She did it purpose, surely?

[BastardBiscuits]

Went for lunch with a friend and she kindly offered me a lift home. In the car I told her I was expecting an important phone call from my granddaughters social worker and was she ok with me taking it in the car. She laughed and said it was fine and that I didn’t need to ask.

Surely enough SW rang and I answered. A few minutes into the conversation friend let out an almighty obnoxious belch. I swear I felt the car rumble. SW literally stopped talking mid sentence and then, after a few seconds of awkward silence she tried to carry on where she left off saying “ummm ... I’ve lost my train of thought, where was I?”

I was mortified. I don’t believe this was an accident so why would she do that? Or am I over thinking it?

I just hope SW didn’t think it was me.

I would have a problem with it, actually, given the serious nature of the call I would be quite furious. Not so much because the SW will care very much, but the flippancy and indifference your friend is displaying at a time when you were clearly very worried for your granddaughter.

If she did not look embarrassed and apologise, then I would say it was done on purpose. If neither happened, and she carried on as normal I would be upset yes, and if she has form for this I would be reassessing how much time I spent with her.

She could be ill, or have stomach issues or she might have a very weird messed up sense of humour. Only you can say which one it is. If it is the latter, I would be unimpressed and unlikely to rush to see her going forward.

You were not on a social call, or chatting to a child - your call sounds important to me, and she should have been respectful and kept quiet.

It is very difficult for the driver to make and excuse and step out of the car at short notice when driving, when they feel a belch coming on. You can just stop a car wherever you like and step out.

Surely you told the SW that you were in the car with your friend driving you when you answered the call, so that she understood that parts of what might be a confidential conversation might be overheard? I can't believe that someone who was so touchy about her own embarrassment would fail to protect her granddaughter's confidentiality in that way. Well, actually, I can believe it, but I wish I couldn't.
I can't see any reason for it to be deliberate, and lots of reasons it could be accidental. If you want to believe it was deliberate you will though.
I hope things go well for your granddaughter.

I’d be mad too. I think that she was trying to show you up or make things worse in what sounds like an already vulnerable situation.
I’d imagine the SW stopped mid-sentence as she probably thought that you were being purposefully rude. SW’s do get verbally/attacked on a regular basis. Unless she was trying to piss the SW off in a protective way to you?
Anyway, the only way you are being unreasonable here is by not excusing her when she did it and pulling her up on it immediately after the call by explaining how important it was.
I would probably start distancing myself.

It could be unrelated, the sw could have just been passed a piece of paper or seen an urgent email pop up or something.

Why are you still thinking about this?!

Perhaps the SW stopped because she had believed that the OP was alone/ not overheard and realised she wasn't?

I know this is going to sound revolutionary and maybe just taking things too damn far, but have you considered actually asking your friend about it? Tell her you found it a very awkward moment and ask if she did it on purpose. If she's a good friend then she will no doubt be mortified and apologetic and you can get past this. If she laughs and acts like you're being a dick, then you know she isn't really a very good friend, and proceed accordingly.

At least she didn't burst into the opera section of Bohemian Rhapsody. That would have been a tad disrespectful.

@roadsurvey

Christ. All your OP tells me is how unprofessional the social worker is. Being a social worker exposes people to so very much in surprised a burp had any affect on her at all. Maybe she isn't really social work material?

What crap!

Is it in character for your friend, is she normally rude and obnoxious ? if she’s normally a considerate friend, then perhaps She just forgot herself for a minute, or she tried to suppress it and it came out wrong.
Also, the social workers reaction is being relayed by the op, who was shocked at her friend belching, so may not be accurate. I don’t know any professional that wouldn’t be temporarily knocked of their stride by someone loudly belching, regardless of how much trauma they have been witness too, they are human too.
It also shows a lack of respect for social mores, especially if they haven’t even apologised for doing it, (excuse me) which might be interpreted as a client not taking the welfare of their children seriously. (Dependant upon the reason for the social worker intervention). It forms part of the overall picture of that child’s life.
I would be pissed off too, especially if there’s been no acknowledgement, or apology from the friend - irrespective of digestive issues, or whatever the fuck was behind it.

She sounds very immature.

*SW literally stopped talking mid sentence and then, after a few seconds of awkward silence she tried to carry on where she left off saying “ummm ... I’ve lost my train of thought, where was I?”

Absolutely unprofessional. SW should be able to continue a conversation despite a bit of background noise.*

The silence might have been due to the SW wanting to laugh and struggling to compose herself.

You can get taken by surprise by unexpectedly loud burps sometimes. You think it’s going to be quiet and a thunderclap comes out. Happened to me at the supermarket.

And this is what’s on your mind.

I rarely belch but if I do, I have no control of them and only make them louder and more obnoxious by trying to contain them.

I’d think your friend rude for not apologising but I wouldn’t jump to a deliberate conclusion.

I’d be furious to be honest and would look at my friend in a different light from then on.
If I had done that, and it really was an accident I would have been absolutely mortified and wouldn’t have been able to apologise enough. And doing it on purpose is so disrespectful.

I love that this is a thread 😂😂

Absolutely unprofessional. SW should be able to continue a conversation despite a bit of background noise.*

Jesus, and now we are questioning the SW’s professionalism, really?

The silence might have been due to the SW wanting to laugh and struggling to compose herself.

This only serves to back up the suggestion I made of unprofessionalism.

Why on earth would you be so embarrassed that you can't even speak? You could have just said that it's your friend who's driving, but no, you have to make it all about you.

Is there a history with this friend? Is she grating on you in general? I can't imagine being overly bothered about this under normal circumstances.

Jesus, and now we are questioning the SW’s professionalism, really?

Yes, yes I was, because I can't question OP's recollection of what happened, I can only question what OP said.

@gingerwhinger0

Is it in character for your friend, is she normally rude and obnoxious ? if she’s normally a considerate friend, then perhaps She just forgot herself for a minute, or she tried to suppress it and it came out wrong. Also, the social workers reaction is being relayed by the op, who was shocked at her friend belching, so may not be accurate. I don’t know any professional that wouldn’t be temporarily knocked of their stride by someone loudly belching, regardless of how much trauma they have been witness too, they are human too. It also shows a lack of respect for social mores, especially if they haven’t even apologised for doing it, (excuse me) which might be interpreted as a client not taking the welfare of their children seriously. (Dependant upon the reason for the social worker intervention). It forms part of the overall picture of that child’s life. I would be pissed off too, especially if there’s been no acknowledgement, or apology from the friend - irrespective of digestive issues, or whatever the fuck was behind it.

^This with bells on.

Doesn’t seem likely, unless it’s the kind of thing she does all the time.

gargantuan toad

This made me laugh out loud

This whole thread is pretty funny, though.

Come on guys, stop this. We all know there's a huge difference between a burp and a huge, lengthened, forced, gross belch.

I swear people on MN would defend Hitler if someone posted about him.

OP, I don't know why your friend did it. Perhaps she has a problem with you when it comes to certain things. Some deep seated resentment and wanted to show you up?

I had a best friend as a teen who I spent all my time with. We got on brilliantly.
However, every time we were around others she would throw sly digs at me or embarrass me and laugh it off if I took offence further embarrassing me by saying I was being silly and had no sense of humour. It's a power thing. Took me years to finally call it on the relationship.

SW was probably trying to stop herself laughing. Like I am right now. If your friend is around your age and you’re a GM she’s probably a bit old to be burping like a kid but I think you have to move on. Don’t forget to fart when you’re next in her car!