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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that these people have got it all wrong!

211 replies

Yesornono · 07/01/2019 18:51

Two ppl today!!
Person 1 on Facebook: oh I am just so happy to have started my new teaching job!#officiallyateacher

Me (to myself) eeehhhh... you are not a teacher you are a teaching assistant (not putting down TA’s (as I know they are a godsend) but... there is a difference between teacher training and TA training 🤔

Person 2: in the supermarket, I bumped into an old friend. Having a catch up and she tells me her daughter is in college, I say fantastic etc what is she studying? Answer: Law, ooh fantastic etc etc then she says “ I know just think in 3 and a half years (she’s half way through 1st year) she will be a solicitor!! Me (to myself) eeeehhh NO in 3 and a half years she will have a law degree 🤦‍♀️

AIBU to think these ladies have got it all wrong!!??

OP posts:
waywardfruit · 07/01/2019 20:38

An pal of mine used to tell people he was a dustman because he was fed up with people going on at him about his job.

He was actually an estate agent Grin

MacarenaFerreiro · 07/01/2019 20:38

It's like the people who say they're "self-employed business owners" when actually they're signed up as a sales reps to a pyramid selling scheme.

turquoise88 · 07/01/2019 20:38

I know another one who tells people she went to “Oxford”. When people reply with ooohhhhs and ahhhhhs she never corrects them. I honestly think she only applied to Oxford Brookes so she could say she went to Oxford!

Absolutely yes to this!

"Oh yes, my daughter goes to Oxford...............coughBrookes.

RedTartanLass · 07/01/2019 20:39

My friend is a barrister too and once was misheard at a club we joined, as a barista. The 2 years we were there she didn't contradict it!!

She didn't know what was worse people asking for free legal advice or asking her to make coffee.

dogsdinnerlady · 07/01/2019 20:39

My friend says her adult daughter 'goes to uni' when she is actually doing an access course at the local tech college.

sizzledrizz · 07/01/2019 20:39

Oh yes. I have a relative who is a TA working with children with special needs ( have no idea, she seems to hate SEN kids) and considers herself an expert on autism. I have autistic sons, we have very little contact.

OddBoots · 07/01/2019 20:40

fluffums, I'm a early years practitioner in a nursery and parents often call us teachers, we do explain that we are not but that is often met with a funny look. I'd never describe myself as a teacher.

crazycatgal · 07/01/2019 20:41

Ever since I started on a SCITT in September my friend who is a TA keeps sharing things on facebook making out that she is a teacher. It's really strange and annoying.

Burlea · 07/01/2019 20:41

Just to remind everyone I'm a doctor (receptionist) after only 10 minutes on the job ha ha

sizzledrizz · 07/01/2019 20:42

Conversely I know a Speech Therapist, who tells people she works with children with SEN. Just because everyone expects her to assess their toddlers.

JanuarySnowdrops · 07/01/2019 20:42

My partner once said his ex had legal knowledge. On questioning, she had worked in an office below a firm of solicitors. 🤣

HateIsNotGood · 07/01/2019 20:43

Late 1960s, we'd just emigrated to Ca, USA so Dad could fly 'jets' instead of the UK props. We'd not much money when he started out there and being a Scot who always turned a coin to try and make two, he doubled-up as an 'airport taxi' on the way to his proper job.

Being a very nice man too he always invited children up to the cockpit and on one flight the very child of the family he had 'taxied' to the airport couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that funny Scottish Taxi Driver also 'driving' his plane. His father didn't believe his son until he came up for a look too. Thankfully, despite much laughter The Captain/Driver maintained control.

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 07/01/2019 20:44

Grin I am (actually) a solicitor and if people actually spent a day with me I suspect they’d realise it’s nothing whatsoever to boast about.

No idea what my mum tells people I do for a job.

sizzledrizz · 07/01/2019 20:44

That is she says she is a SEN support worker

Snowman123 · 07/01/2019 20:46

#notateacher

2 will be a trainee solicitor I guess......

SitOnMyHouse · 07/01/2019 20:50

I remember I used to work as an Account Manager - telesales basically. On a night out with colleagues and one colleague fiancée was adamant the colleague was an accountant. She kept moaning about how her BIL is also an accountant and he earns 50k, that colleague was being ripped off by his current employer and she keeps telling him to leave.

Biggerknickersagain · 07/01/2019 20:50

I worked in care and hold a few qualifications and courses etc - we were often called 'nurse' by the residents and asked by relatives why we couldn't take bloods or dress sores etc as we were 'nurses' - no amount of "I'm really not a nurse" ever changed it, answers of "I'm not qualified or allowed to do that" led to "But you're nurses!"
"No we're care assistants, totally different roles"
I'd never have passed myself off as a nurse, it's just silly. I've explained the role as similar to a nursing auxiliary to older residents/families that would understand that term better but to many a tunic and trousers (or a uniform type dress as it used to be) = nurse.

@Invisimamma

I'm a medically trained doctor....well I have a first aid certificate anyway grin.

As well as a Dr then I'm also a vet - I have an ancient equine first aid certificate too. Not bad for a total of 4 days training Grin

user1495884620 · 07/01/2019 20:51

*My friend is a barrister too and once was misheard at a club we joined, as a barista. The 2 years we were there she didn't contradict it!!"

I know a barista who frequently gets asked for legal advice if she announces what she does for a living!

waywardfruit · 07/01/2019 20:51

People big up their dc's hobby achievements in the performing arts in all sorts of creative ways Grin

RosemarysBabyDress · 07/01/2019 20:53

I don't understand why you even care?

Unless someone gives false information and fraudulently claiming to be a doctor or a lawyer, why does it matter? No wonder there are so many arguments about SAHM and working mums if people feel they are defined by their job.

WontonSoupForTheSoul · 07/01/2019 20:55

I went to school with a guy who went on to do a diploma in an engineering-related subject. After his two year course finished, he got a job in McDonalds for the summer but then ended up staying and has worked there for the past 20 years. He’s currently a branch manager, and it seems to be a great job.

However, we’re friends on Facebook and he constantly refers to himself as an engineer. There’s practically daily report of something with “as an engineer, I think...”.

Recently, he got an Alexa and posted a series of videos of him using it with captions like “when the engineer gets a new toy” etc.

I think it’s a bit sad. Obviously, he really wants to be an actual engineer so I can’t see why he doesn’t pursue it.

Original poster
Yesornono · 07/01/2019 20:55

@RosemarysBabyDress I don’t really “care” as such just find it extremely odd!!

OP posts:
NChangeForNoReason · 07/01/2019 20:57

I have an acquaintance who calls herself a business executive - she is actually a PA to a business exec and does little more than general
Admin!!!!

blacksax · 07/01/2019 20:58

I don't understand why you even care

Because you know that someone is deliberately telling porkies to make themselves / their beloved relative look good, that's why. It rankles.

It's actually far more frustrating the other way round, when you tell someone what you do and they think you're exaggerating.

FrangipaniBlue · 07/01/2019 20:58

When I first met the wife of a friend of DHs she introduced herself as "an Accountant like you!"

It took 6 months before I found out she actually just had an NVQ so was strictly speaking only an Accounting Technician, yeah I did that..... then another 4 years hard study to earn the right to actually call myself a Chartered Accountant.

CF.