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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think having to 'pay back' 2 paracetamol is very weird?

137 replies

bamboostalks · 29/04/2009 20:24

Had shocking period pains at work last week so asked if anyone had any tablets. Colleague (who has always seemed normal) gave me 2 parcetamol (generic now, nothing fancy). Thought no more of it. Today she says, " Sorry Bamboo but wonder whether you have those 2 paracetamol you owe me?" I was goggling at her trying to work out what she meant and she promptly reminded me of the situation. How bizarre is that? I was so miffed that I nipped out and bought her a packet and left them on her desk.

OP posts:
Thunderduck · 29/04/2009 20:34

YANBU. I'd just be grateful that I was able to offer you relief. I'd never even think of asking for two in return.

expatinscotland · 29/04/2009 20:35

What a loon!

'Oh, I'll get the 2p off you when you've got some change", she said...and do you know what, she bloody well did!'

I'd have told her to take her stingy arse straight to fuck.

But then, I'm like that.

Greensleeves · 29/04/2009 20:35

could she have Aspergers? this is the sort of thing my ds1 would do and think was completely normal

Original poster
bamboostalks · 29/04/2009 20:36

Other people were there and they all thought it was incredible too. She has only been here 2 weeks though so maybe more weirdness will be revealed.

OP posts:
seriouscase · 29/04/2009 20:36

Maybe she has ishoos about lending things out... very odd in my book.

Greensleeves · 29/04/2009 20:36

in fact earlier this evening when he saw me tasting the soup I was cooking for dinner he said "Mummy I hope you are going to subtract that spoonful from YOUR bowl before you serve everybody else"

and he doesn't even LIKE the stuff

theyoungvisiter · 29/04/2009 20:36

"By FluffyBunnyGoneBad on Wed 29-Apr-09 20:32:46
Weird. I gave one of the students on my course £2 as she didn't have enough to buy her lunch. I told her to keep it but she posted it through my letter box. Weird."

I don't think that's weird.

I mean, if I were the lender I wouldn't EXPECT to get it back, but if I ever borrow something I always pay it back, even if it's just a stamp or something, even if the person tells me not to.

I just think if someone is nice enough to help me out, I don't want them to lose out in the process. Also you don't know what their attitude is and I don't want them being secretly pissed off

(having said that, I would probably draw the line at paying back 2 paracetamol. or a tampon - but £2 is reasonable IMO)

ladylush · 29/04/2009 20:37

How strange. Maybe she's got a paracetamol habit

BettyTurnip · 29/04/2009 20:38

Expat. My response was along the lines of "Jesus wept, you're having a laugh????". Funnily enough I don't really see her anymore, can't think why...

expatinscotland · 29/04/2009 20:41

I'd have gone, oh, here's your 2p, and dangled it over a bridge. Come and get it! Before I dropped it right over.

And yeah, I'd not be seeing much of such a person no matter if they were related to me.

harleyd · 29/04/2009 20:41

i did give a tampon to someone one night
and lo and behold the next day she handed me a replacement in work
i was omg what!

FluffyBunnyGoneBad · 29/04/2009 20:47

I did tell her several times not to worry about paying it back. I told her to do the same for someone else.

BigBellasBeerBelly · 29/04/2009 20:53

Maybe she is known as the person in the office who has painkillers (there is usually one) and everyone goes to her. And she's got sick of it and thought "right I'll start asking the buggers for them back".

Just a thought. Once people get the idea that you have a supply of something it can get like that...

JackBauerkillspigs · 29/04/2009 20:56

I can see Bigbellas point as that person was me, I would always be handing out drugs, but they were only cheap things so I would never ask for them abck.
I did used to tell people I didn;t like I had run out though[evil]

fizzpops · 29/04/2009 20:57

As long as it wasn't the same tampon

fizzpops · 29/04/2009 20:59

Actually, this thread reminds me of a colleague who borrowed one paracetamol. I only ever take two so I was left with a single useless one. I tried to get him to take both (ie take them away, I wasn't pushing paracetamol on him) but he downright refused!

nickschick · 29/04/2009 21:01

A few years ago I was asked to do some relief work at the nursery I used to work at.

At lunchtime(unpaid 30 min break) I said im nipping to tesco do u need anything?

ohhhh no nickschick said the oic you cant go we need an NNEB onsite at all times

but its lunch its my time and i need to go

well i will go for you what do u need?

not much just a magazine and some tampons

read my ok mag and i can sell you a tampon for 20p - I used to make a fortune selling these at school she said

Curiousmama · 29/04/2009 21:02

How very very odd but can understand if she does have aspergers. You'll find out either way no doubt.

theyoungvisiter · 29/04/2009 21:05

"I only ever take two so I was left with a single useless one"

How do you know it would have been useless? (genuine question!) I mean, surely one would have been better than none if you need it?

smellyeli · 29/04/2009 21:05

I had a friend at Uni who asked me, several weeks after I cooked a communal stew, if she could have a carrot from me in return for the one I'd used in the stew. Which she had eaten. People are strange. If I had to remember all that sort of stuff and ask for things back all the time god knows what sort of important things I would forget!

bran · 29/04/2009 21:10

I remember having a very long conversation about tissues at work once.

Three of us sat in a row, and the box of tissues was on my desk because I was in the middle. When it ran out one of us would buy another box while we were buying lunch. We were very bored one day (and we were all statistical analyists so inherently sad) about the exact proportion in which each of us should buy tissues. I worked part-time so the others thought I should only buy a box twice time for every five boxes they bought, but then I pointed out that I got hay fever and frequent colds, plus I sometimes used one to remove a wet coffee ring from my desk.

I can't remember what conclusion we came to now. I suspect we either abandoned the conversation and did some work or someone turned up with some office gossip.

YANBU by the way. Please keep us posted with further incidences of weirdness by you new colleague (there will be more I'm sure).

LetThemEatCake · 29/04/2009 21:27

ROFL ... she is unhinged. I suggest you say to her "You are welcome to have your 2 paracetamol back but may I take the liberty of suggesting that you need something much stronger??"

badgermonkey · 29/04/2009 21:44

That's just loopy.

We have the opposite thing at work - we have cards to use in the canteen, and if someone forgets theirs, they often borrow someone else's, and nobody will EVER accept money back to replace what the borrower has spent on the card. It all turns into that scene with Mrs Doyle and her friend in the cafe in Father Ted, with people trying to physically force others to accept £2.50 to cover the cost of a tuna sandwich and a flapjack.

SerendipitousHarlot · 29/04/2009 21:49

It is strange. However, you might want to think about what BigBella said.

I'M that person at work that always has painkillers, tampons, tissues, 'spare' bars of chocolate - it's cos I'm the only mum, and they think I should mother them

However, there was a girl that asked me for tampons and painkillers 3 MONTHS RUNNNG when she had her period. I mean, don't take the piss

dittany · 29/04/2009 21:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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