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?

I was in the ladies toilet in a pub.
Had done the necessaries, hands washed and dried.
Meanwhile, an older woman came in but took no steps to enter empty cubicles, wash her hands or do anything remotely connected with a visit to the "ladies".
I proceed to get my lipstick out of my bag and start to reapply it.
She comes right up to me and snarls " you think you're gorgeous but I'm here to tell you - you're not"!
Turns on her heels and stomps out.
WTF?

I have a regional Scottish accent.

I'm of Eastern European heritage on my dad's side and this was made obvious by my maiden surname.

When I was in my late 20s/early 30s, I taught in a secondary school in the catchment area that served the town and villages where my great-grandparents, grandparents and aunts and uncles lived, maybe 15 miles from the town where I was born. I have my mum's milk-bottle complexion.

My accent was exactly the same as that of the majority of my pupils. At that point in my career, I was responsible for junior literacy.

A chap from the south of England took up a teaching post in our Learning Support Dept. He sauntered up to me one day. "So when did you come to this country?"

I bit my tongue and forced back the comment that would have pointed out that he was the "incomer".

I gave him my date of birth and added "...at about 4.30 in the afternoon."

"Goodness! You even remember the time! It must have made quite an impression on you!"

"No, but it made a helluva impression on my mother."

What did you answer? 😂

Or maybe the Paralympics

Why can they never say morning and carry on walking! What a creep!
Also anyone saying 'what's wrong with that' maybe see it as a sign to not say weird things to passers by...maybe instead, say morning and jog on. Just a thought.

I hereby place the curse of double diarrhoea on that arsehole.

Me too... although at the time I was like wtf to myself. To him, i just replied no, i wasn't! wWhat an absolutely bizarre chat up line!

@Tiredandmenopausal my DD is 168cm and 60kg and is a slim size 10. How could you ever be described as fat?

Many years ago in the cafe of a big London store, it was very crowded so I asked a woman if she minded if I sat at her table (table for four, she was on her own) I unloaded my tray and sat down. All of a sudden she leaned across and said “The woman before you was very interesting. She knew a great deal about trees in Nigeria.”

I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to apologise for my poor social skills or start an equally random conversation.

Two of mine were at shop tills:

1. At a supermarket. My sister asked me to pick up a bra for her (she was staying with me and forgot to bring a clean one). She has much bigger breasts than I do. Cashier scanned it through, looked at it, looked at my chest, laughed and said 'in your dreams'. I didn't know where to look!

2. At the till of a popular clothing shop. I was picking up bridesmaids dresses for a friend. Identical dresses in a size 8, 10, 14 and 18. Shop assistant said 'you know we have changing rooms if you aren't sure what size you are'!

Weirdest one:
3) a man who I passed on a busy London street. He turned and ran after me, shouting 'excuse me'. I thought I must have dropped something but he said 'sorry to stop you. Are you Lithuanian?' I said no. He said 'Oh. You have Lithuanian eyes.' I still don't know what Lithuanian eyes are. I should have asked but I was too confused!

It was probably a bit disturbing for you so I apologise for cracking up at this 😂

It's kind of a bit... Brian Blessed.

Do you think perhaps they were deaf? 🙊

Was asked by my uncle when am I having kids, he knows I have endometriosis and pcos and have been seen by fertility team, he then says to my husband standing beside me - are you sure your doing it right?

Gross.

Oh my goodness. The weirdest interaction I had was with a man dressed in corporate wear. I was walking in westfields, and there he was sat on a bench in the middle. As I walked past he leapt up and ran towards me to shout “DID YOU KNOW CHRISTMAS IS ON A WEDNESDAY THIS YEAR?! HAVE YOU BEEN GOOD OR BAD?”

Another weird interaction was being accused of shoplifting in Primark. I had a designer tote bag with me, and had put my denim jacket inside but hadn’t zipped the bag up. I was so confused at being followed out of the store by 4 security guards, who demanded to see this jacket which was from Zara!!!!!! 😂😂

Never in my life had I been accused of stealing- I’d been carrying quite an expensive purse so it was even more weird iyswim?

So bizarre and strange, ended up making a big complaint and the manager got a warning.

I was in the pub one afternoon having a drink with a friend. A male stranger came up to me and said " everyone round here might think you're beautiful. But I want you to know that I don't think you're all that!" He then proceeded to strop off.

I was in Hobbycraft years ago standing in an aisle on my own looking at something, I was quite close to the shelves, and this stranger out of no where stood right in between me and the shelves looking at what I was looking at. I was shocked so didn't say anything I just moved to the right but she proceeded to take a giant step to the right too. Without even turning. So I moved back to the left and she did the same thing but to the left. Preventing me from viewing anything on the shelves. I was trying to think whether I accidentally did it to her before hand but I didn't as I had just literally walked into the shop and straight to the aisle. I still think it's bizarre all these years on. Must of been about 12 years ago.

Friend of mine often tells a story of how this bloke once asked her how to get to the Town Hall. Sorry, she said, I don't know.

Can I have a shag instead then, he said

I mean wtf

That's hilarious, OP.

My story isn't funny, it's infuriating. It's both a weird story and a long one, so bear with me.

Some nutter I encountered (complete stranger) started an argument with me, was accusing me of crazy shit. She would not leave me alone and was invading my personal space. After a barrage of abuse I snapped and told her she was a crazy bitch and to go fuck herself. Then I walked away.
I went home, started watching TV and there was a knock on the door. It was the police. The crazy woman had claimed I assaulted her and threatened to kill her. What's worse was that for some reason the cops actually believed her, even though I had a witness with me who told them it was not true. So I was arrested (in front of my neighbours, yay!) and was put in a disgusting jail for 16 hours with a sink that didn't even work and a solid concrete "bed" with no mattress, covers or pillow. You had to use the toilet in full view of anyone passing by, and naturally, I had the runs. I also could not get to much needed medication which was in my purse until at last one of the guards took pity and brought it to me, 12 hours after I had asked for it. The only food I was given was a muffin which I couldn't eat due to food allergies. I got one small bottle of water. Meanwhile, the case was not being investigated. The cops didn't even talk to my witness. The so-called "detective" on the case did not actually hold that rank and was a horrible, smirking creep who seemed to get sadistic pleasure from what I was going through. Yet I was criminally charged anyway. After a night and morning from hell in jail, I was arraigned and allowed to leave, with a restraining order saying I would be arrested and imprisoned if I went within 100 meters of this woman within the next 12 months. I didn't know her, had no way of knowing if I was ever near her, so I stayed away from the neighbourhood in which I had encountered her and hoped for the best. I was always afraid, because all she had to do was claim she had seen me and I would go to prison. Fortunately she did not, but it was a whole year of stress and worry. It took me fourteen months to get these bogus charges dropped and it cost me a lot of money for the lawyer. The crown prosecutor just would not be reasonable. He was an extremely stupid little man who couldn't even understand that yes, people do make up crazy stories about other people. He encouraged me to say I had done it so they could just give me probation and be done with it. When I pointed out that he was counselling me to lie, and that he should be talking to my lawyer about it rather than me, he seemed to realize he had made a dumb mistake and quickly shut his gob lest an ethics complaint come down on him. Finally a judge got pissed off at him and ordered him to dismiss the charges. Phew! What an ordeal.

I realize there's a vague possibility that the details might be outing for the woman, the prosecutor and the cop, but I don't care. They deserve it and the assholes can't do anything to me now. Fuck 'em all.

I'm a runner and it is amazing what people think to say to someone out running.

A few years ago I was running through our (rural, quiet, polite) village and a car, driving in the same direction in which I was running, pulled up alongside me. I assumed it was someone going to ask directions, a very common occurrence, so I stopped and smiled. Driver (man, 60s) rolled down his passenger window, peered out at me, and said "No amount of running will bring back your youth, you know." I was perplexed, frowned and just started running again; he laughed and drove off.

I assume he had seen my youthful-looking rear and was disappointed that my mid-40s haggard face did not match up and his original sexist leer had to be replaced with a more age appropriate rudeness. I am still trying to come up with a witty rejoinder.

Another time I was run-walking on a popular doggy route (employing walking poles). A dog came bounding over to leap on me (again, very common). I do what I always do, not being a dog lover and not automatically knowing whether a dog is friendly or not (and not wanting dirty paws all over me) - I froze and waited for the dog to lose interest and the owners to catch up. They did, and one of the couple shouted angrily at me "Why did you not just hit him with your sticks?". Again, my wit failed me.

@XChrome god that is horrendous. Was this in the UK?

Wtf? Complete lunatic!

One time in a store a man was carrying something large and it accidentally (I hope) hit me in the head, quite hard. When he realized it, he started laughing, then sauntered off. It was a strange, creepy laugh, the kind you'd expect from a serial killer. I'll never forget it.

This is actually repulsive, I’m shocked how many people say they think it’s funny!
Previous posters saying there’s nothing sexual about squatting or pissing… can assure you to many men there is alot sexual about that and it sounds like that’s why this creep said it! That would make my skin crawl if someone said it to me.

I was doing some shopping in my local (very small) town when a well-dressed, well-spoken man stopped and asked "Why do you use a wheelchair?" I told him I have MS. He said "Okay, but why do you use a wheelchair?" I said "To get around". "Yes, but WHY do you use a wheelchair?" On and on, getting more and more insistent, no matter what answer I dreamed up for him. In the end I snapped "Because my arse gets cold if I sit on the floor!" at which point he nodded and walked off. I have no idea what point he thought he was making.

At the risk of unintentionally upsetting that poster even more, so did I 🤷‍♀️😂

I’m autistic/ADHD and sometimes words leave my mouth before my brain realises what’s happening. I can easily imagine seeing someone make a movement, misinterpreting it in a really weird way, and then blurting it out. If someone else did the same, I’d laugh because it’s the kind of ridiculous thing I’d do. And then spend all day cringing inside.

A few months ago I accidentally went to the chip shop wearing slippers. I never, ever leave the house in slippers. Standing in the fish and chip shop I realised and gasped involuntarily. I then proceeded to not only lean towards the woman behind the counter and whisper “I’m wearing slippers”, I then took a step back and shrieked “LOOK!!” and thrust my foot in the air, can-can style.

So I go to a different chip shop now as I can clearly never show my face (or foot) there again… 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😂😂

In fairness, I’ve had many, many weird encounters where the other person has been the weird one, it’s not always me doing/saying stupid stuff (but it is sometimes…..). My DD says that every time we leave the house, something bizarre happens. She always says to me “this could only happen to you!” - I’m going to show her some of the responses on this thread to prove that it happens to others too 😂

Also, the fish/foof conundrum - am I the only one who thought tail first? 🤷‍♀️😂

I was out with my newborn baby at the time and my mum (60's)..and this woman was asking my mum about my baby and telling her what a cute daughter...I was right there. But she thought my mum had just given birth.

My mum would just look at at me and go "how many weeks now?" But the lady still didn't cotton on 😂