is no longer good at telling them they are thirsty. So to wait 20 mins is potentially dangerous (depending on age and activity!)

treaclesoda · 16/08/2015 14:29

What is your stance on workplaces that don't have break times? I worked for years for a huge company who did away with 'tea break' and insisted that we drink at our desk instead. There was no staffroom and no kitchen, so it was either a takeaway coffee at your desk or a bottle of water/coke from the office vending machine.

Onepot · 16/08/2015 14:30

Oops sorry for extra 'the' and (!)

Charis1 · 16/08/2015 14:33

If you are feeling thirsty then you are already dehydrated.

This is a complete lie.

Actually, I'm surprised to see it turning up here again, I thought everyone knew this is an advertising gimmick, with no truth in it what so ever.

Charis1 · 16/08/2015 14:38

What is your stance on workplaces that don't have break times?

They are a luxury, not a necessity.#

Most people have a lunch break, but even if they don't, when exactly did normal healthy British adults start finding it impossible to last a day without a drink?
( Obviously when advertising campaigns started to tell them they couldn't possibly cope)

5 hours from starting work to lunch time, or if you don't have time for lunch, 10 hours without eating or drinking is perfectly manageable for any normal, healthy non psychologically dependant adult. Longer than that, if necessary, as it often is.

the "problem" is imaginary

ppeatfruit · 16/08/2015 14:39

Charis Have you ever considered that the going for a wee in the cinema (if that is what it is, it might be for a fag but never mind.) May be to do with the drinking of enormous fizzy, highly sugared, caffeinated drinks that are sucked through straws at the flicks. Not water at all.

Water is soo much better that the above drinks. Also the owners of the cinemas sell highly salted snacks to make people thirsty deliberately.

I'm glad you're not a teacher of any of my dcs\gdcs.

Charis1 · 16/08/2015 14:41

normal behaviour ?

I think what the sucklers are failing to take on board, is this behaviour is actually being viewed with more and more contempt, by a larger and larger proportion of the population, and yes, it is not unusual or abnormal in any way to view the constant suckling as passive aggressive.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 16/08/2015 14:43

Gin

pass me the hoseGrin

Charis1 · 16/08/2015 14:43

Water is soo much better that the above drinks the advertisers have done such a good job on pure water, haven't they. So many people automatically and unquestioningly assume it is wholesome, natural and good for you, and don't seem to be able to question this assumption at all.

SheWhoDaresGins · 16/08/2015 14:44

You think it's normal behaviour to think a person sitting opposite is being aggressive by having a bottle of water on the table?!

Personally I sit with a whole water cooler when I am sat in any meetings, I take great joy in pouring a plastic beaker full of the stuff then giggle at the bubbles as it fills back up. Anything to keep me awake, I detest meetings! Wink

TheStoic · 16/08/2015 14:44

I think what the sucklers are failing to take on board, is this behaviour is actually being viewed with more and more contempt, by a larger and larger proportion of the population.

Evidence for this?

Charis1 · 16/08/2015 14:47

I'm glad you're not a teacher of any of my dcs\gdcs. how do you know I'm not? But I have heard many teachers explaining to their classes the reasons why they shouldn't be suckling from water bottles all day.

of course, there are the odd few who have fallen victim to the "training" on water "Hydrating the brain, and improving cognitive function" but educational research in this country isn't ever conducted or evaluated by anyone with the faintest idea what " research actually means - the same DES brought us brain gym, and " sitting with your legs crossed at th ankle improves your spelling"

treaclesoda · 16/08/2015 14:49

Healthy adults can indeed go for a few hours without eating or drinking.

But not everyone in every workplace actually is a healthy adult.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 16/08/2015 14:49

I was a nurse, and breaks were not just a luxury - when you have been on your feet for hours, doing work that is hard physically, mentally and emotionally, a break is a necessity. Sadly it is one that many nurses do not get. This does not usually impact on patient care (because nurses make sure it doesn't) but does contribute to increased stress in the job, and difficulty in retaining trained staff.

And I am pretty sure this is. It just true for nursing - a break can enable you to go back to your work mentally refreshed.

But maybe you'd rather we went back to 12 hour days, no health and safety regulations or need to care for your staff's well being, and tuppence ha'penny wages, Charis? Hmm. Because there is, of course, no truth in the theory that happy staff work better than ones who are stressed and overworked. Hmm

Onepot · 16/08/2015 14:52

charis1 okay mate if you say so, must be an urban myth, but perhaps you should contact the NHS and tell them to change all their literature as they have clearly been hoodwinked by the advertising demons, Confused

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 16/08/2015 14:54

Water is natural. It's that stuff that falls from the sky when it rains all the fecking time in Scotland this summer, Charis. Bottling it does not make it unnatural.

Water is not natural and thirst is not real - statements like this are why I hope you aren't a teacher, Charis!

ppeatfruit · 16/08/2015 14:56

Strange that you ignore the part of my post referring to the disgusting sugar\chemical laden fizzy stuff that is making the population obese. And is drunk almost all the time. They are the real problem.

Some mineral waters are highly salted and don't quench ones thirst. It's more like drinking sea water, but still better than the brown sugar water that nearly everyone thinks is happy to drink. Now that is where the advertising industry has really conquered.

I drink filtered water , tap water is too chlorinated for me.

treaclesoda · 16/08/2015 14:57

My parents are quite elderly. I don't think they've ever drunk bottled water in their lives.

I must ask them later if the concept of thirst existed when they were young or if no one ever felt thirsty until the 1980s when those Perrier ads came on tv Wink