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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To have screamed down the phone at wrong information?

340 replies

SnotBlower · 14/08/2019 14:41

Last week I told my mother that DDog had worms. She spoke with her “know it all but knows incorrectly” husband and then rang me back telling me “Barry was saying, you need to get the queen out”. I said “what?” And she said “the queen worm, Barry was saying that there is always a queen and it’s a long white worm and until you get that one, you’ll never get rid of the babies”. Now ... I’m used to Barry’s bullshit ridiculous advice and I’m also used to my mum blindly believing everything he says and refusing the accept that he’s wrong, so to avoid the argument I just said “ok”.

A couple of days later she asked “did you manage to get the queen yet?”. Now ... catching me on a bad day I snapped “it doesn’t work like that with worms! There is no queen or worker worms or bloody soldier worms ... they’re all the same!” So she, as predicted said “no! Barry used to have a dog so he knows what he’s on about!! You need to get the queen worm out otherwise it’s no good, you’ll never be rid of them”. So I changed the subjected.

This morning she rang up and said “hows the worms?” So I said “good, all gone now” so she said “oh good! You must have got the queen then! Barry was saying it’s called the Tate worm or something ... “

So at this point I lost it and screamed down the phone. She started shouting “what’s wrong?!” Thinking I was being attacked and now she’s in a huff because I “worried her”.

This drives me mad, Barry comes out with the most ridiculous shit and she instantly decides he must be spot on and argues everyone else down - in turn making herself look as daft as him!!! It’s gone on for over 20 years and I’ve always tried to be polite and humour them but fuck it! AIBU to not go along with this shit anymore? He needs to be told!!

OP posts:
MadKittyCatMum · 15/08/2019 13:34

This thread is amazing- definitely one for the classic thread.

Has cheered me up after having to put up with my judgemental arse of a father yesterday afternoon!

Whatjusthappenedthere · 15/08/2019 13:47

I would have screamed too. Then I would have gone round and screamed a bit more.
Fucking bat shit. Flowers

LaMarschallin · 15/08/2019 14:13

Even Philip would have screamed.

WombleOfThighlandCommonAmI · 15/08/2019 14:15

@KisstheTeapot14
*
'On hols recently he asked if anyone knew how weight is lost from the body? We could all tell he knew the secret answer.
*
Brushing aside unscientific answers such as using up more calories than one consumes, he patiently and triumphantly explained that the body's main way of releasing excess fat is that it is converted to Carbon dioxide and is exhaled'.

Your DH's Barry is, broadly speaking, correct:

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287046.php

WombleOfThighlandCommonAmI · 15/08/2019 14:18

Oops, didnkt RTFT Blush

QuiteForgetful · 15/08/2019 14:20

Please do make a Barry ama post! PLEASE Grin

rickandmorts · 15/08/2019 14:26

Barry-dad GrinGrinGrin

At the risk of sounding like a Barry, are you sure DDog has worms and not impacted anal glands? We made that mistake once..

Fluffycloudland77 · 15/08/2019 14:26

@theWarOnPeace

It could well be true. Jackie might never mention you from one year to the next.

LaMarschallin · 15/08/2019 14:35

Please do make a Barry ama post! PLEASE

This one's pretty good.
No, not me (sadly).

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/AMA/3666191-Im-Barry-AMA

Inmyvestandpants · 15/08/2019 14:36

@LaMarschallin "Even Philip would have screamed."

Glitterball Grin Grin Grin Glitterball

Sparadrap · 15/08/2019 15:19

Oh god this post is brilliant. We have our very own Barry/Jackie/Philip...

Introducing My Friend Sue

My Friend Sue is my mother’s oracle who she consults almost daily. My Friend Sue has been to many places, seen many things but still seems to have experienced so little. Abroad is considered dangerous, risky and obviously very unsanitary. Especially for children.

You would think My Friend Sue has had many children and holds a high level medical qualification from all the little pearls of wisdom she imparts. Especially on birth, babies, feeding and child health. She had neither children nor medical qualifications.

According to My Friend Sue autism is just a new fangled term for being awkward. You don’t need to give your kids vaccinations if you are a clean family. Women who tear when giving birth do so because they are too controlling and aren’t relaxed enough. Breastfeeding a baby will give them buck teeth and a boob fetish. You shouldn’t take any pain medication as you need to feel your injury in order to heal properly.

The funniest one was her belief that you could control the sex of your future baby by having sex on certain days of the week. According to My Friend Sue your body allows you to produce girls on certain days and boys on others. When questioned further she said it varies from person to person and according to your cycle. So completely random them MFS? Nope, it’s not random but tricky to work out. The Chinese are apparently good at calculating it Shock

YippeeKayakOtherBuckets · 15/08/2019 15:24

@BuzzShitbagBobbly

My FIL is called Barrie. He’s not a cab driver though.

Snidpan · 15/08/2019 15:26

I have a Mental Martin. Driving through a junction, lights went from green to amber, he said "go through, there's no cameras here". I stopped and pointed to a camera on a pole. "I meant there's no camera on that lamppost", he explained.
I bought an olive tree, he said "funny, if we were in a hotter country, that'd grow grapes". I explained that olives were not unripened grapes, despite being similar in appearance

CallJo116123 · 15/08/2019 15:29

I give you my friend Judgy Jenny is her mate called Fuckoff-Flo?

If she is, tell her I want my fucking knickers back! What a twat doing that, AND IN PUBLIC... Bitch!

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 15/08/2019 15:34

YippeeKayakOtherBuckets "My FIL is called Barrie. He’s not a cab driver though"

Good god. My life is a sham! I apologise to non-Barry Barries everywhere, and especially the cab driver who must have wondered what the fuck I was on about! Grin

Excited101 · 15/08/2019 15:52

This thread is WONDERFUL! I want to know what Barry thinks about EVERYTHING! #barrysays

CorBlimeyGovenor · 15/08/2019 16:24

A friend has just passed on to me a business card for 'Barry's Hypnobirthing'. Apparently an expert in hypnotherapy and childbirth! It has his headshot on the card. OP, do you think that this could be THE Barry? I imagine that he would have a lot to say on the matter of childbirth!

Lostandinsane · 15/08/2019 17:45

Hang on, I grew up in BarryTown and my parents still live there. In the area with two words where one begins with T, no less!

Maybe my parents know him Grin

What does Barry think of the new bus station?

Alleycat1 · 15/08/2019 18:27

I have a BIL like this, coincidentally called Barry! My DP has a BIL like this but he is called Clive. To be fair Clive is more of a Bollockbrained Barry than Barry. He once argued with me about the way to the train station in a town (in a foreign country) that he had never visited before and in which I had actually lived for four years!!

Parrakeet · 15/08/2019 18:41

My father is one of these know-it-alls!
Last year he came to visit and for us all to travel sightseeing in one car, I rented a bigger one than mine. So a bit of a pain in the arse for me as rental is never as comfy to drive as your own. So a day into it, we're heading somewhere else and all of a sudden, the is a strange noise, as if I had knocked something on my left. Check all mirrors, nothing! Going at 20miles per hour, both sides clear (middle lane) and no cars in sight.
Get to the destination, get out, back left side plasticky bit over the wheel is sticking out and clearly damaged. Am a bit annoyed and confused.
Dad keeps lecturing me - i should "really be more careful when I'm driving" insisting I drove into something "definately". I'm trying to explain, middle lane with noone in sighte he's adament it was my fault!
We go back home later and i get a knock on the door by neighbour's builders saying that they saw a hit and run in front of my house and 3 cars (including mine) were damaged in the process. Was the same spot, they explained. I go in and tell my family about this new development.
My dad says "no, you definitely hit something, I felt it!" And that's cause he knows better- so no amount of facts or googling is going to help these type of people.

purplevamp · 15/08/2019 18:42

I have a Barry in my life but my one's called Dave. I feel your pain SnotBlower.

willdoitinaminute · 15/08/2019 18:43

My MIL is convinced that I don’t give my DS sufficient fluids and whenever he is ill it’s always my fault. She is totally convinced that DS doesn’t have epilepsy but is just dehydrated. A multitude of tests and the neurologist know better.
DS is now a teenager and tends to control his own fluid intake by the way.

Fowles94 · 15/08/2019 18:50

People need to get over it, YANBU to have snapped at all. When you've dealt with years of bull it kinda gets to you.

PookieDo · 15/08/2019 18:51

I love Barry and Jackie. Can I swap one?

My DM is so annoying I can’t bear to phone her anymore. Her conversations aren’t giving you any advice but constantly opening up the convo to talk about herself so she can complain. It is so annoying. I don’t know if her work colleagues dislike her but dsis and my DC really find it impossible

DM: how are you ok? How’s work?
Me: yes fine thanks, going quite well....
DM: WELL.... We had a meeting insert 20 mins about people I don’t know and how awful she thinks they are
Me: oh that sounds rubbish
DM: more complaining, dissecting everyone at works personality, personal habits and speculation about their personal lives
Me: erm well I don’t know what to say about all that
DM: did you watch insert obscure TV show?
Me: no
DM: insert entire series breakdown, characters back story, plots, spoilers and how much she enjoyed it
Me: Ok that’s nice
DM: I think I will cut the lawn this weekend
Me: maybe I will too
DM: insert long descriptive monologue about what all her neighbours have been doing
Me: sobbing

AlansLeftMoob · 15/08/2019 18:53

He needs to be told, but you didn't tell him, you screamed down the phone at a woman who was trying to help.

Why did you even tell her that your DD had worms? Does she need to know everything? Be selective with how much you tell her because you know it all goes back to Mr. Know-It-All.

YABU.