To hate it when men 'joke' like this.

[KindergartenKop]

Maybe it's not always men but I've never experienced a woman who has done this.

So today I took DS1 to a charity shop. He picked two books at 50p each. I gave Ds a pound coin. The man at the till took the books and said, 'That's four pounds please'. Ds looked worried and the man said 'Only joking, it's one pound'. We paid and left.
I've had people say this sort of thing to me so often and it always beffuddles me and makes me feel stupid. Am I the only person who attracts this form of idiocy? Aibu to be pissed off that this man worried my son? It's not fucking funny!

Lois, it's a thread on mumsnet musing on an observation of the ops experience today. Much like many threads on a forum. You will be busy tonight telling people on threads not to take things seriously. Eventually there will be no need for AIBU.

The op was incredibly mild. She's said she was pissed off, not traumatised. Lots of people find it annoying when people make jokes that aren't funny. Normally because these hilarious men suddenly get all uptight when you don't find them funny and start angrily accusing you of having no sense of humour. So we all just laugh politely.

Like I said, I do know women who do this kind of banter - mostly at work, but it isn't sexist to point out when men do something.

By and large women are responsible for most of the 'oh no I really shouldn't' performances when you offer them cake, as women have been taught that they should pretend to have no appitite. Men have been taught to tease. It's not sexist to comment on that.

pink op asked aibu? I answered.

Lois. Yes she did and you did answer. This is a form though where people interact and communicate responses, but not just to the OP. It would be quite restrictive if that was how it operated.

Oh jeeze, a forum. I had no idea. Thanks for explaining.

No problem, I was worried you were taking things too seriously

Yes, maybe a tad.

Good grief! Can we really not make jokes to kids anymore?

When my DS was 4 and just started reception I took him with me collect DD from her Y2 classroom. DS stood right in front of the door ( in the parents way) excited to see his sister. The (male if it's relevant) teacher asked him who he was there to collect and he replied 'DD!'. Quick as a flash teacher replies 'Are you her dad?'. DS found this hilarious and couldn't stop laughing. DS now has that teacher and still loves him. They have bonded over humour.

I do honestly thing humour is so important in our day to day lives and a useful skill for navigating social situations.

Would your DS have 'fallen over laughing' in the example the OP gave?

I don't think anyone is suggesting a world entirely devoid of humour, rather that jokes are actually funny.

I'm with OP, I hate this kind of thing.

It's not funny and the idea is to make someone embarrassed and/or uncomfortable. I think it reveals a nasty streak in the teller of the "joke" and yes in my experience it's always men.

I don't think DS would have 'fallen over laughing' at the joke in the OP but he would have realised it was a joke and smiled. We don't all have to be professional comedians to make a little joke in passing.

I hate it when adults tease kids for their own amusement, and if it's a stranger then yes the child is even more likely to feel upset. We were in pizza express one time and the waiter teased our ds relentlessly, every time he walked past our table he kept threatening to "steal" our sons food and also kept saying they had "run out of ice cream". He was such an irritating twat and actually managed to reduce ds to tears in the end.

Wtf is wrong with these people? I can't decide if it's sheer arrogance or social inadequacy!

DoNotBlameMeIVotedRemain that joke is totally different.

Your DS knows he's not his dad, there's no confusion at his expense.

Also the joke elevates his status to his dad, someone he presumably looks up to.

It's a nice, fun game, that he can participate in.

The "joke" the OP mentioned isn't nice at all. It's at the expense of the child, he's not "in on it", it's unfair and unkind.

I suspect that they are people who are desperate to be seen as the fun adult, but they don't know how to actually be funny. Getting one over on children too young to understand 'teasing' seems to reinforce their mental self-image as hilarious comedians.

I agree that the joke in my example is funnier! But my point is joking with little kids is a nice thing to do. OP's will start to understand when a joke is being make and that's a life skill. In the meantime OP can smile and say the man's just joking, don't worry. No big angst.

The child is four! He isn't out in the big wide world on his own yet.

Why are people placing the responsibility for managing social awkwardness on a child barely out of toddlerhood, rather than on the adults who like to confuse and humiliate children?

But it isn't even a joke! There isn't anything funny about it.

Fuck off with your sexist bullshit!

Good grief! Can we really not make jokes to kids anymore?

I'm fairly sure we can.

Thing is the OP it wasn't a joke, or should I say it was so poor a joke and so unfunny it rendered itself a non-joke and become simply become misinformation. It's a bit of a:

Here's a price that's very possible and believable as the price.

Oh