To bring to your attention this common faux pas

[Oldatheart91]

I am 26 years old and look considerably younger, think 16-18, and if I had a pound for every conversation Ive had about how young I am I would retire a happy lady.

Now I understand I look young, I accept that even now I will get ID'd for everything (even scratch cards!) BUT when i show you my ID i dont want to have to then stand there for actual long minutes whilst you tell me what I already know!

Yes I dont look my age. Yes I have been told that. Yes I dont look old enough to have a baby, run a house, do a weekly shop etc. And NO I will not be happy about it when Im 50!

I think random comments can be forgiven to an extent but from people who you have showed an ID to its just plain rude. It would be like a slimming world instructor raving to class about how you are the fattest lass yet! But still random comments, probably not welcome when people are doing ordinary things like standing at a bus stop or doing the weekly shop.

So in summary, i think any comment about how someone looks TOO anything (old, young, fat, thin etc.) is just rude and although you may think you are being nice you may infact be rubbing someones biggest insecurity in their face.

Never get id'd anymore. When they have to check im over 18 at the self scanner thing for alcohol they dont even look at me properly! Your invisable after 50.
Enjoy the comments, have a laugh ' im soo lucky ' and skip off.

Lots of people dont know their star sign , i bet.
As an Aries i know this for a fact..

YANBU!

Honestly, I'm 35 with grey hair, no makeup, wrinkles, and a wedding ring on and I've STILL got refused booze at the supermarket. People are just not engaging their brains these days. No, it's not flattering, it's annoying and ridiculous - I'm almost double the legal age.

YANBU. I used to get this lots. Although this thread has made me realise not for some time so I must be starting to look haggard.

The worst is at work. I have a professional job and when people say 'you look too young' I think I hear 'you can't possibly know what you're talking about'.

Best was getting ID'd once in a supermarket, when she checked my ID she said 'oh yeah, you're really old!' Cheers love!

I get this at 34 and hate it. It's not delivered as a compliment, it's suggesting I look like a little girl. Also who are they to tell me I'll appreciate it when I'm 50? Are they accepting then that it's not a nice thing to say now? Who knows what I'll look like then, but it's none of your business! I never comment, but I had to reset my password to give you some solidarity!

I am in my 50s and I feel vaguely insulted when the Tesco till operator presses the "clearly over 25" button....!!

All I can say OP, you have little to worry about.

I do get that it's probably annoying but you are very lucky if this is the only thing you have to complain about on MN!
And the slimming class comparison is not a fair one.

I used to get this a lot - people were often quite rude or condescending towards me because of it.

I once had to go back to the car to retrieve my licence at about 25 because I wanted to buy paracetamol. That was irritating but not as as some of the comments I've had by a long way.

I'm almost 30 not and it seems to have worn off. Shame really I was starting to like looking young.

But then I can't remember when I last bought wine or went to a bar.

I'm 32, have a child, own a home, and have been told I still look like I'm 18. It's true so I take it as a compliment, I don't take it as a faux pas at all!

People are very quick to give out that compliment. Some lady at Walmart asked for my ID and did the whole "you look like a teenager!" Thing.
I don't. I look like a cross between a child and a shriveled old person imo.
But it's basically the Compliment To End All Compliments in this society if you're a woman. Even my friend missing the entire top rung of her teeth tells me she's always mistaken for being ten years younger. Yep.
So don't take it so seriously

God I used to love it when this happened to me. Those were the days. Hasn't happened for years now.

Once happened when I got refused booze at age 30. My colleague was in the shop at the same time, killed himself laughing and thought it would be helpful to keep shrieking at the shop assistant 'but look at her FACE! Ha ha ha you think she's a teenager, look at her FACE'.
I left without the booze.

I actually used to get wound up about people telling me I looked young.

In my 20’s and 30’s I’d get ID’d at times and after seeing how old I actually was from my ID I was always told “oh take it as a compliment!”. My reply was always “take it as a compliment that you think I look like a fucking child? Nah”

Never minded being told I looked a lot younger but always found it a bit insulting to be told I looked that young

I could be highly strung at times though. I’ve mellowed out a bit after hitting 40 a few weeks ago

I am 40 and get IDed. People routinely jaw drop when they find out my age or they're excellent actors I get pitched at about 30, which I note looks old enough to buy booze...

Embrace it, OP.

It's rude. Some people are happy looking the age they are, because they are the age they are. All that 'it's a compliment' crap is really annoying. No, it's not a compliment you've just made me faff around finding some ID, when I am nearer 40 than 18. Especially as sometimes by 'you look young' they mean 'you have bad acne today'. I get ID'd more often when I'm spotty, which I find a bit rude.

Also at work, being told you look too young is patronising. Often, I wonder, if what they mean is that I don't look male enough. As if a 'young girl' can't possibly be competent at her job.

Can't be arsed to read 8 pages worth, but is this s stealth boast?

Blimey lots of angry young looking people on this thread!

I know what you mean, OP! When I was around 16 people always thought I looked older. Then suddenly when I reached my mid-20s people started telling me they couldn't possibly believe I was as old as that. It sounds nice but it wears thin quite quickly! It's not the looking young itself which bothers me, as that's actually rather nice. It's the way that people talk down to you and then noticeably change the way they interact with you when they realise you're as old as them (or even older!)

I'm 32 recently had a nurse argue with me for ages when I booked in for a smear at my new doctor's surgery, having just moved cities. She seemed very suspicious of me and kept saying I wasn't supposed to book in for a smear unless it was 3 years since my last one, and that they didn't do them for women under 25. She didn't seem to believe me when I told her I'd already had several smears in the past. She even said something like 'you would have had to have had your first one very young ' I was just like... 'WHY would I possibly be lying about this?!'

I also recently had a colleague say to me 'you won't remember this, but dial-up modems used to make this strange screeching noise when they were connecting'. After clarifying that I did indeed remember that, it turned out that she's only 27 - a full five years younger than me!

I used to get it.... I'm now 35 and get it less so.... don't moan you'll miss it when it's gone I assure you :£

It could be worse. Someone I know made a thoughtless comment to someone they met on holiday that they thought they looked late forties when in fact they were early twenties. The person was mortified whilst strangely the person who made the comment was oblivious 😂

Frieda - You explain it so very well. People who have never experienced it just don’t get it. They think you should ever so flattered but don’ t get that it’snot always positive. The examples you gave i couldn’t stop nodding.

Start smoking 20 a day and drink like a fish and all your problems will soon be over.

YABVU

You might have to find a cunning teenager to buy the stuff for you, mind.

I'd concentrate less on the fact that you look young and worry more about the fact that you come over as very young.