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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be bewildered as to why people blank people?

69 replies

Thomasina · 19/04/2008 15:08

saw another mum from ds's class in the park today, smiled and she literally showed me her cheek and walked off. so strange, wtf do people do it??

OP posts:
Chequers · 19/04/2008 15:33

Message withdrawn

WallOfSilence · 19/04/2008 15:35

My mam does this all the time. She even admits to it. She will say: "I saw that oul bitch from number 30 in Woolies, I never let on I seen her!!" As if it's some sort of achievement!!

Original poster
Thomasina · 19/04/2008 15:37

she only ever speaks to me at shcool if I make a point of going up and saying hello, how are you etc etc

maybe she hates me for some reason!

OP posts:
FreddysTeddy · 19/04/2008 15:39

Thomasina, by the sounds of it is deliberate and she probably has got some kind of problem with you. BIL's wife had a problem with his entire family basically, and they used to make a point of being rude to everyone.

FreddysTeddy · 19/04/2008 15:39

Thomasina, by the sounds of it is deliberate and she probably has got some kind of problem with you. BIL's wife had a problem with his entire family basically, and they used to make a point of being rude to everyone.

Original poster
Thomasina · 19/04/2008 15:41

wonder what it could be - as far as I know I have done nothing to upset her in any way

would love to just ask her!

OP posts:
Chequers · 19/04/2008 15:41

Message withdrawn

FairyMum · 19/04/2008 15:44

I am always accused of blanking people and of being arrogant, but the truth is I cannot wear contacts and I am too vain to wear glasses. I am so short-sighted I am nearly blind.....

GrapefruitMoon · 19/04/2008 15:45

But how does not recognising people out of context explain why someone would blank you even after you'd smiled/said hello? Surely you would return the greeting even if you couldn't remember where you knew the person from? I wonder if it's a British thing (or SE England to be more exact...). have several neighbours who used to do this but after several years of me cheerily saying hello they now make a weak grimace of recognition!

Original poster
Thomasina · 19/04/2008 15:48

we are in SE too!! maybe it's that....

just get a BAD VIBE from her

OP posts:
Nagapie · 19/04/2008 15:56

The only people I actively blank are the chuggers ... but on the whole, I like to believe that I smile and say hello to all - making me the local loon I suppose..

And I'm also in the SE!!

bergentulip · 19/04/2008 15:57

I just smile if they happen to be looking straight at me, whether because they just happen to catch my line of vision, or because we end up knowing eachother. It's just polite.
OOohh, shock horror, I might even mutter 'good morning / afternoon' to them!!

Original poster
Thomasina · 19/04/2008 16:04

what are chuggers?

OP posts:
Cammelia · 19/04/2008 16:06

SE England here too. It seems to be compulsory to blank people.

Kimi · 19/04/2008 16:07

I can't answer your question I'm blanking you

Nagapie · 19/04/2008 16:08

Chuggers (If I have used the correct word ) are those people on the high street or outside tube stations who try to bully people into signing up for a regular charity donation...

Nothing wrong in donating to charity, but the reality is that the people who do this end up getting generously paid for doing this - very little of your donation ends up where it should!!

Ripeberry · 19/04/2008 16:12

I'm a bit like that. If i see someone where they "don't belong" then i'm racking my brains to remember who they are and by then i feel too embarased to say hello.
If it's in a busy street, i usually keep my head down to avoid the Chuggers.

bergentulip · 19/04/2008 16:13

Ah, them.....
Can still smile though!..... just answer their annoying questions of 'but don't you have two minutes for starving children/maimed animals?', with a very nonchalant response of 'hhhm, no, not really'. And keep walking.

Original poster
Thomasina · 19/04/2008 16:33

thing is, she does know me, she definitely saw me, so can only be she is not keen for some reason unknown to me.

OP posts:
SueW · 19/04/2008 21:48

chuggers = CHarity mUGGERS

SlartyBartFast · 19/04/2008 22:03

i don';t like that i blank people.
i wish i could just smile at everyone who smiles at me, my dh waves at people who wave at him, whether he knows them or not.

SlartyBartFast · 19/04/2008 22:03

was it me thomasina?

pinkyminky · 20/04/2008 21:26

I find this if you are sat next to someone in the park, at a bus stop or at a baby group for a period of time, it is just natural to me that I would smile or have a little chat with someone in that situation, whether I knew them or not. What cost is it to smile or pass the time of day? People seem very uptight to me, sometimes.

madamez · 20/04/2008 21:31

Some people are majorly shy and that's why they blank you; others are either shortsighted, not used to seeing you out of context, or deep in thought about something.
I always smile at people who smile at me because (at the risk of sounding wanky) more people know me than I know... this is because I have run a regular market stall at events etc and people remember market traders more than traders remember customers; also I have done a lot of club reviewing and people remember that they met me when i cam to their club, etc.

pinkyminky · 20/04/2008 21:37

I don't buy the shortsightedness thing. My dh is shortsighted and he just smiles back in case it was someone he knows, or, like me just because it's the friendly thing to do.

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