AIBU to think this lady was nuts? Share your WTF interactions with strangers here

[BarbaraVineFan]

In the park with 4 year old DD today and she became fascinated with a ladybird which she found near the path. We were standing by the side of the path as DD let the ladybird crawl over her arms and hands. A lady went past with a little kid of a similar age and was looking over, so I said 'we've got a ladybird!' (Not sure why really but I felt the need to explain.) Upon which this woman sort of sniggered and went 'ah..,Chlamydia!' And then just...went on her way.

Having googled, I see that apparently ladybirds carry all sorts of STIs, which they transmit to other ladybirds and not humans. So I guess that's what she meant. But at the time I was like 'What the actual fuck?' 😂 Who even says that to a stranger?!

Does anyone have any similar stories of batshit interactions with strangers to share?

My friend, seven months pregnant strolling down the road all her usual glamorous blonde groomed self, a car stopped behind her and a bloke yelled ‘alright darlin, fancy a lift’ she turned with bump on full show and answered ‘thats what got me in this fuckin state in the first place’ and continued walking, bloke drove off sharpish looking very sheepish.

I went wedding dress shopping with my sister when I was 37. She's seven years younger. We entered one of the shops and the owner greeted my sister, looked at me and said 'And is this your mother?' I did look older than my sister but not old enough to have a 30 year old! I would have thought a wedding dress shop owner would have enough sense to be careful about making assumptions. As it turned out she wasn't a very nice person and we didn't end up buying from there.

When in uni it was freshers week and there was a bubble machine. Me and my friends where sat buy it (we where year 3 volunteers working the fair) and a fresher came up screaming that he was 'deathly allergic to bubbles' and we where going to 'kill him'.

This caused a lot of staring and some people in the vicinity to start laughing. One kid piped up 'if your allergic to soap and water then how do you wash mate?' which caused more of the crowd to laugh and at this point he was actually turning red with rage ranting with clenched fists.

I know people can be allergic to certain types of toiletries, I always had a reaction to avon bubble bath but Im pretty sure no one is allergic to ALL soap and water let alone 'deathly' allergic. Despite his impending doom he stood right next to the machine ranting about it.

We never did find out how he washes, maybe he has dust baths like a chinchilla.

Probably so he could have a shave 🤑

Had one of those, from a then colleague. It was noise at the dinner table, was pretty gobsmacked but maybe didn't hear properly, you know how it is.

Avoided the bloke for years, then came to the same workplace as him, traveling 180m so staying overnight for a couple of nights, with my wee suitcase. Again a snarky comment, think it was actually the day I was going home, no matter. He said something like "oh, you don't travel light", clearly no idea I was/had been staying overnight. Git.

DS used to get really bad Juvenile spring eruption on his ears - took years and baffled GPs to work out what it was- solution stick a sun hat on.

For years older neighbour from down dropping grandchild at same school had to comment or remove the hat.

Never spoke to DH or me or kids with even a hello - but felt fine behaving like that towards a young boy - often at peak can't comment back times.

I used to work in an operating theatre (back in the 80s) and back then, the hospital had an incinerator, and severed limbs were taken there and incinerated. I don't know what they do now, @Itsabitweirdinhereinnit.

That’s from watch with mother. 1950’s kids tv show. Maybe you reminded him of his mother?

I'd have realised he was making a daft joke and laughed.

I litter pick while out walking my dog (he picks the route so I follow where he fancies going).

A lady stopped me, complained that I don't ever do her road and demanded that we go there together, right now, so she could show me the litter that has been bothering her (she had a children's garden party coming up and wanted the street to look nice too)

She was most upset when I refused, at first politely, and then when she pushed the issue, I told her to buy a picker and do it herself as I was not her staff. Thank you very much.

I got the 'go back to your own country' the other day, my name is not common so they thought 'name I haven't heard before = must be foreign foreign'. I pointed out that we are from the same city and his name (David) was Hebrew so not remotely 'English' either.

Not really sure this is a similar thing (or relevant to your comment or this thread completely 🤔) but this reminds me of a van that I saw yesterday in a car park, with the company name on the side - "M&S Female Decorators", which I thought was rather 🤔 I mean, do people really need to know the gender of their tradesmen (women/people?!) before they use their services? Is there something about female decorators that some might find (whispers) less able and competent? 😳😑

@AtomHeartMotherOfGod

Death Man cracks me up to this day. It was one of the most baffling experiences I have ever encountered. He said "death!" literally 30 or more times during the course of our conversation. Whenever he agreed with me, he would nod enthusiastically and say "death, death!"

Not a WTF as such, but a LOL.

Fairly early one morning, I needed to go to the local post sorting office to collect a parcel I'd missed. As I pulled into the car park, a big burly rugby player type man pulls in behind me. He moves a bit quicker, so is out of the car first.
He gets to the door and pulls it. Nothing happens.
"Oh, are they closed?" I say behind him. Confused, as it's like 9:30am, they should be open.
"Seems to be..." he replies, and pulls it again. Nothing happens.
He then peers in through the window, "I think I can see someone in there..." He knocks on the glass and a voice from inside says "We're open!"
The burly rugby man calls back, "Your door isn't working!" And there's some indistinct call back.
At this point, rugby man decides to take matters into his own hands. He plants his feet, grabs the handle with two hands, and YANKS with all his strength. The door rattles disturbingly in its frame, but nothing happens.
Then a confused voice from inside calls out, "You need to push it!"
Rugby man gives it the most delicate of pushes, and it opens gracefully. He turns back to look at me, all sheepish, "It's a push door."

At this point, I can feel hysterical laughter bubbling up inside me. I just about manage to hold it in the whole time he's getting his parcel, and I'm getting mine, but by the time I get back to my car, I'm in hysterics. It just really tickled me.

Deffo sounds like Tourettes to me.

DS1 (14) has tourettes and his vocal tics are fairly rare (it's usually physical tics) but he used to have one where he shouted 'STOP STOP!'.

Not so great when he was a wee child and we were in public toilets while i was trying to change him and people were outside not knowing what I was doing.

ETA- DS's classmates are brilliant with the tourettes. he was being mocked by a child and his class rounded on the child and said 'It's tourettes and he can't help it'. I, personally, am really grateful to live in an age where people know more about ND and differences and all that.

Some single women don't feel especially comfortable with "strange" men in the house. Even tradeys.
I don't particularly. When the man comes to service the boiler I always just sit awkwardly in the other room and wait for him to finish as quickly as possible!
Having a women or two in the house to do a job - especially one that takes longer, like decorating - can be a real plus to some people.

Some people might feel more comfortable with female decorators, in the same way they might feel more comfortable with a female driving instructor.

Sandi Toksvig is apparently quite handy round the house and I heard her say on QI that when she retires from the entertainment business she's going to set up a company called Dial a Dyke.

Completely agree with you @Monkeybutt1. What I find bizarre in all this is that it appears no one else is allowed a different opinion on that particular post, but there's plenty of other posts where people say... I think that's funny.

To be honest I'd have laughed at both.... while silently being wary of the new colleague. With the man he's a stranger you'll never see again.

Yet people finding the fish up the foof post funny aren’t being called ‘creepy apologists’ are they?

Be careful with the orangey coloured ladybirds one of them bit me the other day.

Sat in a quiet lounge in a hotel in Amsterdam writing some notes with pen and pad. A man walked past, took the pen from my hands, inspected it closely for a few moments, put it in his pocket and walked off. Not a word was spoken.
I was literally gob smacked and just stared after him. He didn't return. I looked around for some candid camera crew laughing etc but nothing.
As I had no other pen I had to return to my room completely baffled. This was 15 years ago but still baffled to this day.

I am stealing this one! Brilliant

You can keep it if you want.

There was a case in America where a storage locker was bought at auction and the found a human leg inside and alerted the police. Turned out it was the previous owners medically amputated leg so no crime involved. The original leg owner wanted it back but the new owners wanted to incinerate it as they found it 'creepy' and thought no one should keep body parts. It went to court and was reunited with the owner of the rest of the matching limbs. The judge said body parts can be kept but can not not 'sold' on as that would constitute a 'black market' so the leg could not class in the auction lot and needed to be returned.

See.. this is why I love MN. For posts like this.

(and not for the sniping which seems to be more and more common).

I know so much more now.

Three memories from 20 years ago, when I was heavily pregnant and working in a small shop.

1. One of the regulars, a lovely little old woman, was asking if I was nervous about the birth. I said yes, to which she replied "Don't worry, it's just like having a bloody good sh*te!" I just about peed myself laughing. Still makes me giggle.

1. I reached round to get a pack of cigarettes from the display behind me for a customer when a woman shouted that I shouldn't stretch like that because it could cause the umbilical cord to wrap round the babies neck. WTF

1. I dyed my hair and a woman told me I'd probably just severely damaged my unborn baby because the hair dye would have gone into my womb....