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 given the pelvic floor advice from an elderly relative and was informed 'otherwise it will be like waving a chip down an alley' !!!

What a weird attempt to show off that you know the Latin word for ladybird. The two words sound nothing alike!

@XChrome try harder next time yawn

Years ago when autistic ds2 was about six he had the mother of all meltdowns in a supermarket. Rolling around on the floor screaming.
An old lady walked past with her trolley looked down at ds2 and announced very loudly "That young man needs a good smack on the backside!"
I swiftly replied "And you old lady need to learn to mind your own business!"
I scooped up ds2 and left the lady doing an excellent impression of a goldfish out of water!!!!

the Dcs and I were at the cinema to watch Peter Rabbit and were talking about it and DS1 was holding his Peter Rabbit toy. A man who thanks to it being a small town I knew to work for the solicitors stopped and started ranting about how Peter rabbit was an absolute travesty and it was nothing like the original books and it was a disgrace to spend money on it. He was ranting so much he had spit flying. Totally bizarre.

I just laughed at him in sort of shocked disbelief and we went and thoroughly enjoyed the show. (And may have gone a few more times as well because we liked it so much).

Having read this and your reactions to other comments - which I agree are all good examples of odd things random strangers have said, its pretty obvious you take things far too literally and have a tendency to overreact.

How about lightening up and seeing the strangers as probably a bit odd and just pitying them for speaking before thinking. Or perhaps they might have been trying to be humorous. The sauna comment almost certainly referred to that smell saunas often have. He probably realised afterwards how it might've been construed and felt mortified about it. And I can imagine my dad making the comment to the PP who to him looked weighed down by her two children (I know just carrying one and pushing another isn't a big deal, I did it too but to some, in the moment it's what occurs to them) Anyway I wouldn't deduce from any of these interactions that it proves men are c#nts.

I found I used to run into strange characters a lot more when I lived in London. They're colourful characters on the whole and if instead you smile a ask what made them say that, you might end up having a chat and feel better in the long run about humanity rather than writing everybody off as weirdos.

I’m crying hysterically 😭

Oh my god, this one actually made me snort with laughter. That’s hilarious.

The amount of strangers who are medical experts. The ones who think nothing of asking "what's wrong" with me

I agree, they don't sound alike, but I was merely throwing a random explanation into the pot. While I knew the Latin name began with a C, I did actually look it up because I couldn't actually remember it. (studied over 30 years ago).

Maybe the lady in the park randomly picked the wrong Latin word she was searching for, and settled on Chlamydia instead, trying to show off that she knew the Latin word, when in fact she did not...?

This one obviously gross and pervy and actually sexual harassment.

yes, we all must #bekind to the men who approach strange women and make revolting or rude comments. 🙄

That's what you get for watching Morris Dancers.
Even the horse knew you shouldn't encourage them.😆

I got on the bus early for work and a few stops on a woman got on wearing a beanie that said "FUCK OFF", got her bus ticket, then stuck both middle fingers up while slowly trying to make eye contact with everyone sitting on the bus. Then went up the stairs slowly, saying nothing. No one else seemed to notice except me! I think about it a lot 😆

There are some weird videos about that do show women doing stuff like that (teens think it's hysterical) so maybe that was it..

I'm actually jealous that a well dressed gentleman hasn't sung the Parsley the Lion song in the street to me. That would probably feature in the top 5 moments of my life.

When I was a teen, myself and a group of friends went to tammy girl. Browsed a bit, a couple of girls tried on clothes. We alll got stopped and bags searched. No reason to suspect us at all. My mum went ballistic and put a complaint in 😂

Instinctively I'd say head first but having some put some thought into it, tail first is definitely the most sensible choice.

Years ago when I was a student I used to go to
a cheap and cheerful restaurant. The family who owned it were lovely. They had a son who was about 15/16 who used to do part-time work there who had a bit of a crush on me.
He was a lovely kid, worked really hard at school and I was always polite. Also encouraged him to work hard as he wanted to join the police.
About 7 years later a good friend of mine was running a busy city centre bar. It was in the same city, as I stayed at home to go to Uni.
I was flying in my career at this point. I’d done bar work as a student. She asked could I work every Friday night over the summer as she was short staffed.
I was full of energy and thought the money would come in handy so agreed.
It was great fun.
A few weeks in, in walked the waiter-turned policeman.
Full of smiles.
With a big gang of mates, all dressed up.
I served him and he asked why I was working in a bar so I explained.
A couple of hours later he came up to the bar and asked me on a date.
I was taken aback and tried to laugh it off.
He told me if I said no he would arrest me.
I thought he was joking.
He then told the manager I’d stolen £10 when giving him change of £20 which I hadn’t.
I had to stay behind at the end of the night and my poor friend was mortified. Luckily it had decent CCTV and she went through my bag in front of him.
He didn’t arrest me but that was the end of my Friday night fun.

"No amount of witty comments will make your penis any larger" !!

On my first lone outing with DS as a newborn, we sat in a coffeeshop and a woman walked by with her grandson of about 18 months on their way to the toilets. On their way back she stopped at my table and said 'thought you might have offered to help me change him.. sitting with your coffee watching a grandmother struggle'.

I said that I couldn't leave my three week old to go and wipe a random kid's bum. She flapped her hand and said 'don't worry it's done now' and walked off.

Back in November 2011, went into the bank instead of using the cash point outside as it was pretty chilly. Noticed a woman talking to somebody on the other side of the room when I came in, as she had a bright red coat on, and I joined the queue for the ATMs.
Next thing I know, red coat lady tapped me on the shoulder and claimed I’d pushed in, which I refuted and turned away, not wanting to get into an argument (I rarely succeeded at standing up for myself, to be fair, but on this occasion, did try and still ended up feeling humiliated by the end). She must have had friends in the queue as well, because one of the men literally leapt in front of me when I got to the front.

An old lady we ended up sitting with at the same table at a busy charity event, started complaining about having to sit with other people - but only after (all!) my family had left to get drinks, have a look at the cakes people had made etc. I was meant to be in charge of looking after bags while they were gone. I thought at one point she was going to pick my mum’s up and throw it across the room! She had someone else with her who I assumed was her carer, but she didn’t say a word during all this.

6 week postpartum check (many years ago), dr asks how I’m feeding the baby. I told her breastfeeding is going well. She said “that’s great, but you need to stop before he’s in wellie boots”. I asked her to elaborate and she just said “don’t feed him when he’s in his wellingtons”.

Multiple people in my family had Alzheimer's and this sort of interaction was the first sign. The breakdown of social norms and lack of inhibition made them approach strangers with the most baffling comments.

I was giving my young Labrador training, having him do sits and waits etc, and then rewarding him by throwing him a small treat which he would catch midair and eat. A man walked by and said, ‘I wish someone would feed me like that!.