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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:
OnGoldenPond · 09/12/2021 21:42

Went to doctor multiple times over a six month period with worsening nausea and balance problems. By the last appointment had constant vomiting for a week and couldn't walk in a straight line without holding on to furniture.

"Do you think it could be depression?" asked the doctor.

It wasn't.

peaceanddove · 09/12/2021 21:44

DDMac So glad you challenged her. I was in bits but luckily my Mum was in the next room and overheard the midwife's nonsense. She marched in and tackled the midwife head on causing the midwife to leave in high dudgeon!

SunshineCake1 · 09/12/2021 22:11

@Frazzledmummy123

Sunshinecake1, actually yes it is as you don't try for twins or choose them with IVF. Nobody says "I want twins". Hmm
But people have two embryos implanted..
DDMAC · 09/12/2021 22:16

@peaceanddove

DDMac So glad you challenged her. I was in bits but luckily my Mum was in the next room and overheard the midwife's nonsense. She marched in and tackled the midwife head on causing the midwife to leave in high dudgeon!
🙌🏻🙌🏻👏🏻 Good on her!
MsAgnesDiPesto · 09/12/2021 22:27

@FatOaf

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!

Unless it's Black (or possibly Blue), I'm not sure about this:

Green/Greene/Gryn
White/Whyte
Brown/Browne/Braun

I can assure you it’s only spelled one way. I should know after 50 years of being it.
crowsfeet57 · 09/12/2021 22:50

Customer "Is there a lift to the top?"
Me "No"
Customer "Why not? That's disgraceful."
Me "because it's a 1000 year old castle and lifts weren't invented then!"

Chimley · 09/12/2021 22:53

@DrierThanANunsNasty

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
I had a psychologist ask me if I threw up in labour because psychologically I think blood etc is dirty? There hadn't been any blood at that point. I was vomiting through the pain!
Stuckhere2021 · 09/12/2021 22:57

I once worked in a place where someone had the same first initial and surname as me. I got her pay slip and opened it assuming it was mine. (Back in the days before electronic pay slips etc). Went to the pay office to tell them and the woman asked me “are you sure that’s not your name?”.

HaaaaaveyoumetTed · 09/12/2021 22:59

I can assure you it’s only spelled one way. I should know after 50 years of being it.

I can only assume it's Blue. I can't think of another common, 1 syllable colour that couldn't on hearing it be spelt another way (red, on hearing could be Read). Or beige.

AnotherOneWithNoGoodName · 09/12/2021 23:06

Kind of related, not a question mind you.
Someone once phoned my workplace about their account. Their name was, for eg, Bill Brown* I searched and searched for this person on the systems, nothing. I explain to them that they are not coming up as a customer.
"Oh thats weird. Maybe I'm down as Michael Brown*"
Me: "Is that your name?"
Them: "Yes, but my mates call me Bill"

*Made up names, obviously.

AnotherOneWithNoGoodName · 09/12/2021 23:08

@HaaaaaveyoumetTed

I can assure you it’s only spelled one way. I should know after 50 years of being it.

I can only assume it's Blue. I can't think of another common, 1 syllable colour that couldn't on hearing it be spelt another way (red, on hearing could be Read). Or beige.

Blu. Bloo. Bleu. I reckon Pink
Ericaequites · 09/12/2021 23:10

Post your house number so it can be seen clearly from the street. It helps delivery and ambulance drivers enormously, as well as casual visitors.

MsAgnesDiPesto · 09/12/2021 23:13

@HaaaaaveyoumetTed

I can assure you it’s only spelled one way. I should know after 50 years of being it.

I can only assume it's Blue. I can't think of another common, 1 syllable colour that couldn't on hearing it be spelt another way (red, on hearing could be Read). Or beige.

Don’t you know any small girls?
saltinesandcoffeecups · 09/12/2021 23:25

Not me being asked but saw it on TV. Quick backstory… small plane crashes into one of the Great Lakes (US- so temp is F) watching the press conference with the Fire Chief talking.

FC: the small plane creased with 3 passengers on board, search and rescue underway (paraphrased)

Reporter: What is the temperature of the water?

FC: Surface temperature averages about 36 degrees this time of year. A person can survive for 2 hours at that temperature before hypothermia becomes likely. The temperature 3 feet below the surface is about 33 degrees. (Paraphrased)

Reporter: How long can someone survive there?

FC; Ah, considerably less than at the the surface

That’s when I lost faith in the media. I do give the Chief credit for only pausing a second and not adding ‘you idiot’ to the end of his answer.

always2tired · 09/12/2021 23:27

@Chrysanthemum5

I have a younger sister and we look very similar and people often ask if we are twins. Which is fine until someone asked, I replied 'No' and they then asked me (in all seriousness) if I was sure.
This exact thing happened to me but I was with my older sister! Shock
Frazzledmummy123 · 09/12/2021 23:35

SunshineCake1, yes that's why twins are very common with IVF treatment, however people don't ask for or choose it. Maybe with specialist treatments, it is possible to choose twins, but not generally.

WeatherwaxOn · 09/12/2021 23:52

People walking past my desk on a Friday evening when I am working late and saying to me, "Oh, are you still here?"
No. This is a hologram.

Saracen · 09/12/2021 23:58

I home educate my kids, and have been asked several times, "Is that legal?"

That isn't necessarily a stupid question, though these days most people are aware that it is legal. But I'm amused that anyone might think that I'd openly admit to doing something illegal Smile . I'm tempted to answer, "Oh no, home education isn't legal. I just can't be bothered to send them to school. I've been getting away with it for ten years now. Luckily nobody has reported me for it yet."

Jeelypieces20storeys · 09/12/2021 23:58

"have you got a date for your heart transplant?" (By more than 1 health professional!)

"Have you met your donor?"

BobbieT1999 · 10/12/2021 00:05

"Are you sure that's how you spell your name?"

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 10/12/2021 00:11

Re:the surname that is a colour - don’t the majority (if not all) colours have one correct spelling - so surely, if the poster’s surname is the same as the colour, there is only one way to spell it?

Yes, the surname Green can also be spelled Greene, or Pink could be Pinke - but the colour green can only be spelled green, and the colour pink can only be spelled pink.

TonyThreePies · 10/12/2021 00:12

Phoned my dad while my sibling was staying with him. There are only the two of us. He answered, I could hear my sibling talking to mum in the background and I said "Hi dad!"
He said "Who's that?" Confused

DestinyIsAll · 10/12/2021 00:58

@Africa2go

Boy and girl twins.

"Are they identical?"

Repeatedly. And more than once by a medical professional Confused

Me too. By a consultant Confused. In his defence he realised immediately what an idiotic thing it was to say, I’d known him a very long time so we had a good laugh about it.
Intercity225 · 10/12/2021 08:30

In Florida:

"Did you drive here?" "No, there is no road over the Atlantic"
How often do you see Princess Diana?" "About as often as you see the President!"
Pointing at 18 month twins, " Have you got their names down for Oxford or Cambridge?" "It doesn't work like that!"

On twins:
"Oh a boy and a girl, how nice - your family is complete?" Both girls in frilly summer dresses!
"How do you tell them apart?" "One has black hair and the other has white!"
"Are they identical?" "No, one has black hair and the other has white!"

As I had twins, we used to get a 10% discount in Clarks. One day, I bought a pair of shoes and asked for the discount. The assistant got a calculator but couldn't work it out; she got a colleague to help her. The two of them struggled with the calculator. Finally, I told them "It's £3". They then reached for the calculator again, so I told them "It's £30 take away £3, so I have to pay £27" They just looked at me.

While one person might have had dysgraphia, the chances of two of them having it, must be very small!

DH rang up in 1990 for the results of a blood test. The receptionist insisted it was a urine sample. DH argued no, it was blood. The receptionist finally got exasperated and said "Is your date of birth DD/MM/1987?" DH said "I am not three!"

DD broke her arm, after having had her face painted like a tiger. At A & E, they asked us if she was pale? We said we couldn't tell, under all that paint!

Shouldiwearmyhairinaponytail · 10/12/2021 09:33

I said to somebody that I was going to a dance lesson that evening and he said “Oh so do you go to dance lessons?” But I think it’s just more a way of showing interest and making conversation