This man added the ‘wrong Peter’ to his family’s WhatsApp group and it’s a hilarious tale of mistaken identity

John Plunkett. Updated February 25th, 2021

This brilliant tale of mistaken identity has gone viral on Twitter because it’s such a lovely and funny story. And exactly the sort of thing we can imagine doing ourselves.

It was shared by writer and freelance journalist Jonno Hopkins and, well, no-one tells it better than him.

For 6 months there’s been someone in my family whatsapp group who I thought was my dad but was in fact a random called Peter (my dad’s name). This person has sat and read every message and never thought to chime in to inform us that we’ve added the wrong Peter

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

My family don’t communicate (messy divorce), so I was excited to have a group. On calls my dad would ask what’s going with stuff, to which I’d say ‘Dad, you’re in the whatsapp group, YOU’RE READING THE MESSAGES!’ and he’d say ‘Am I?’ and I just put it down to him being old

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

I’m not sure why, when setting up the group, I didn’t add ‘Dad’ and not ‘Peter’. But now I feel bad for fake dad Peter and hope he enjoyed reading my mum’s messages about how she’d thought Coldplay’s album was called ‘A Cold Hard Blow To The Head’

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

This could have carried on for literally years had my sister not asked if I could add dad to the whatsapp group (I guess my dad was too embarrassed to ask me because I’m a snooty tech arse). And it dawned on me that the number of the Peter in the group was not my dad’s number

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

People asking who fake dad Peter is. Turns out fake dad Peter is a plumber who came to repair the washing machine in our flat in December 2013

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

No, I won’t be contacting fake dad Peter because when he came to fix our washing machine he ended up bleaching all of the clothes that were trapped in the drum. But that’s a story for another day

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

Here’s fake dad Peter reading my family’s messages. Not sure how I didn’t notice the builder’s logo avatar, which is something my dad definitely wouldn’t have pic.twitter.com/kjWbdYoQG2

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

I guess after a while the moment for fake dad Peter to pipe up to let us know we’d got the wrong Peter had passed so he just accepted his role as our new dad

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

Peter’s like pic.twitter.com/Mx8eSAp92r

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

10.

Questions I’ve had:

Q: Weren’t xmas/birthdays odd when ‘dad’ didn’t say anything?
A: Not entirely. We call on special days

Q: Wasn’t it weird when ‘dad’ never spoke?
A: A little, but my dad has never been a chat room person

Q: Why did you add ‘Peter’ and not ‘dad’?
A: No idea

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 25, 2021

11.

Q: What happened to fake dad Peter?
A: I panicked & he was kicked out of the group

Q: Have you been in touch with fake dad Peter?
A: No. He really messed up some of our favourite clothes

Q: Did you make this up?
A: I wish I was imaginative enough to make something this daft up

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 25, 2021

12.

Reading how happy this dumb event has made people, and how similar things have happened to others has been utterly joyous. Thank you so much. Xx

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 25, 2021

Well, it can be really complicated setting up those WhatsApp groups …

The tale prompted a huge response on Twitter and here are just a few of the things people were saying about it.

Dude. This is hilarious.

— Ginger (@___Ginge__) February 24, 2021

Feel kinda bad for my dad who I've spent the past 6 months castigating for being a miserable git and not joining in on whatsapp

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

Marvellous work. I once texted our window cleaner all the hot gossip from the primary school sports day but that's not a patch on this.

— 🕷️ Girly Swot, in a big girl's blouse (@breakfast_lady) February 24, 2021

🤦‍♂️ I'll be clearing out my random contacts this afternoon I think

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

I think I would have to add dad and then politely keep fake dad too because it would seem rude to out him when he has faithfully kept abreast of everything family-related for so long!

— hilary cockshaw (@hilaryjane76) February 24, 2021

True, but he did such a terrible job with the washing machine there was no love lost

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

To conclude …

I keep pressing like to a funny tweet and then it keeps getting funnier !! Thanks for cheering us all up

— sarah lewis (@sarahlewismcd) February 24, 2021

Don't thank me, thank fake dad Peter

— Jonno (@jonnohopkins) February 24, 2021

Source Twitter @jonnohopkins