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?

Blimey... 😧

Was having cancer treatment in my 20s next to a 70+ woman. As the nurses were setting my drip up she kicked off that she hadn’t been seen to first because ‘she’s young enough it doesn’t matter if she dies because she doesn’t know what she’s missing. I know what I’d be missing so you should prioritise me so I can live as long as possible’.

Truly one of the most vile people I’ve ever encountered.

@miniaturepixieonacid Are Lithuanian eyes the same as Bette Davis eyes? 😂

This thread must go in Classics surely. Amazing stuff.

Not quite the same, but when I was shopping for a wedding dress the assistant asked me if this was my second marriage. I was 35, so yes I wasn't young, but I always thought that really rude.

The frightening thing is: they walk amongst us without us knowing 😱

@Lemonadeand

"There’s something about being a newborn mum that attracts intrusive comments. I don’t know if it’s because you’re feeling vulnerable anyway but it seems to happen a lot. A couple in a cafe had a go at my sister for being a teenage parent when she was breastfeeding a newborn. She was 30! She just laughed at them.*"
*
You're right! It's like they see an opportunity to shape the next generation of mums. I was paranoid for a while that I was supposed to be offering help with random nappy changes. Hope your sister took it as a compliment!

Can't believe there are still people picking at the squatting and pissing post. Actually I can. It's that most unpleasant of phenomena on MN where people love nothing more than a pile-on. If the first person to respond hadn't been such a dick about it, no one else would have thought twice about it.

That really made me laugh! She probably thought you meant like "I'm mental, me!" when you pointed to the side of your head.

Very heavily pregnant in a Butchers shop, got to the front and all the lads behind the counter started dancing about and singing "We know what you've been doing" WTF

I'm loving all the Herbs references on here - I grew up watching The Herbs, Trumpton and Camberwick Green, so I am enjoying a lovely nostalgia-fest.

I can't think of any experiences I've had, that would fit here - but I do have one from a friend. She was walking round the shopping centre with her twin babies, one boy and one girl, in their buggy, when an elderly lady came up to coo over them. "Ooooh - are they twins?" - "Yes" said my friend. "A boy and a girl?", "Yes". "Hmm - are they identical?" My friend - <<baffled>>

Exactly. A grown adult ranting about it. He called it “bubble juice”. It didn’t even pop on him, but near him. And if it had, what harm? It was bizarre. I have been sure to keep my bubbles in my own air space ever since!

Oh - and re. the fish in the foof - a Theatre sister I worked with told me about a case she remembered where the lady was getting recurrent UTIs, so had a cystoscopy which revealed a complete fish skeleton in her bladder!

To be fair to her, that is an early definition of a glory hole:

informal a room, cupboard, or other storage space that contains an untidy and miscellaneous collection of objects

Although it is not definition that springs to mind these days....

Try cycling. There are weekly WTF interactions with a small minority of drivers!
In the last month I had a car pull alongside in a queue of traffic and calmly tell me to get off the road as I "don't pay road tax".
The month before that a classic overtake to immediately brake and 'left hook' into a parking space.
And lets not get onto 6 months ago the chap who thought driving into a group of kids on bikes was acceptable as he 'was in a car' and they were 'on the road in front of me'....

same non-flute playing baby 😁😍😂

The much bigger risk is sheep.

City dwellers might not know this (its probably more common knowledge among us rural farm types) but Sheep can spread Chlamydia Abortus to humans. In most humans it will at worst cause flu like symptoms for a few days but as per the name in pregnant woman it will be much more serious illness and fatal to the fetus.

It causes on average 1-5 pregnancies losses per year in the UK so there's usually signs at farms, petting zoos and on sheep fields during breeding season warning pregnant woman to stay away from the sheep.

@Thurien I’m singing songs from The Herbs now 😬

My husband literally does this to people whenever he sees anything that looks remotely like a herb. He’s in his 50s though.

I also forgot - southern Ireland this summer in a small coastal village. Nice beach across the road from houses, 8am joggers and couple of coffee-on-the-beach goers and (me) a cycle tourist wondering if this is a breakfast spot.
Man just walks out one of the houses, past me and the other beach couple and down to the water for a swim. The next jogger laughs as she goes by and said 'he does that most days'....
Dude was butt naked.

A man at work (big corporate office) approached me in the kitchen area and asked me if I’d ever worked in retail. I explained I used to do women’s makeovers in the Body Shop in the early 90s (Barbara Daly Colourings), but that it was unlikely he was ever one of my customers.

He then asked me if I’d ever worked in Safeway, and when I said ‘no’ he narrowed his eyes at me and said “you’ve never worked in Safeway?!” like I was lying. Then he shook his head and walked off.

So many questions, but mainly, why would someone lie about working/not working in Safeway? (which I’d forgotten existed)

The house viewer's definition, of a messy cupboard, is the only one I've heard of!

I would Google the other but suspect I might regret that.

So sorry you had to go through not only the trauma of him doing that to you, but also the frankly insane reaction by your mother!
It's almost like some people can't comprehend that bad stuff does happen, and it isn't some innocent bloke making a peeing comment just because they've never had a bad experience!

I live in a farming area and you've just reminded me that what pregnant with my first my GP warned me to stay away from sheep - now I know why!

Thanks. TBH my mother had a severely abusive upbringing that involved familial sexual abuse so her abilities to respond to things was and is flawed.

I am 51 now and she is 75 and she still prioritises her 'family' (abusers) over anything else. I think of as an abused puppy trying to curry favour from her abusers. I don't understand it, and it is why I have refused to see my various aunts and uncles now for more than a decade.

Oooh I’ve got one!

Walking behind two women out of the toilets in a pub, one of them had her skirt tucked up in her knickers so of course I quietly told her (I’d want to know!), nobody else around apart from the other woman she was with so nobody to embarrass her in front of. The other woman, who I presume was her Mum, bellowed at me for ‘staring at a teenager’s arse’