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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what is the pettiest thing you’ve done?

470 replies

LadyCampanulaTottington · 03/09/2022 08:51

My petty crown that I wear with pride is when confronted (or rear fronted?) by a car driving up my arse, I slow down and if they don’t back off I continue to drive as slow as legally possible just to make a point.

Even if you haven’t acted on it, what’s the pettiest thing you’ve considered doing?

OP posts:
FourChimneys · 03/09/2022 11:58

A group of people used to borrow something of mine two or three times a year but never said thank you or sorted out their lack of equipment themselves. They had a very entitled attitude. One year their attitude really got to me so I lent it but "accidentally" sent the wrong cables and plug. Made sure I was unavailable to swap them over.

Think a Christmas church service with no means to play music, that sort of thing...

I'm not a Christian so didn't fear the wrath of god for my pettiness.

OlympicProcrastinator · 03/09/2022 11:59

During lockdown I managed a fast food franchise that didn’t have any seating. So when the Eat Out to Help Out scheme happened, I didn’t technically have to offer anyone free food, but I did to almost all my customers as there was a bench in a costa coffee nearby they could technically sit and eat at if they wanted. It was at my discretion.

There were a couple of times everyone in the que got free food expect for that one, rude, aggressive or shouty customer. They didn’t even know they could have had their meal free if they’d been less of an arse.

KeepScrapingBy · 03/09/2022 12:05

I shared a room with another student in my first term at university. She would make a cup of tea and leave the used teabag on the side next to the kettle.
I used to put each of her used teabags in the bin, until one day I stopped, just to see what happened. I didn’t say anything.
The teabags grew into a large festering heap until eventually she learned to put them in the bin.
Nowadays I’d just have a polite word with her, but I was 18 and unused to sharing with strangers.

mama3bears · 03/09/2022 12:10

If someone drives too close behind me I wash my windscreen and watch them get annoyed at theirs getting wet too!

Evasmissingletter · 03/09/2022 12:11

Shlomping1234 · 03/09/2022 09:48

My ex used to like a drink in the evenings. If he pissed me off, I used to shake random cans before going to bed. Then lay there giggling when he'd open one and hear him swearing when it exploded over him 🤣
I also pissed in his running bath once 🤣

🤣🤣

happinessischocolate · 03/09/2022 12:20

In my 20s I shared a flat with 2 lads who rarely washed up, they'd just leave it all stacking up. I removed all the crockery and cutlery, leaving them with 1 plate, bowl, mug and knife, fork and spoon each 😁 I still remember them walking in the pub and saying where has all the stuff gone 😁 they learnt very quickly to wash up

HyacinthKylie · 03/09/2022 12:24

I'm struggling, I never carry out petty things, although they do occur to me often.

Not sure it counts, and might not count as petty, but I was part of a group at school, that one girl kept trying to exclude me from. She did not like me, and I did not know why. I have a habit of saying stuff in earnest that people take the wrong way! Anyway, I planned a few things to do for the group (party, bowling etc) and made a BIG deal of inviting this girl. Making sure everyone knew that I knew she didn't like me but I was trying very hard to make up any rift, I also mentioned that I couldn't exclude anyone as that wasn't right. The group started sticking up for me and she was not happy at all. Looking back she wanted me to leave without a word.

I still wonder how I had the energy to do all that, (because it was stressful at the time!) but the alternative was no friends! I'm still friends with 6 people from the group.

RicherThanYew · 03/09/2022 12:42

@KyaClark He was born with the personality that he has. Now he is acting like a grieving father despite battering my poor sister and causing severe mental health issues that followed her into adulthood and led to her death. It's just a shitty situation, some people are just that awful.

Acidburn · 03/09/2022 12:49

My ex boss would always ask me to get her a skinny hot chocolate on my way to the office. Everyday. That was not in my job description, but I was happy to do it. She was severely overweight, and was trying to loose weight, that's why she was asking for a skinny hot chocolate. One day she pissed me off really badly, and I got her a Full Fat version instead. She didn't notice...

YoniHuman · 03/09/2022 12:54

I had a Saturday job on the Supermarket Checkouts. If customers were rude or looked down their noses at the staff I would give their bananas a right good squeeze.

harriethoyle · 03/09/2022 12:57

@TroysMammy I did that every time my ex H took a shower between the point of separation and him moving out, but by flushing the loo. The problem was the only loo that wasn't in the main bathroom was in the attic! So I had to pelt up 3 flights of stairs to do it 😆

Bodice · 03/09/2022 13:00

Left a bad review on a restaurant that wouldn’t let my take my daughter that was desperate for a wee use the toilet.

Nekomata · 03/09/2022 13:02

My coworker wrote a note to me about a meeting she had scheduled next Friday afternoon. I actually have the afternoon off. I’m going away, but another coworker is off, so I guess my boss told her that I would stay and do it. Im not doing it and I have pointedly ignored the note. They’ll just have to figure it out between them.

Luredbyapomegranate · 03/09/2022 13:06

@TenRedThings

I would take great pleasure in using in and leaving random things for her to find on it.

She can complain all she likes, no one will do anything about it.

CornedBeef451 · 03/09/2022 13:13

@RicherThanYew that's really lovely, it made me cry.

DB died last year and his wife hasn't picked up his ashes yet, not sure why. My Dad is really upset about it. The crem only keeps them for a year so he's getting stressed about it again as the anniversary approaches.

I don't understand how she can leave him there, at least let me or Dad collect him until she decides what to do.

SnobblyBobbly · 03/09/2022 13:13

When we lived at home with our Mum, my younger sister learned to drive before me so would give me a lift most mornings to the station as we both caught the same train.

One morning she got pissed off with me about something, so said she wouldn’t give me a lift, which meant I had to catch a bus and I’d be late for work.

So I took her train pass out of her coat pocket and dropped it on the floor beneath as though it had fallen out of her pocket so she’d have to come back for it or pay for an extra ticket when she got there.

I was so happy sticking two fingers up as she smugly waved driving past me at the bus stop :)

Wait til you get to the station knobhead.

😆I love my sister really, but that was so satisfying I feel happy again now just typing it…

trampoline123 · 03/09/2022 13:25

When I was a waitress a table were being so rude to me all night, patronising and just generally thinking they were better than everyone else. I was only 15 or 16 working in a Devon country pub.

The waitresses prepared the desserts, heated and dished up their puddings and spat in their custard 🙊

HelpMeGetThrough · 03/09/2022 13:31

One of my ex managers was a lazy, sarcastic git and also really shit at his job.

Once a week I'd piss in his coffee mug. He never washed it.

Sorry Tim, but you really were and probably still are, a complete twat.

DisaL · 03/09/2022 13:41

My MIL is a really keen reader and a few years ago I gave her my old kindle which was still attached to my account. I showed her how to download kindle unlimited books and she always had 3 or 4 on the go simultaneously.

I can't remember how I found out now but it turned out that she'd been bad mouthing me about something. I returned all her kindle books to the library, synced all the devices so they disappeared from hers too and then downloaded any old rubbish I could find to fill the spaces so she couldn't re-download them.

i heard her telling my DH that her books had disappeared but as she's not good with technology he just assumed she'd done something wrong. I did remove all mine so she could use it again but I enjoyed that petty revenge for a week first!

honeylulu · 03/09/2022 13:56

This isn't a revenge one but it is petty (both of us). When my sister and I still loved at home but after we both learnt to drive we shared a car. My mum owned it and paid the running costs but we had to buy our own petrol. We were always arguing about whether one of us had used more petrol then she had paid for. To the extent that we'd end up putting £3 of petrol in for each short journey. Really really petty!

stopitleaveitgetdown · 03/09/2022 14:05

When I had my first son I was in a B&B.

The woman next to me was nice at first but then she started being weird and playing her music really loud and slamming her door really hard whenever she felt like it. I asked her nicely to keep it down as my DS was newborn but she carried on.
She sometimes kept her toothbrush in the shared bathroom so I cleaned the toilet with it!

KenAddams · 03/09/2022 14:08

stopitleaveitgetdown · 03/09/2022 14:05

When I had my first son I was in a B&B.

The woman next to me was nice at first but then she started being weird and playing her music really loud and slamming her door really hard whenever she felt like it. I asked her nicely to keep it down as my DS was newborn but she carried on.
She sometimes kept her toothbrush in the shared bathroom so I cleaned the toilet with it!

Brilliant 👏

VeronicaBeccabunga · 03/09/2022 15:05

When we were kids our parents took us to visit a minor stately home, of the sort that opened to the plebs on summer weekends 'by the generous permission of Lord and Lady Posh'
They sent you round in small groups with a tour guide.
Ours was an incredibly snooty and patronising woman who glossed over the contents of the rooms with remarks like 'These are works of very important artists, but I don't expect you will have heard of them'
She constantly told us not to touch anything.
As in many of these old houses each room led on to the next, connected by doors.
At the end of our tour a woman came bustling along after us with a big bunch of keys and as we left was obviously having a go at our guide.
My dear late mother had quietly dropped the latch behind some of the doors as we moved from room to room, locking them to the group coming along behind.

Chasingclouds100 · 03/09/2022 15:13

VeronicaBeccabunga · 03/09/2022 15:05

When we were kids our parents took us to visit a minor stately home, of the sort that opened to the plebs on summer weekends 'by the generous permission of Lord and Lady Posh'
They sent you round in small groups with a tour guide.
Ours was an incredibly snooty and patronising woman who glossed over the contents of the rooms with remarks like 'These are works of very important artists, but I don't expect you will have heard of them'
She constantly told us not to touch anything.
As in many of these old houses each room led on to the next, connected by doors.
At the end of our tour a woman came bustling along after us with a big bunch of keys and as we left was obviously having a go at our guide.
My dear late mother had quietly dropped the latch behind some of the doors as we moved from room to room, locking them to the group coming along behind.

Absolutely love this!

LondonWolf · 03/09/2022 15:17

I used to let my neighbours use my Wi-Fi when they were around - not often as they have a second home abroad. The husband was rude and snappy to me one day so without telling them I changed the password so they couldn't get on it and I knew that they wouldn't have the nerve to ask me for the new password. It gave me way more delight than it should have done really Smile