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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Eye hospital dickface

154 replies

Helenahandkart · 10/05/2022 16:09

I’ve just come here to rant.
I had a five hour round trip to the eye hospital today, which involved waking up at 5.30am and receiving some upsetting news.

When I came out after my appointment I could hardly see anything due to eye drops/dilation. I rushed to the bus stop. I couldn’t accurately read the small clock on my phone but there was either a bus due any minute, or I might have to wait in the rain for half an hour in which case I may as well start walking home.

I politely asked a passing man if he had the time. He didn’t. My phone was in my hand so I held it up and said ‘Please could you read this? I’ve just been to the eye hospital and I can’t see it’. Before I’d finished the sentence he looked me up and down contemptuously and said with a sneer ‘I don’t have time for this. I’m in a dash’ and walked off.

What a dick.
It would have taken him one second to glance at my phone and tell me the time.

OP posts:
MarshaBradyo · 10/05/2022 17:08

Don’t worry about it, he misjudged, maybe thought it was some kind of scam

impossible to know what he was thinking

Vikinga · 10/05/2022 17:08

ladydimitrescu · 10/05/2022 17:05

I'd have ignored you op - I'm not a rude person, but if someone held their phone up to me and said read this, I'd assume it was a scam or you were off your face.

I see older people not being able to read stuff quite a lot

nearlyspringyay · 10/05/2022 17:09

You could have just asked him if he had the time?

SirenSays · 10/05/2022 17:19

nearlyspringyay · 10/05/2022 17:09

You could have just asked him if he had the time?

She said she did ask him.

In future go onto Google and click the mic, you can ask Google the time and it will read it out for you.

NightmareSlashDelightful · 10/05/2022 17:19

Helenahandkart · 10/05/2022 16:48

@DoNotGetADog I’m a 5’ neatly dressed middle-aged woman. He didn’t look at me long enough to see my pupils. There’s no way at all he thought I was a drug addict or a thief.
He was just far, far too busy and important to be bothered with any basic kindness.

You're projecting your bad mood (and worry) onto him, a bit.

I'd probably react a similar way if someone approached me like this. Scammers often start with an innocuous question - like asking the time - to draw a passerby into conversation, at which point the 'scam' starts.

And your remark about not being dressed like a drug addict or thief... trust me, drug addicts and thieves come dressed in all kinds of ways. They don't all look like Worzel Gummidge!

MissyB1 · 10/05/2022 17:24

He could have just told Op the time. He didn’t have to look at her phone.

it’s come to something if people are too scared to tell a woman in the street the time!

Qwill · 10/05/2022 17:26

I probably would have thought you were making a ploy to try and rob me!

Sapphirensteel · 10/05/2022 17:35

I don’t know how I’ve survived 60 years as I wouldn’t have thought twice about telling you the time, Reading g the bus timetable for you or actually seeing you onto a bus. Quiet garden corner of hospital last week, I was walking back to my car and a woman sat on a bench burst into tears sobbing down her phone she couldn’t carry on. Of course I asked her if she needed help, could I get anyone to help her. Can’t think why I’d bother being a human being if I didn’t offer help if it looks like someone needs it.
And no, no one has ever robbed, mugged, assaulted me either.
Hope you got home ok, those dilation drops are a bugger.

Charlavail · 10/05/2022 17:36

I cannot believe this thread. People are literally scared to tell a lady what the time is? What the heck? What a bunch of odd bod. What a sad world. 😔. I would hate to be so suspicious of people.

mycatisannoying · 10/05/2022 17:37

Dickhead.

mycatisannoying · 10/05/2022 17:38

bloodywhitecat · 10/05/2022 16:40

What kind of world do we live in where some people are so scared of telling someone the time.

Ridiculous, isn't it?!

MarshaBradyo · 10/05/2022 17:39

MissyB1 · 10/05/2022 17:24

He could have just told Op the time. He didn’t have to look at her phone.

it’s come to something if people are too scared to tell a woman in the street the time!

Why do people think he was scared?

he said he didn’t have it to first question

maybe he didn’t, maybe couldn’t be bothered to find phone etc

womaniswomaniswoman · 10/05/2022 17:39

You were at a bus stop near a hopsital - you don't know anything about why he might have not felt like small chat with a stranger. You were having a bad day, he could have been too.

Firebird83 · 10/05/2022 17:41

He might have been in a rush and didn’t have time to read things off your phone for you.

MrsReeves · 10/05/2022 17:44

If OP had said "Do you have the time please?" Instead of asking him to read something off her phone, this would have likely had a very different outcome

OneTC · 10/05/2022 17:46

I'm very shortsighted.

I once asked someone to read a train sign for me and they initially laughed at me for not being able to read it and then didn't read it for me when I explained I couldn't actually see it.

There may be reasons your person didn't want to but I'd wager there was a high chance they're just a fucking dickhead

Choopi · 10/05/2022 17:47

I would have helped without hesitation. I've done so loads of times in the past. I've even read someone's post for them, it's not that unusual that someone wouldn't be able to read. If the conversation takes a twist I would duck out but doing something simple to help someone out shouldn't be a big ask.

SaskiaRembrandt · 10/05/2022 17:49

MrsReeves · 10/05/2022 16:57

If my vision was so blurred I couldn't even see my phone, I would be asking someone at the hospital to please call me a taxi. There is no way I would even think about trying to catch a bus.
How was it a 5 hour round trip, but quicker to walk home than wait half an hour for a bus?

I was wondering how it would have been quicker to walk too.

StScholastica · 10/05/2022 17:50

Oh come on OP, you have no idea what was going on in his life. You were beside a hospital, maybe he was late for his appointment, maybe he was going to see his dying mother.
You also sound quite snobby, how dare he mistake you, a nicely dressed woman, for a druggie!
That said I'm sorry you had bad news and hope that your vision is repairable.

Nanny0gg · 10/05/2022 17:52

Helenahandkart · 10/05/2022 16:48

@DoNotGetADog I’m a 5’ neatly dressed middle-aged woman. He didn’t look at me long enough to see my pupils. There’s no way at all he thought I was a drug addict or a thief.
He was just far, far too busy and important to be bothered with any basic kindness.

It's hideous coming out with eye drops, you feel terribly vulnerable because you can't see properly.

I've been in that position lately but luckily I didn't have to use public transport.

There is no question he was a dick.

Sorry you're having a bad time

Nanny0gg · 10/05/2022 17:56

MrsReeves · 10/05/2022 17:44

If OP had said "Do you have the time please?" Instead of asking him to read something off her phone, this would have likely had a very different outcome

She did...

Nanny0gg · 10/05/2022 17:56

StScholastica · 10/05/2022 17:50

Oh come on OP, you have no idea what was going on in his life. You were beside a hospital, maybe he was late for his appointment, maybe he was going to see his dying mother.
You also sound quite snobby, how dare he mistake you, a nicely dressed woman, for a druggie!
That said I'm sorry you had bad news and hope that your vision is repairable.

OFGS!!

Snobby??

Ridiculous!

KrisAkabusi · 10/05/2022 17:56

MrsReeves · 10/05/2022 17:44

If OP had said "Do you have the time please?" Instead of asking him to read something off her phone, this would have likely had a very different outcome

No it wouldn't, because she says she did ask him first.

Sirzy · 10/05/2022 17:57

MrsReeves · 10/05/2022 17:44

If OP had said "Do you have the time please?" Instead of asking him to read something off her phone, this would have likely had a very different outcome

I would have answered that as I am normally wearing a watch.

if it meant getting my phone out to check then I would be a lot more dubious for all the reasons mentioned.

BattenburgDonkey · 10/05/2022 18:02

He was just far, far too busy and important to be bothered with any basic kindness.

You have no idea of this man’s circumstances, what he was doing, if anything was wrong with his day. You sound no better than him.

How is it a 5 hour round trip, but you could have walked home if the bus wasn’t arriving for half an hour?

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