To think she thought I was 10 years younger than I am

[Mairzydotes]

I was at the dentist yesterday. The receptionist asked my date of birth first, and I gave it , and she then asked my name. She then quiried if it was the ' somethingth' or the 'twenty- somethingth' and I confirmed the correct one. ( I referred to the month by name).

She said there was nobody coming up. Then she asked if I was at the correct dentists. I was because I always go there. She asked me if I was sure I was I was actually registered because they had no patients with that dob 1993. I was born in 1983. She finds me , and I have my check up.

Then I've been thinking, she didn’t check the year at all, so she must have took me as being 31, 10 years younger than I am .

But according to mumsnet, nobody can ever be mistaken for 10 years younger than their actual age, in the real world.

They never do do they! Same as the 'I went to my teens parents night, and got mistaken for a 6th former and I'm 42.. aibu to be upset'...

Celebs with access to the best skincare and other treatments, rarely look much younger than they actually are, yet mumsnet is full of posters who are still babyfaces at 50, those who pass as a late teen at 35 and those who claim that they have no wrinkles at 70. 😬

She did mishear. She didn't just decide to put 1993 in. But she didn't think she'd made an error on the year.

I’ve had this in real life. The midwife made a comment about my husband and I starting our family early and how nice it was. I thought it was weird as I was 27 - she actually admitted she thought I was 17. But I won’t be believed on Mumsnet 🤣

Someone at work last week said they thought I was 32 not 42. Someone expressed surprise I could possibly have a 14yo. But on Mumsnet this is impossible!

Personally I can see my jowls and wrinkles and think I look my age.

I didn't come up at all on the system until the correct date of birth.

About five years ago, I went to the dentist, and she asked if I hadn't been for a couple of years because I've been away at uni.

I was 38, Twas a good day.

My dh thinks everyone under 40 looks about 12

If she misheard you, she will have thought she heard correctly so of course she wouldn’t have thought she’d made an error.

I love these threads. It’s like catnip to those mumsnet posters who like to believe they genuinely look decades younger than they are. Photos please, ladies, or I think you’re kidding yourselves 😂😂😂

If you were a horse she could have easily calculated your age from your teeth.

I love them too.

A copy of today’s newspaper with the photos please. 😉

The delusion is real.

Yes! I think this is a thing.

Could have been a v simple keying error TBH.

That said I'm in my 40s and when someone is trying to get my attention, I quite often get "Young lady, over here pls" and such like. So I know I look younger than I am.

However, I've never started a thread about it. I don't see it as something to be proud or happy about. It's depressing as I am the older of the two figures. A million times look older but actually BE young.

That said I'm in my 40s and when someone is trying to get my attention, I quite often get "Young lady, over here pls" and such like. So I know I look younger than I am.

🤣🤣🙈

Surely no one actually believes that, I can't think of a single person who actually does, famous or real life.

People say ‘young lady’ to get your attention? 🤔

I’ve lived in many countries and even when I was a ‘young lady’, no one ever got my attention by saying that.

I did this the other way round, went to 6th form parents evening, asked woman in front of me if she was in the queue for X. She was a student. I swear she looked old enough to be her own mother. My DD though it was hilarious when I told her but she did say people generally did think that girl was in her 30s. It wasn't her face so much but her clothes and hair do.

Receptionists don't go around guessing people's ages. She must have misheard you or mistyped something into the system. They have much more pressing things to think about, and if they are decent they'll be trained not to assume anything about a client. So I'd say it's unlikely to be that in this circumstance.
That's not to say you don't look younger. I just think in that situation they wouldn't be thinking along those lines. Simply trying to book the patient in, a task they do multiple times a day.

I'm dreadful at construing a year of birth into an approximate age, unless it's very close to my own age, or my child's, because there I have an inbuilt sense of 'approximate age in relation to YOB'. So someone could tell me they were born in 1993, and I wouldn't automatically think 'Oh, the person I'm looking at is x age' or 'That person looks way too young to have been born in 1983'.

Sorry, posted too soon - judging by my GP's receptionist, some of them appear to put in day/month and go from that, also?

I think it can vary a bit through life, I was often mistaken as older when I was a teen, mistaken as younger as an adult and I swear I've aged about 20 years since my 70th birthday and hate to think what people would guess my age as now. My face has collapsed but I'm blaming that on long covid so hoping it might improve a bit, I don't even recognise the old woman in the mirror.

Thinking about it I'd suggest Olivia Newton John, she aged really well.

Yes, it definitely goes crazily the other way.

Even though I tend to think people are younger than they are, sometimes I think people are older than they are, generally people in their late 20s, who could easily pass for 40+! But then they tend to plateau, and look the same as 60, so it's swings and roundabouts really.

Yes so many children doing responsible jobs. I often think the same.

In 2001 I suddenly lost the ability to instantly calculate someone’s age from their date of birth. I work with new people everyday and I never compute their age in my head. I doubt the receptionist was even looking at you, she was searching for your details and couldn’t find you. s soon as she updated the details she found you.

At no point did she think well I have a person here on the system but it cannot possibility be @Mairzydotes because she looks ten years younger.

the optician once read my age as 1972 when it is 1982 so consider yourself lucky.