Best CF Stories

[CupcakesAndCastles]

Lockdown sucks, what’s the best CF stories you’ve read?

SerenaTuccot

That is astonishing! It reminds me of the thread from some time ago, where the couple asked for cash contributions to their honeymoon/kitting out their new home and then analysed their revenues soon after the wedding, contacting those they deemed wealthy enough to have given more and 'inviting' them to 'top it up' to the B&G's 'suggested' donation. I wonder if they similarly contacted the poorer people whom they believed to have overstretched themselves and been too generous for their personal circumstances, offering them some of their money back....

There was also another one where they had a 'wishing well' at the reception for cash gifts, but instead of emptying it at the end of the night and being grateful for what people gave them collectively, the bride stood there, waited until somebody posted an envelope, immediately removed and opened it in front of them, and told them in no uncertain terms (probably also invoking the costs of hosting them) if it wasn't enough.

We all know that weddings are expensive and that people's gifts and contributions are (usually) welcomed, but for a couple to draw up their invitation list based on how much they think each guest is good for - and then informing them if they haven't 'performed' satisfactorily - is crass in the extreme.

Close friend was my bridesmaid and in charge of organising my hen do. Did absolutely nothing towards it. In the end I had to largely sort it out. I wanted to keep costs down for people and keep it faily low key, so kept it local I booked and paid for an activity for everyone, provided alcohol and food and even party bags. All she had to organise was somewhere for us to stay, which ended up being in a grim b&b/hostel with six beds to a room.
A year later and it's her hen do. Her Sister is in charge. It was of course, hugely extravagant. Going away, an expensive day long activity, private room at a top restaurant, VIP area at a club, travels costs, taxis etc and a strict dress code. The sister went completely overboard and bought loads of helium balloons, decorations, fancy dress accessories. We were then faced with an additional bill for every balloon bought etc and an additional bill for paying for everything for bride to be (activity/hotel/meal/drinks/dress and shoes). We had been given no warning of any of this and a kitty had never been discussed. The following morning we all went out for brunch at yet another expensive place and the bride/bridesmaids mother shows up. She then went around the table demanding yet more money so that she could buy her bridesmaid daughter a bouquet of flowers, to thank her for organising her other daughter's hen do. She was extremely persistent. I managed to escape without paying. I just thought it so cheeky that a mother would expect others to buy her daughter a gift from her other daughter.

I have another one. On behalf of my mother.
My mother had a very CF friend who had a daughter the same age as me. Whatever I did or got, she had to do exactly the same - school fashion shows, horse riding and she even sent her round to ask out the boy that I was dating who lived around the corner from her. We bought a house which required extending and renovating, so gave the job to her husband, a builder. We didn't even seek any other quotes. We did it to them as a favour as their business wasn't doing well. A few years later and my father's business nose dived and we were about to lose the house. My parents managed to find a plot of land near by for sale, so drew up plans himself and got CF husband to help him to cost it up. It was a considerable downsize and was a small two bedroom cottage for the four of us, meaning that my sister and I would either have to share (teenagers) or one of us would sleep on a sofa bed downstairs. The builder friend offered to cost it up for us because, if we secured the land, he had would be given the contract to build it. My father had shared all his financial details with him, including how much his sealed bid would be. Unbeknownst to us, knowing what our sealed bid was, he then put in a higher bid to secure the land for himself, which they got. We were tipped off by a lovely lady who phoned us up to inform us, having heard rumours about them having bought it. A week later it was my sister's 18th birthday party and CF friend and their daughter show up to the party at our house, only to be escorted off the property by my mother and her friend's and told in no uncertain terms never to blacken our door.

@Hugoslavia - I have a similar story.
I’m considerably younger than my sister and years behind her in getting on the property ladder. By the time it came around to me buying, she already had 2 houses, looking for a third.
Me and my husband had a baby in a flat not big enough for us. We found a house we loved, excitedly shared details with our family and later found our my sister and her husband also liked the property and were going to put an offer in on it. It wasn’t even for them to move into, but rather to rent out.
Less CF more SF I think. But still mind blowing behaviour.

@KitNCaboodle Good lord. Do you even speak to your dsis?
Did they buy the property?

we were getting a new kitchen after moving house , DM said that DSis needed a new cooker if we were just disposing of it. Checked and Dsis and BIL came to check it out , asked what we were doing with the rest of the kitchen - skip. He asked if he could have the units for his large shed and would get rid of the rest to return the favour. A 'man in a van' turns up to pick up the kitchen and chatting to the driver it becomes apparent that he is here on behalf of the people who have BOUGHT my old kitchen..
Should have learnt the 1st time when we handed down loads of clothes and toys which were taken to a car boot sale.

Another zombie?

Not a patch on the Mexican House Thief but we have a house in Wales which is like home all our personal things there it was my husband's childhood home so all our clothes and kids toys are just there. We let family and close friends go but don't take money. My cousin went with his wife and and two friends. Cousin and his wife left a day earlier and I asked that the friends sendcthe keys back recorded delivery. I got a text on the day that the friends were leaving saying that they had a lovely time and were staying an extra two days. I thought they were joking and replied with haha very funny! I got there two days later to find that they were still there and were sat watching TV and had drunk lots of my Islay Whisky. I told them to leave and they reluctantly did so but said that I was not very hospitable. They would leave me negative feedback.....not quite sure where they thought they were going to leave that. On my non existent Trip Advisor account?

I should probably name change, but fuck it.
Went to a wedding once where, along with the invitation was a letter asking us to consider a voluntary contribution of a set amount for the costs of it. It was many years ago, and I only wish I had kept that letter.
And no, I did not attend.

Another zombie?

CF threads never grow old

My school does this and it’s absolutely shit. There’s no one left on my oh side of the family, and the only people on my side is my father and uncle serving long sentences for child sex offences. I’m a sahm and oh doesn’t have the sort of colleagues you’re going to ask for money for school raffles. My dd goes in so sad seeing a children with so many donations that they’ve had to request multiple extra sheets with dozens and dozens of names on, where she’s just got the one sheet with her mum and dads names at the top, and that’s it. The school is the cf in this situation as we end up donating far more than we can afford for extra tickets so she has half a chance of winning (which she never does)

You just made me remember that my junior school used to give prizes for the children who sold the most tickets/got the most sponsors for things. So sad and very unfair for children with very small families.

I don't think anyone has yet mentioned the Spangran thread - the one where a lady in a flat had sole ownership of a garden, but the neighbouring flat decided they wanted to use it too, so knocked a doorway into their wall that attached to the garden, so they could get in too!
Will go and see if I can find this - it went on over several threads too, legal issues with trying to get the new doorway removed etc.

CF bought house next door (terraced) as an investment property, did it up and rented it out. Never met her, her builder was lovely and I was glad that there would be someone next door again as it had been vacant since the previous owner had died a few years ago.

CF let it out to people who were full time airbnbing it (illegal here). We contacted her about it and she said that she knew they were subletting it as an airbnb.
Ignored it when we contacted her about how unsafe it was because there is a flat roof (no railings) and we kept finding drunk people on it in the dark.

Then when she got in trouble with the local authorities because of a major lockdown house party and was landed with a huge fine, she contacted us and wanted us to spy on whoever rented it next and take photos of anything going on so that it would be easier for her to evict the people who were airbnbing it out.

Well fuckit - I found 3 of the Spangran CFN threads but I can't access or link to any of them because Advanced Search is up the spout for me!

No. 8 was dated 31st Jul 2017 if anyone else wants to go and look and try to link - but I can't

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Another zombie?

CF threads never grow old

Was about to post the same!!

These stories are all so good, and horrifying at the same time.

Not a zombie thread anyway - it's just been going since last May!

a CF thread isn't zombie if it is resurrected with more CF stories. It's a zombie thread if the op was asking for advice and support and the situation was resolved months/years ago but someone posts to tell them to cancel the cheque/whatever. Bit this has been great for my insomnia to take my mind off the things I was fretting about.

@Gobbeldegook

Another zombie?

Not really given there have been regular additions to the thread after it was first started!!

@ThumbWitchesAbroad

Well fuckit - I found 3 of the Spangran CFN threads but I can't access or link to any of them because Advanced Search is up the spout for me!

No. 8 was dated 31st Jul 2017 if anyone else wants to go and look and try to link - but I can't

@ThumbWitchesAbroad, here's the link:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2993916-CFN-SpanGran-has-landed-thread-8

A neighbour of ours years ago, who Id once looked after her rabbit for when she was on holiday, stopped me as I walked the dog, telling me the rabbit food is in its usual place, my parents will see to them two days a week, and you the rest for the fortnight.

I hadn’t seen or spoken to her in some months.
She’d borrowed food items, and never replaced them previously, so I thought her just odd.

But she now expected me to look after her rabbit and chickens while she went on holiday, with no request or notice.

I’m not sure if she failed to notice my week old baby in the pram, or the fact that I had chickens of my own, three children to get to and from school, dog, cat and baby?

I said no, I won’t be looking after your animals, when you haven’t even spoken to me about it.

She was incredulous.

I’m not sure what she had decided in her own mind, but my new baby trumped everything in mine, besides the fact that I’d been quite ill, and had weekly hospital visits all through my pregnancy, and I’d never heard or seen her at all.

Deluded. She doesn’t speak 😂

My neighbour is a cf to the highest degree, we're all wise to her tricks now. She always moans about being a skint single parent, she's just shit with money. Gets everyone to pick up her tab if out for drinks etc. Charges people to stay over at hers for the night but will dine out on your hospitality. She will eat and drink you out of your home and will come empty handed. However, you will be presented with a £30 B&B invoice if you stayed at hers.

Precovid, she would spend at least £100 monthly on personal grooming but then come begging for food/cash to feed her kids. Her kids now roam the streets doing similar so she's trained them to be cfs like her.

@ThumbWitchesAbroad there were also a further two threads, here they are:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2995828-CFN-Thread-9-Better-call-Planning

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2997571-CFN-thread-10-grand

I used to share a uni house with this girl, she was a friend then, who was always skint, we'd all go out for a meal and put in our share, often expecting change or leaving a tip, she'd always whisper to the waiter 'put the rest on my card' using the change snd tips to pay fir a large chunk of her meal!

Same person got the Raging hump with me, we shared a gym membership couple deal, so was much cheaper for us. She went travelling, but still owed me around £60-70 for her share as it always came out of my account and she paid me back, she kept putting me off, I really got stuffed by her, I made it clear it was too much and she owed me, so she asked her mum to pay me whilst she was travelling, her mum was mortified! Really apologised for her CF daughters behaviour. I knew her years, she was always being a CF, don't talk to her now

Thanks @Poppins2016!