He's not called Steve, is he?

[MasterBeth]

Do some people on Mumsnet not realise how big the internet is?

There's a post on here today about a rowdy family on a UK beach and someone's reply is "It's not Polzeath, is it?"

What are the chances, eh?

It's like when someone posts about a grumpy shop assistant and someone answers "Do they work in Tesco Express in Hull?"

Or someone mentions their terrible boss and the reply comes in "Are their initials P.H?"

AIBU in thinking the people who post these things have the most restricted and delusional worldview?

I think you might be taking it a little too seriously.

It's a joke

It's often not.

Is that you, Chris?

I'm from Wales - wherever I travel in the world and this issue is mentioned, I inevitably get asked: "Do you know Carol/Jeff/Morwenna/Dylan from Pentre/Llanelli/Blaenau/Maesteg?" We are 3.04m people.

I used to work for an Irishman
and every time he met anyone with connections to his country, they would ask if he knew ‘insert random name here’ - 99% of the time he did though 🤣

When I started uni and told people I came from London, I was often asked if I knew Bob/Sue etc because they lived in London. No surnames, no location beyond London. 8 million people....

😂 Elis James has something called the 'Cymru Connection' on his radio show where he attempts to find a connection to a Welsh caller within 60 seconds of conversation!

And did you know Rita too?

You say this but I made a post on relationships and was messaged by someone telling me it was obvious to them who I was talking about and I had to take the post down before anyone in the town saw! I was like, erm, but this is a global forum...? Nope, they knew who I was talking about apparently.

I occasionally say things like that - it's just a glib way of saying I'm having the same experience too. I think you need to chill out slightly.

Oh god, it’s you Susan, isn’t it?

I'm Irish, we can pretty much always find a connection 😄 Several times now as well I've gone on holidays and bumped into random people from my village in our resort.

You are not wrong. People do indeed post these kind of things in all seriousness. See it all the time on here.

😂

You sound like a women in my Tesco Express. Are your initials KS?

I'm a bit perplexed. It is not clear - was it in Polzeath or not?

I’ve sent you a DM hun because I’ve realised who you are IRL from your posting style so I
think you should get this thread removed xx

OP, it’s not meant literally. It’s shorthand for “I can empathise because the same thing has happened to me”.

My mum used to do this alot and 9 times out of 10, she did know the person!
Getting on a plane from NYC an American asked where in the UK she was from and they knew someone at the school she taught at.
Met a German at a party who was the nextdoor neighbour of her parents' german friends.
Walking down Oxford St she bumped into her former headteacher.
She was a bit magical though ❤️

Ohhhh shitttttt, I used to hate that when I was wee and we were away up the north of Scotland and my dad always bumped into someone he knows 😬😬😬. Another time we were in kenmore for my wee brother and dad to have a golfing/fishing break and I was standing on the bridge getting a photo with my mum and there goes a guy i was at school with in a lorry shouting my name 😲😳. Must be a thing with the scots/Irish.

I found it hilarious and fascinating 😄 The city we worked in had a racecourse and we had gone for a quick drink after work in one of the pubs - a group of Irish peeps who had won on a horse they part owned heard his accent and came over - they actually did know mutual people 😄 They were complaining bitterly that they were trying to get people to accept a drink in every pub they went in and we were the first who had accepted 😄

It reminds me of when I worked for 192 directory enquiries. One day a man called - the script was ‘which name please - ‘Smith’. What address? ‘Lewisham’. First name/initial? ‘Rob’. Road name? ‘Don’t know’. Me- I’m really sorry but there are 100ish R Smiths in the Lewisham area, so unless you can give me more information I’m afraid I can’t help you.

‘He’s got black hair and he drives a green car’

🙄

On our honeymoon in the US back in the 90's, whilst refuelling the rental car, a guy at the next pump heard me talking to DH. He came over and asked us what part of Australia we were from (it's happened to us a lot when in the US. Apparently, the Aussie accent is almost indistinguishable from the UK one to some American ears?).

Anyway, having told him we were British, he asked which part. When we told him "London", he became quite overcome with enthusiasm in asking 'how The Queen is holding up' (it was shortly after the death of Princess Diana). He was absolutely serious and genuinely thought that, because we came from London, we really would at least be on sufficient speaking terms with the royal family to know personally how Liz was doing!

The worst boss I have ever had had the initials PH! 😮