You can always tell some women are childless by the fact that they....

[NinaInCognito]

...get in the way of you when you are in the supermarket dragging around a pram, trolley and fiddly child and then they sneer down at you with their basket full of organic lettuce, baguettes and mini-tampons while your trolley is loaded with nappies, a giant pot of Sudocrem and enough chocolate bars to re-sink the Titanic.

You then have to manoever around them while they continue said sneering.

God you can tell what sort of evening I have had, can't you? And I am embarrassed to admit that I used to be one of those women. I apologise to all you mums out there unreservedly.

Now for chocolate bars and MN......

That's so true about teenagers.. Their eyes don't even rest on your face momentarily. You might as well be a stray dog ambling past!

just realised my lovely in my post sounded potentially sarcy

which is the opposit

i meant mty childless sis bought lovely presents easily the nicest and most interesting they ever got

just wanted to add that as i lvoe her and tho she wouldnt see this would hate to be saying something i didnt mean

no one is probably reading anyway lol

or they're reading and going to take offense, zippi .

and i dont understand this sides business

of course now i am single with no kids i dont have any view at asll about people with them or any other particular type of person except possibly men shopping on their own but that is because i woinder about the possibilitity of a hugh grant moment lol

I have just read this through and have to say it is the most depressing thing I've ever seen on here.

The OP was obviously trying to start a little light hearted conversation. Maybe it could have been phrased better or more humourously but really since when did posts have to meet a minimum level. The reaction to her was way OTT and really unpleasant.

I'm not surprised she hasn't been back.

FWIW I also occasionally notice sneery women in the supermarket when I am out, the sort who like to drop doors on you when all your hands are full and look up and down at your comfy mat leave clothes while they swan off in business suits. To deny women like this exist is just bizarre.

Maybe it is a London thing as a few people have suggested.

Either way, this thread has just made me feel very very sad.

well yes expat

i have done the casually post and then find offense has been taken bizarrely

and you always sound a right prick if you try and point out it was a joke/the truthful observation etc rahter than declaration of war

im waiting for all the londoners to take umbrage

'given that the OP effectively insulted my former self by paranoidly instinuating that i would have sneered at her'

Good God.

As far as I was aware the OP didn't mention you Aitch. That is quite an extreme form of egotism combined with hyper sensitivenss you have there.

The OP was light heartedly referring to some behaviour by some women without children, which obviously has some basis in reality as others has admitted to experiencing the same or previously have been those women.

I think the fact that your post was the first response made it seem particuarly harsh to the OP. Had it ben in the middle of other responses, it would have seemed less like the slap around the face that negative put downs to your thread can be.

Your follow up explantin of 'you were trying to be funny, and you're not, but others on MN could have made that funny' is also another very harsh and personal judgement.

Her OP was not about you, it wasn't even about all childless women, and it cetainly wasn't about women who are going through IVF and despatley want children so stare at them longingly in the supermarket.

I'd have thought that was obvious.

You seem to be making very tenouis links to in order to take offence and make it about you, and it justify harsh traetment of the OP.

It may have hit a nerve, and you may have reacted, but be adult enoug to recogise that that is your issue and not the OP's fault for not considering every way her OP could be twisted by a vulnerable person to take offence, and think about how and why your response seemed harsh to the OP.

Oooh, can I be upset about the cruel and gratuitous insult to the town I live in? Fabulous!
Right, I'm really, really upset that you would make such an insulting personal remark about me. As a Londoner I take it really, really badly and expect a full apology and a promise you will never unwittingly say anything as offensive and insensitive again.

Did I do that right?

hmm, how bizarre, zippi.

to me, it's such an American trait, taking offense/getting defensive right away over basically not a whole hell of a lot. part of the reason i left is that a lot of folks were so serious and dour-faced it was tiresome to walk on eggshells all the time.

but maybe that's where they got it from. maybe the apple didn't fall too far from the tree in that respect.

Ah, you know they sneering when their top lip sort of curls and their head shakes in disapproval. Wouldn't say that sneering is exclusive to any one group though....

did this all happen in a Waitrose?

London is a lot more crowded than many other places and there are probably a lot more young & single women here who don't have children. So more likely to get pissed off with children and pushchairs getting under their feet.

A good place to test this out would be Canary Wharf Waitrose at lunchtime. I personally would rather knaw my own leg off than go there with a buggy. People have no time for lone adults who don't move quickly enough, children are usually simply mown down.

I'd like to award a gold metal for patience to the chap behind us in Tesco, Greenock yesterday.

I grabbed the last pink water bottle up the stairs in the camping section. The others were blue and I wanted a pink one.

It didn't have a price tag on it so the lady at the tills had to ring for someone, who took ages, then she had to go upstairs and find an identical, but blue, bottle.

Then DH was behind me, buying a printer, but he had to do it separately as it was for his work and he needed to use the work credit card.

Poor chap!

It's being Greenock, however, they gave him a free 6-pack of Stella for his trouble.

God, I love Scotland.

Message withdrawn

Is thread now a fight?
Whose side am I on?

touche!

Didn't help that DD had watched Glasto and was singing '99 problems and the bitch ain't won...' . I was trying to ignore it rather than make a big deal...

I guess I just never notice a lot of things, ParCark.

I really don't.

Unless you pretty much beat me over the head with it it's likely to just fly past on the radar.

Unless, of course, it involves money.

That always gets my attention .

That's me and my waitrose fixation coming through!

Communion's post says it all for me.

And also noticing that people are sneering, which sometimes they do, is not the same as minding. The OP, by posting a humourous thread about it, was showing that it was something she had noticed, not that it was something that she cared about.

Surely it's not over-sensitive to notice if someone gives you a dirty look, it's over-sensitive if you burst into tears.

But you can't assume someone doesn't have children by their actions around you when you've got yours and/or they're playing up.

Maybe they have older children who were incredibly well-behaved and they can't relate. Or they work a lot and the kids spend a lot of time with nanny or other carers.

Etc.

All kinds of reasons.

K, just me then.

The original post as written didn't strike me as funny.

I've got a twisted sense of humour, though, and read Terry Pratchett books.

i did have one strange reaction from people in the supermarket once when i was with my grandson and i suddenly felt really ill

he was in the trolley seat and i suddenly had terrible stomach cramp and felt like i was going to passout

so i had to squat down and put my head between my legs

people just walked passed

when i felt slightly better i thought i will have to leave so wernt o the check out shop swimming around and i was thinking my god how am i going to drive and lift him into the car seat and stuff

anyway i felt too embarrassed

but got to the check out and woman said do you need any help with your packing and i said yes please i feel really ill

so someone packed and i stood doing nothing and the woman who came up next ion the queue made a comment to the paerson she was with about how unbelievable it was that some people were too lazy to put anything in bags when they could get someone else to do it

and a few other bitchy comments

i was shocked at how people both jump to conclusions and then relish actually saying stuff so rudely when you are right next to them

irrelevasnt ramble just bored now bf has gone off to visit his family lol

too bad you couldn't puke on her shoes, zippi.

i mean, on accident and all .

too bad you couldn't puke on her shoes, zippi.

i mean, on accident and all .

Some people have sneery faces when they're not even sneering.

PS It's me, Fabio. You can always tell some women don't have cats. They can go on holiday without having to lock, bolt and hammer shut the garage door.