People shared the quietly damning things people said to them that hit so hard they’ll never forget – 23 slow-burning smackdowns

We all know one of those people who can’t help but offend, don’t we? Somebody who means well but whose monumental tactlessness gets them in trouble wherever they go.

They’ve been chatting about these unfortunate folk on the AskUK subreddit after soraal shared an absolute howler they were on the wrong end of…

‘What’s the funniest blunt remark or question you ever got from someone who didn’t mean any malice (might be cultural, etc)?

‘A friend told me that when she went to her usual holiday spot, one of the staff members recognised her and said “You got so fat, just like me!”’

Ooft. And plenty of people had painful example of their own to share, like these…

1.

‘”No honestly, even YOU would notice that she’s not a very clever person”. I said what do you mean, “even I” and they went bright red.’
–Direct_Instance_8655

2.

‘When I attended a doctors appointment years ago, I told the GP there was a clicking sound in my ear when I was walking. The GP said, ‘Maybe you have a screw loose’.

This comment stuck with me all these years later.’
–AntitaxAntitax

3.

‘While having a breast exam with a male doctor because of a lump he said, “Well at your age it is quite common for breasts to look a bit moth eaten”. The look the nurse gave him behind his back was a sight to behold.’
–HerNibs1980

4.

‘9 hours into a 10 hour shift of hard manual labour my boss came up and said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you know how to wash yourself?”. I had to explain that I do know how and I do wash before every shift but if he’s unhappy with how much the workload makes me sweat then I’ll gladly do as little work as him. Never got brought up again.’
–DocJeckel

5.

‘Not me, but my sister was told, “You look just like Princess Anne… She’s ugly isn’t she?”’
–Middle-Mirror2017

6.

‘I’d made a present for a friend of mine. It was delicate and a LOT of hours work had gone into it. Took it to the post office to ship to my friend and the woman at the counter asked how much it was worth.

I fumbled and said it was hard because it was something I had made and she goes. “So, no value.”

My boyfriend and I were pissing ourselves and she looked utterly mortified once she realised what she’d said.’
–pm_me_your_amphibian

7.

‘Me getting an exam because prostate cancer runs in my family and I’m at risk. The doctor, with his finger literally up my arse: “Well I haven’t seen that before”.

I still don’t know what he meant.’
–dannydrama

8.

‘Years ago I worked in a call centre with a huge student / early 20s turnover. One of the folks there was a Spanish student, but with very good English. She came up to me one time and said “I always really like what you have on, I wanted to tell you”. I was quite pleased by this, and said thanks to her, to which she replied, “Oh, but not today”.’
–thatcambridgebird

9.

‘”You really have the potential to be a nice person”.’
–grimaces111111

10.

‘When I was working in Central America the PR manager told me I had a fat arse (meant as a compliment).’
–cayosonia

11.

‘I was the one who accidentally made this sort of remark – we have friends who were getting married, and wanted to do so in a church, but neither of them were in any way religious. As I do go to church, they were asking my advice as to where they should try.

I knew that the Catholic church wouldn’t let them marry without a whole rigmarole going on, but that some of the Protestant type churches were more relaxed about it, and that they could ask around those ones. However, what came out of my mouth was “You could try your local Methodist Church, they’ll take anyone”!’
–TotallyTapping

12.

‘A new guy joined and accompanied me out on my rounds. We were pulled over for a break + I said, “I’d better call my mum.” Cue real surprise and he said, “Your mum’s still alive?!”

Mate, I’m old but really?’
–Emergency-Nebula5005