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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder what stupid questions you've been asked

480 replies

backtolifebacktoreality · 09/12/2021 09:58

Last weekend I phoned a local florists
and asked them to send some flowers to a nearby friend.

The friend lives in a relatively small cul de sac. The florist obviously asked the address for them to be delivered to. I advised they lived at No 12.

She then went on asking all sorts of questions about how she could find the house once in the street, ie what side of the road etc. She then asked questions about what would make the house recognisable to her, ie what colour front door.

I had to bite my lip but really wanted to respond "the fact that is has the number 12 on the door"!

OP posts:
Santahatesbraisedcabbage · 09/12/2021 10:00

I have been asked more than once how I have so many dc.
Straight faced I told a boss if he didn't know how babies were made it really wasn't my place to tell him.

Original poster
backtolifebacktoreality · 09/12/2021 10:01

And another stupid question this morning ...

I dropped my son's college application off at our local college this morning.

I passed the envelope to the receptionist and she asked "is the application form complete"?

As if we are going to drop off an incomplete form!

OP posts:
Aroundtheworldin80moves · 09/12/2021 10:03

Are they twins?

Two kids in pram. One a young baby. The other a tall toddler...

SweetestThing · 09/12/2021 10:04

I've lost count of the number of times people have seen me write and they ask "Oh, are you left-handed?". Well, obviously!

Otherpeoplesteens · 09/12/2021 10:05

Some total stranger came up to me in a supermarket car park, pointed at my car, and said: "I'm thinking of getting one of those. Does it use more than ten quid a week on petrol?"

I really have no idea how to continue conversations that start like that.

Otherpeoplesteens · 09/12/2021 10:05

@SweetestThing

I've lost count of the number of times people have seen me write and they ask "Oh, are you left-handed?". Well, obviously!
I once got asked that when I had a left hand drive car.
MsAgnesDiPesto · 09/12/2021 10:07

@backtolifebacktoreality

And another stupid question this morning ...

I dropped my son's college application off at our local college this morning.

I passed the envelope to the receptionist and she asked "is the application form complete"?

As if we are going to drop off an incomplete form!

I take it you’ve never worked in a role where you look at forms people have filled in… Grin
MsAgnesDiPesto · 09/12/2021 10:09

My maiden name was a colour. A common, everyday colour. One syllable. Can only be spelled one way. Yet endless people asked me how to spell it! For years!

IFinallyJoinedNowWhat · 09/12/2021 10:11

Used to work at a rather large furniture store spread over two levels. A woman approached a colleague of mine at the bottom of the stairs and asked, 'Do these stairs go up or down?' She answered with the only polite thing she could say, 'It depends whether you're at the top or the bottom...' Confused

Africa2go · 09/12/2021 10:15

Boy and girl twins.

"Are they identical?"

Repeatedly. And more than once by a medical professional Confused

ImNotCrazyIWasTested · 09/12/2021 10:19

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Are they twins?

Two kids in pram. One a young baby. The other a tall toddler...

I have a year between mine and used to get asked all the time of they were twins when the youngest was under 6 months 🙄.

I started replying with yes they are but that 1 is my favourite so I don't feed the other 1 😂🤣

Chimpychoo · 09/12/2021 10:41

@Africa2go

Boy and girl twins.

"Are they identical?"

Repeatedly. And more than once by a medical professional Confused

I had that. Boy/girl twins with completely different colour hair, after I sent a photo to my sister-in-law. I didn't reply. Five minutes later, she did. "I can't believe I just asked that."
DrierThanANunsNasty · 09/12/2021 10:46

Do you think your period pains could be in your head?
From a gynaecologist who basically didn’t want to investigate me for endo. This was 6 years ago and guess what I found out this year… they’re not in my head Hmm

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 09/12/2021 10:49

"Is there a reason why X"

Most recently about the grill being on.

There's always a fucking reason.

Onlinedilema · 09/12/2021 10:51

In my job I need to see certain ID. I ask is your I'D correct and up to date? You would not believe the number of people who reply "yes" when actually it isn't. Examples include wrong address, when they have brought the ID in to verify their current address. Wrong names when they using the ID to verify their identity. I could go on. As for forms, yes plenty of people do not know how to complete a form correctly, so I am totally in favour of officials asking have to completed the form fully and correctly.
As for stupid questions I've been asked "Do you enjoy working here?"
" Were you here when the building was in its original state? " The building is hundreds of years old, work it out yourself.

megustalacerveza · 09/12/2021 10:59

It sounds like the woman could well have had some kind of disability, such as a visual difficulty, OP. Lots of people have trouble being able to see house numbers, and the fact she asked for the colour of the door suggests this. She also doesn't actually know that your friend lives in a small cul-de-sac and that it would be fairly obvious which house it was. She delivers to dozens of houses every day and has probably wasted a lot of time trying to find houses, and having some hints about how to find somewhere more easily cuts down on the wasted time and delays.

Likewise, the person who asked if the form was complete - you must never have worked in an admin role if you don't know that it is in fact common for people to submit incomplete forms missing crucial information. There's a reason people ask questions like that.

I can't believe how many people jump to the conclusion that someone must be stupid for asking things like this, rather than the far more likely scenario that there's a good reason they're asking.

Has anyone ever suggested that you might have a problem with empathy and understanding where other people are coming from?

CruCru · 09/12/2021 11:02

In fairness, there are lots of houses where the number isn't shown. I understand it's infuriating for delivery drivers.

SilverHairedCat · 09/12/2021 11:04

Ref the florist, I imagine they are sick of hunting for hard to find houses so ask specific now.

Ex copper, so lots of stupid questions. Especially on cordons.
"Can I just go down there". No. The road is closed. "But I just need to get to x". Sorry, you'll have to go the long way round.

"Is the road closed?". No, I'm standing here in the pouring rain for shits and giggles.

For infertility "Have you tried relaxing / can't you just adopt / stop thinking about it then it'll happen". Wankers. Every fucking time. Stop it.

JudgeJ · 09/12/2021 11:18

@SweetestThing

I've lost count of the number of times people have seen me write and they ask "Oh, are you left-handed?". Well, obviously!
I once puzzled someone who watched me write something then use the other hand to slice bread!
JudgeJ · 09/12/2021 11:20

I once got asked that when I had a left hand drive car.

When I brought my LHD car back from Germany a neighbour assumed I would have to drive on the right!

Ubiquery · 09/12/2021 11:25

“What’s the author’s name?” from a bookshop employee when I asked to order The Diary Of Anne Frank.

Notjustanymum · 09/12/2021 11:26

Those weren’t stupid questions,OP. A stupid question would be asking if it would matter if the gas pipe had a leak, not directions or forms!

RuleOfCat · 09/12/2021 11:32

When my mum died I returned to the UK and as her executor had a pile of paperwork to sort out, on top of arranging the funeral.
A bank needed a particular document to be notarized, and that required my mum's death cert to be presented.
So the lawyer/notary is in the middle of doing this, with a certificate in front of him showing that my mum had died a few days ago, and he decides this is the right time for a bit of small talk: 'So, is there any particular reason you're in the UK this time, is it a holiday?'
No you fucking idiot, I'm burying my mother tomorrow.

Saddlesore · 09/12/2021 11:33

FIL phoned us (on landline) to confirm our new address. Then asked "What's your phone number?"

Santahatesbraisedcabbage · 09/12/2021 11:35

My df's dw asked me who it was when I rang asking for df..
I am an only dc..
But she was just a cow.

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