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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To still feel upset that a close friend laughed

225 replies

sesise · 30/10/2016 10:01

I don't know how to deal with this but I'll try to explain.

I have a close friend.

We were talking about grief (it was relevant to the topic) and I said something that wasn't funny.

Friend burst out laughing.

I felt like a massive twat.

AIBU to feel really uncomfortable around my friend now?

OP posts:
DrunkenMissOrderly · 30/10/2016 11:25

Whoops two more pages here than I realised...sorry if it's moved on!

TrickyD · 30/10/2016 11:26

I've laughed lots of times when telling friends that another friends grandparents or uncle had died. I hate it. I don't do it on purpose

Maybe you should focus a bit more on other people's feelings rather than indulging your own.

OP, YANBU

thisisafakename · 30/10/2016 11:26

Also, rather than just dropping the friend, I would explain to her that you were very upset by her reaction and see how she responds. If she does not see the problem, I would ditch. If however she says that she sometimes responds inappropriately, maybe give her the benefit of the doubt. However, even if you find yourself involuntarily laughing, make an effort to suppress it please. I take it nobody with this 'condition' works in a public facing role where you might have to deal with people who are recently bereaved. If you could not control your laughter in those situations, you would find yourself fired pretty quickly.

VeryBitchyRestingFace · 30/10/2016 11:26

You alright there, Mermaid? Hmm

Which fucking bit is funny?

Posters have repeatedly explained the need to detach from relating laughter to humour in all circumstances.

People laugh in sad situations for the same reason they cry: they have lost control of their emotions and it's their body's way of expressing intense sadness/stress.

They're not doing it because they think the situation is "funny".

My2centsworth · 30/10/2016 11:27

Sorry OP my last post sounded really bossy. I did not mean it like that. What I meant is that I suspect your friend acted in a completely (inappropriately) in an involuntary way but you seem to thing it may have been something more controlled and I am trying to get to why that might be the case from her.

chipmonkey · 30/10/2016 11:27

Sesise, I can see exactly why you're upset about this. It certainly doesn't seem like a hysterical response to bad news given that you were talking about grief. Even if she thinks it's not true that it's gotten easier, laughter seems like an inappropriate response to that. And she should have apologised.
I would feel weird and upset about that too.
Is she normally a good friend?

VeryBitchyRestingFace · 30/10/2016 11:28

Maybe you should focus a bit more on other people's feelings rather than indulging your own.

Would you say that if the poster was crying when relating the news?

Sallystyle · 30/10/2016 11:28

Now you have explained it better and reading between the lines I totally understand why this upset you so much.

It was an odd reaction, it could have been out of nerves or maybe she stupidly thought you were trying to be sarcastic when you said it gets easier with time? I have no idea why she reacted the way she did but it obviously hurt you badly and even if it wouldn't hurt others it did you and that matters.

She should have apologised and explained but she probably felt too mortified or didn't even realise how much it hurt you. Speak to her Thanks

sesise · 30/10/2016 11:35

Thank you for the kinder tone to some posts.

I am pretty sure she wasn't laughing because she thought it wasn't true because she's never lost anyone so I don't really think she'd know and plus it wasn't a 'huh yeah right' laugh.

No intentional drip feeding just trying not to be identified!

It was a very very close family member not a child but very tragic circumstances and it's the only family I had.

OP posts:
VeryBitchyRestingFace · 30/10/2016 11:38

It was a very very close family member not a child but very tragic circumstances and it's the only family I had.

Are you going to raise it with her, OP?

If she's decent, she will apologise and say she's sorry her reaction caused you distress.

GinAndTunic · 30/10/2016 11:38

Ah, the old AIBU?

Response: YABU.

OP: No, I'm not.

MN: Yes, you are.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Sallystyle · 30/10/2016 11:41

Gin

Many of us don't think she is being unreasonable actually Hmm

Sallystyle · 30/10/2016 11:42

Plus, how can anyone be unreasonable for feeling upset? How you deal with it might be unreasonable but the OP feels how she feels. Nothing unreasonable about it.

sesise · 30/10/2016 11:43

Gin like I say I didn't realise quite how upset I was until the 'this tragic thing happened to my friend and I just couldn't stop myself laughing' posts came in.

I'm hearing what you're all saying and I have no choice but to concede you're right.

But I still have the right personally to feel as I do. If a friend of mine laughed when I told her my dog had died or laughed through my parents' funerals. We would not be friends. I am not saying this to be offensive it's just how it is.

OP posts:
Mynestisfullofempty · 30/10/2016 11:44

Wow! There are so many unkind posts on this thread. I completely understand your reaction OP and I think you should have it out with your friend. She brought up the subject and when you expressed your feelings she laughed. To have done that and not apologised or explained afterwards is very hurtful indeed. Flowers

cdtaylornats · 30/10/2016 11:47

I was at a cremation where everybody laughed. The deceased was Colin and was in his 40s, crematorium was packed.

The eulogy was being delivered by one of Colins closest friends when a phone went off, without pausing the guy giving the eulogy looked up and said "if that's Colin tell him we're busy"

Everyone laughed.

SporkLife · 30/10/2016 11:47

She's lost someone older before I think you said earlier, so maybe she just thinks that it doesn't get easier with time (hence laughable) not the best way to express it ever but

Mynestisfullofempty · 30/10/2016 11:50

cdtaylornats that is completely different to the OP's situation. The OP's friend brought up the anniversary of the death of the OP's "very very close family member" and when the OP said that she thought that her grief was getting easier to bear her close friend laughed!

sesise · 30/10/2016 11:52

Yes. We laughed at my dads funeral when something similar happened. That's fine.

OP posts:
LikeaSnowflake · 30/10/2016 12:06

OP you have received some very strong opinions and I think that probably at this time you needed more kindness than was on offer today.

Grief is such a tricky subject and often leaves even the most sensitive of us confused on how to talk about it with others. Everyone's experience is so different.

I lost my sister unexpectedly. She was 23. I can talk about it without crying as long as I bring it up and with my parents I'm probably even more matter of fact. I often feel that I can't hurt them more by showing them what I feel but then spend my time worrying that they think I don't care that she is gone. Then thinking I doubt it's even on their radar, they lost a child, what could I ever do to make that better or worse? It's irrelevant to their grief.

What I'm trying to say is that even though I function, the grief is still there all the time. Is this what you mean by it gets easier for you? I apologise if you don't feel the same but sometimes I think we feel it is easier but it is there and that's why when someone is insensitive it hurts, it kind of reopens that wound that actually takes a lot of subconscious effort to keep closed.

I agree with some of the other posters that it seems odd to laugh at someone who is discussing past grief but I can also see that sometimes when people do not know what to say they laugh. Only you know your friend. If this was my close friend I would ask her about it when I was calmer and see what she says.

Take care of yourself, anniversaries can make things feel more raw I find. They are like some weird milestones that can make you feel further away from that person than before. I hope you have some way to find comfort in real life at this time.

Whatthefucknameisntalreadytake · 30/10/2016 12:07

Bottom line op is you know your friend. Is she usually a cunt? If so ditch her.
Is she usually somebody you like/trust/respect? If so talk to her about it.

CrotchetQuaverMinim · 30/10/2016 12:16

Do you honestly like your friend and think she's a good person?

Which is more likely:

Someone you thought was nice, that you trusted, that knew about your grief, that was generally seen as a good person, has suddenly become malicious, who would laugh in your face deliberately, thinks your a twat for saying something about grief, thinks it's funny that you lost a family member, and wants to make you feel bad, combined with your amazing mind-reading skills that tell you that you know that is why she laughed, despite never having suspected she was that kind of person before.

Or, someone who is a genuinely good person, but who had a stupid reaction to something - perhaps because it reminded her of something else, or because that's what happens when she feels strong emotion, or because she misheard you, or because she misunderstood what you meant, or because it seemed untrue to her, or she simply made a mistake in judging your mood? And that you, not being a mind-reader, but caught up in your own upset, accidentally assumed that it meant that she thought the situation was honestly funny, and that she must think you are a twat for saying it? And that she was uncomfortable with the whole situation, she didn't know what to do when you reacted, or she didn't realise what your reaction meant, or, she was embarrassed enough that she didn't know how to get out of the situation graciously, and so didn't refer to it again, perhaps?

There are so many other reasons for her laughing that don't mean that she thinks you are a twat for saying something, or that she thinks the situation is funny. If you are prepared to lose a friendship over it, without even telling her that you found her laughter hurtful, let alone trying to understand and forgive that she might not have meant it the way you assume she did, it sounds like you really don't think very much of her.

I'm sorry you are having a hard time over the anniversary. Perhaps you can explain that to her, and reassure her that you realise she didn't mean it to be hurtful, but explain how you would like to be supported instead, and what she could do to help? If she is a good friend, then she will probably try to help in the way you would most like.

NavyandWhite · 30/10/2016 12:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mynestisfullofempty · 30/10/2016 12:24

I don't understand it either NavyandWhite. So many unpleasant and unsympathetic posts. I don't think the OP deserved any of them.

sesise · 30/10/2016 12:25

Thanks :)

To be honest I think I said it got easier with time because I sensed she was not totally comfortable and wanted to say something positive. That wasn't to the word what i said but it was the gist.

Anniversaries can be tough.

I think for me i really "relied on the kindness of strangers" when it all happened I'm so glad now none of them laughed!

OP posts: