Things people do that just baffle you

[Whatexcellentboiledpotatoes]

What does either a specific person in your life, or just the general public do, you just don't understand why they do it, and you either can't ask them or you've tried to ask them and they can't tell you?

Write it here and maybe someone else that also does it can tell you why, or has an idea as to why.

Here are mine:

Why do my neighbours across the street bring their bins outside a full 24hrs early? They are retired, home most of the day, go in and out of their house five or six times during that 24hr period, but bring their bins out early Monday morning when they don't get picked up until Tuesday morning?

Why do people talk on their phones on speakerphone in public, what is the purpose?

I don't understand why so many women make their lives difficult by having ridiculously long false nails...

• can't type on a keyboard or phone properly
• seems to make them avoid holding or doing anything remotely difficult or dirty

Why? Just why?

Also don't understand why people don't flatten and pack their paper and cardboard in their recycling box, rather than just tossing empty, whole boxes in, and then letting them blow all down the street!

On the cinema thing, if you were sitting in the middle, about two-thirds of the way back, the other person will have booked the closest seat as these are technically THE BEST SEATS from a view and sound point of view. They want the best seat for the experience and someone sitting next to them doesn't bother them as much as sitting in an inferior seat would.

How do they wipe their bums properly ? Surely their nails go through the paper!

Some people on this thread are confusing 'baffling' things with things that are not baffling in the least, but simply selfish and annoying. Of course, some of them can be both, but it's not 'baffling' that someone makes loud phone calls in public or has badly behaved kids. They're simply people who put their own likes/wants/needs over those of people around them, which is cuntish but not baffling.

Anyway - now that I've got that off my chest, I am regularly baffled by the behaviour of my next door neighbours who (and have for years) constantly put quite expensive things in their garden and then just leave them to rot and rust, despite having two completely empty sheds. Their kids' bikes, their electric lawnmower and their strimmer have been rusting on on their lawn for the entire winter. Meanwhile, both their spacious sheds are sitting empty with the doors wide open. This is obviously no skin off my nose, so I'm not annoyed by it, but I'm dying to know why they don't just put stuff away.

They also buy their kids new paddling pools - and not cheap ones - every single year, because each summer they just leave them in the garden on the last day they use them and then they just remain there, growing mould and algae and getting punctured, for a year. Then they get thrown away and a new one bought. This has happened every year for the decade we've lived here. Again, they've got two empty sheds they could put them in.

If they were rich, I could at least explain it as them just being rich twats who don't care about the waste because they had money to burn, but they aren't rich at all.

Or remove their name and address from Amazon and suchlike packages

Bingo! They're clearly better than us mere mortals who like to have a laugh occasionally, or whinge about something silly.

@OvernightBloats Same here! I'm currently 'shopping my stash' as I can't find much I like on the high street/internet at the moment. I used to get so excited when new things came out, but at the moment it's a bit boring (to me.) Nail polish is still fun to buy though. 😁

A member of staff at Sainsbury's taught me to pick it up and put it back down again it worked every time.

But that was before the Smartshop handsets. Use those and you don't have to put anything on the shelf.

I won't accept "I don't know how to use them" as an excuse!

(I will accept "my local one doesn't have them" though 😄)

I went to Sainsbury's at 10.30 today. Struggled to find a parking space as car park was packed, shop was as bad and long queue for checkouts,manned and self scan. Not convinced tomorrow will be any better.

Not everybody wants to do that, though. They may not be online to order it, they may not want to pay the delivery charge, they may not need enough to justify a full order, they may not want to/be able to guarantee to be at home for a slot, they may prefer to look at the food that's available and choose their own...

As I explained: both - that's what I meant by it being a 'win' for everybody.

The queues are shorter for me, as I'm going at a less busy time; and they're also shorter for the folk who can only go at the weekends, because their queue isn't made longer by the people like me who can go at less busy times.

Why do parents take babies and children with them when they do a massive food shop? The notion genuinely baffles me.
Just get your shopping delivered and save yourself stress, expense and energy.

For quickness. I admit to doing that, but then I'm elderly and disabled

This one banjaxes me too. I sometimes think about people like Alex Brooker, who has fingers missing and limited ability with the remaining ones, having been born with disabilities, and how much harder everything must be for him... and then you have people with the privilege of having five fully-functional fingers on each hand but actively choose to seriously reduce their ability to use their otherwise-healthy fingers.

I live alone and sometimes struggle to order enough for the minimum order amount required

Right but the majority of my neighbours aren't.

Otherwise I wouldn't be baffled about it?

The alternative is to block the shelves.

I've heard it all now, nobody, in a shop aisle stacked 6 shelves high and fifty feet long, with 10 feet of yoghurt alone is allowed to stand in an aisle to view what they are about to choose to buy.

Also people don't take up any more space depending on where in an aisle they stand to view the shelves face on.

Just how impatient a person are you?

I hate that. Where I work, someone mentioned the thanking people at the end and all the pinging and asked if we could just take the thanks as read and got roundly criticised for it.

I agree with your second point but despite being massively impatient I've never been stuck behind someone looking for their card/cash. And even if they do, they can't start until they've put all their shopping down anyway if they were carrying a basket. We don't have loads of hands!

Perhaps they’ve been to a toddler activity in the morning or are shopping before collecting their older children from school.

Or perhaps they work during the morning and have just collected the younger child/ren from day care, running round the supermarket before getting home to put toddler/s down to nap, at which point they will put the hoover round before rushing back out to collect older children from school .

Women (mainly) who wear Crocs with sports socks, pull the socks fully up over their leggings, then think it looks good. Trust me, it doesn't, it looks ridiculous. It just baffles me that they can't see that.
People who follow actors pages on Facebook, which aren't actually anything to do with the actual actors, comment on posts that are put up, as if they're communicating with the actual person!
Posters on Facebook who post "Happy heavenly birthday nan, you'd have been 112 today, been gone from us for 30 years" or some such drivel. When is the cut off for that?! I can maybe understand the first 5 years or so, but beyond that, it's daft!
People who pay vast amounts of money for personalised number plates. Why? If I had the money, I wouldn't do it, there's better things to spend my money on.
People who post on MN, clearly wanting everyone to agree with their outrageous post, then when they don't, they get nasty with every poster that challenges them. You've asked AIBU, just accept that you're not sometimes!
The last one is a bit of a personal one, but it baffles me that my neighbours gardener turns up every few weeks around 7am and starts working away with noisy petrol appliances. She's in her 80s, even she doesn't get up at 7am! Doesn't matter the weather, it's between 7am and 7-20. They can't assume everyone will be up getting ready for work, I'm not!

Because the job is completed and they don’t have to think about it again.

Why do people go on there phone when in company! I dont mean checking for calls but scrolling! So rude!

People usually women walking in front of their children often toddlers while chatting to each other I get stressed or that the kid will run into traffic and they are blessfully Wapping and walking 10 steps ahead .

My mum has to use speakerphone on her phone as she’s partially deaf and awaiting a hearing aid. She does however avoid using it at all in public and if it rings, she tries to step away into a quiet corner.