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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask you to admit doing the annoying things people on MN complain about?

646 replies

GreenLinks · 26/10/2022 07:08

For an anonymous internet forum, it continually strikes me as odd that people very rarely admit to engaging in the problematic or annoying behaviours complained about on here - it's always someone else doing it, apparently. Whether it's hogging the middle lane on the motorway, having kids who are out of control in public places, being a noisy neighbour or not picking up dog poo, people on MN constantly complain about these things happening around them but if no one on here admits to doing it, who are all these offenders? For example, several people in my neighbourhood are leaving their dog's poo around constantly, but when this is brought up on here every single dog owner loudly exclaims that it it's these dog owners who give them a bad name, that they never go out walking without carrying several bags for good measure! Same with bad driving - people on here love calling out driving pet peeves, but surely at least some people on here are engaging in those very same behaviours e.g. tailgating, driving too slowly or bad parking, that everyone complains about?

Are people on here just squeaky clean or in denial? I admit it, I do hog the middle lane sometimes, there you go 😬

OP posts:
AnApparitionQuipped · 26/10/2022 07:18

I don't do any you've mentioned in your OP - dog no longer with us and always picked up after in his lifetime; lead a quiet life at home, don't drive so don't hog the motorway/park badly etc. - although being a non-driver is sometimes a Mumsnet crime.

I smoke, which tends to get bashed on here. I own toilet brushes!

SeasonFinale · 26/10/2022 07:19

I employ a cleaner even though I am not working! Burn me at the stake immediately

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 26/10/2022 07:24

I was the person performance parenting - “Look, darling, a statue of Caliban. He’s from a play by William Shakespeare…”, etc. All this in a loud voice to my preschoolers.

I don’t do it any more, not because it’s annoying, but because 3 of my dc are adults, and my last child is 15, and it would look stupid.

Can’t wait for grandchildren….

SavoirFlair · 26/10/2022 07:27

The problem with your whole premise @GreenLinks is that a thread is not a census. There could be thousands of active users on Mumsnet daily, but perhaps 80-100 replies on a thread (which is good going!)

as you know, threads on Mumsnet tend to be groupthink, in that if someone early on pipes up “it’s disgusting to leave poo bags” or “why on earth would anyone drive in the middle lane the whole journey?” You will get an echo chamber from those who agree

it takes a brave soul or someone who strongly believes in their actions, to go against the herd mentality.

So yeah. Those people are probably all out there , here on Mumsnet, maybe even in a silent majority in the case of middle lane driving, they just don’t fancy being piled on by a group that have showed their colours already.

P.S I cannot abide middle lane driving.

SavoirFlair · 26/10/2022 07:27

**middle lane hogging even!

lentilly · 26/10/2022 07:27

I don't always answer the door when someone knocks it

SavoirFlair · 26/10/2022 07:27

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 26/10/2022 07:24

I was the person performance parenting - “Look, darling, a statue of Caliban. He’s from a play by William Shakespeare…”, etc. All this in a loud voice to my preschoolers.

I don’t do it any more, not because it’s annoying, but because 3 of my dc are adults, and my last child is 15, and it would look stupid.

Can’t wait for grandchildren….

The fact you even feel the need to share this… 😑😅🤣

FeralWitch · 26/10/2022 07:28

🙋🏼‍♀️ I’m a middle-lane hogger.

I do have MN in mind while I’m hogging though. I mentally self-flagellate and pull in from time to time to relieve the guilt.

ChattyPat · 26/10/2022 07:28

I have a wind chime.

HerbErtlinger · 26/10/2022 07:29

I use a toilet brush 😂

SavoirFlair · 26/10/2022 07:29

lentilly · 26/10/2022 07:27

I don't always answer the door when someone knocks it

That doesn’t go against Mumsnet orthodoxy though?

Most people on here go out of their way to boast about how they never open the door unannounced unless they have had a text, a written letter two days earlier, a police summons, a phone call from a recognised number, etc..

Trulyweird1 · 26/10/2022 07:31

I have a big fuck off SUV

SnowyPetals · 26/10/2022 07:31

I used to be what lazy parents on here call a "performance parent" when mine were little. I also wee behind a bush when out in the countryside.

RoachTheHorse · 26/10/2022 07:33

I am probably guilty of what mumsnet calls "performance parenting" too.

In reality my voice just carries and I want my kids to know things. I don't actually care if someone else hears me, just my kids.

SavoirFlair · 26/10/2022 07:35

FeralWitch · 26/10/2022 07:28

🙋🏼‍♀️ I’m a middle-lane hogger.

I do have MN in mind while I’m hogging though. I mentally self-flagellate and pull in from time to time to relieve the guilt.

Why @FeralWitch ?

what advantage does it give you to be in the middle lane, impeding other people making progress?

KangarooKenny · 26/10/2022 07:35

I have a toilet brush too, in fact I’ve got three, and a pocket full of poo bags in every coat me and DH own.
I deliberately park away from others, so don’t think I’d upset anyone with that.
And no I don’t hog the middle lane, I pull over like you are supposed to.

KangarooKenny · 26/10/2022 07:36

And I have tea towels that I think are older than my kids !

Aeio · 26/10/2022 07:37

SavoirFlair · 26/10/2022 07:35

Why @FeralWitch ?

what advantage does it give you to be in the middle lane, impeding other people making progress?

Here's your answer OP. People don't admit it due to being immediately jumped upon 😅

chanelss · 26/10/2022 07:37

I say hun a lot :)

Sux2buthen · 26/10/2022 07:39

I love Christmas Eve boxes
I love birthdays, even adult ones

Addicted2LoveIsland · 26/10/2022 07:39

Do you think the members that do these things will admit to it? Obviously, they just won't comment on the posts.

Iwantmyoldnameback · 26/10/2022 07:40

I have toilet brushes, a tumble dryer, (who knew that was an issue) and I'm a boomer. I also drive when I could walk and unnecessarily have my own car.

Everydaywheniwakeup · 26/10/2022 07:41

I told my child there was both a tooth fairy and father Christmas and did not sit her down to tell her I lied when she was 5.
If I have 5 a day fruit and veg it's because someone else has been feeding me.

Penelope987 · 26/10/2022 07:41

Another performance parent here. I had never heard the term before coming here and don’t do it with those intentions but I think I’d qualify regardless.

PuttingDownRoots · 26/10/2022 07:41

I let my kids take sweets to school for their friends on their birthdays.

I've taken my other child