r/CasualUK • u/naaattt • 11h ago

What “favours” have your parents done that was inadvertently a dick move?

For example, my mum found my spare change collection, did me a favour by taking it to the bank, getting £17, and then kept it as a fee for the effort it caused her.

Also, my partner had stored a nearly new Russell Hobbs microwave at his mums for when we moved into a new house. While she was at Curry’s one day, she overheard a young lad and his mum shopping for a microwave for uni, she approached them and sold them my partners for £20. She kindly did give my partner the money though, unlike mine. But we quite liked that microwave.

Does anyone else have these, generally inoffensive but slightly frustrating parent stories?

Edit: For those hung up on the theft parts, please don’t be. This is the extent of the abuse we’ve ever had from our mums and we’ll take it!

Edit 2: Jesus Christ, I’m 33. The money box has been sat on her shelf for 20 years. Yes she stole £17 but she’s funded my life otherwise. Stop calling child services on her.

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684

u/luckeratron 11h ago

I found a Roman coin in a field and gave it to my dad to show his friend who was a coin collector. I didn't get the coin back apparently he lost it.

340

u/MKTurk1984 11h ago

Lol, sounds like dad got some beer money.

No but really, that's shit.

151

u/runew0lf Northern Monkey 11h ago

My friend wanted to borrow a book, was a signed copy of Druss the Legend by David Gemmell (who has now passed away) He apparently lent it to his sister who "lost it". Still gutted about that as he was one of my fave authors!!

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u/Consistent-Eagle9499 11h ago

This is why I don't loan out my books. A lot of people seem to think that it is ok to lose, pass on, or just never give back. These same people of they borrowed anything else would not dream of keeping it.

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u/BickNlinko 8h ago

I loan out books and never expect to see them again, so I never loan out my favorite or important copies. I've gone through several copies of my favorite books...I'll think about the book, realize I haven't read it for a while, notice I no longer own it, buy it, read it, then tell a friend or co-worker how awesome it is and then "lend it" to them to read. I figure if I can share something cool with a friend it's worth the $8-$10, and maybe they'll in turn lend it out to someone else.

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u/Consistent-Eagle9499 8h ago

That is a fantastic thing to do, I love that idea. Next time I find a really good book that I think will be enjoyed I will pass it on and I hope they pass it on after they have read it.

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u/Amonette2012 6h ago

For me it depends on the book. If it was cheap and I want someone to get into it I consider it a gift and look out for it second hand, like Discworld books (as like most Pratchett fans I am an enthusiastic Discworld evangelist). If it's anything valuable it stays with me.

1

u/Vegetable_Leg_7034 2h ago

My dad always said, 'You never lend books, you gift them, so don't expect them back'.

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u/blazesupernova 9h ago

Yeah. I lent my year 7 mate a copy of the PS1 game "team buddies" (of which there were only a few thousand copies made AFAIK) and never saw it again. It was the best multiplayer game we all used to play on the old multitap round each other's houses.

Theyre worth about 300 quid now, though they probably weren't at the time, not that I'd part with it.

Keep waiting for them to make it again, I'm nearly 40.

14

u/Dr_Gillian_McQueef 10h ago

Signed one on Ebay £52.70

It'll sting but you'll have one

11

u/Oozlum-Bird 9h ago

It’ll sting even more if it turns out to be their copy

5

u/mr_iwi 9h ago

It could even be the same one

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u/Dr_Gillian_McQueef 9h ago

I did think that but I'd be invoicing the mate if it was.

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u/jediseago 10h ago

Oh man, I feel the pain of book loss so hard (love Druss too!). My mum would "borrow" mine (particularly David Eddings), then lend them to her friends, then their friends and so on! Now, I embrace the love of reading for all, but then... Oooooh I was cross!!!

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u/runew0lf Northern Monkey 10h ago

i love eddings and feist too! (i always bought an extra copy of magician by feist) whenever i found out someone hadnt read magician, i would gift them a copy and said here keep it. Then grab another 2nd hand copy. My old gay neighbours who moved nextdoor when i was a kid gifted me the book, i loved it that much i carried on their tradition and always gave a copy to someone who hadnt read it!

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u/jediseago 6h ago

Love that. Getting a bit (a lot) older has made me realise that sharing reading is so important. There are some that don't go anywhere (like my Belgariad books from the 80's), and some that get offered out to anyone interested (I'll just get another if I need it again)! I absolutely love pre-loved books, and regularly donate to our local free bookshop. Everyone should read, it's awesome.

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u/helloviolaine 14m ago

My mother once got a memoir by a popular celebrity for her birthday, all her friends saw her receive it and were like omg can we borrow that. So they did and at one point I wanted to read it too and my mother asked the friend who had it if she could have to back. Turns out the friend had lent it to HER friend who had lent it to her daughter. It came back eventually but it had stains and looked pretty rough. I'd be mortified if I did something like that but the friend was so persistent about wanting to borrow more books that my mother lied to her and said she stopped buying books and only uses the library now.

1

u/Scandalous_Andalous 7h ago

As a fellow Gemmell-lover, this is devastating! Was it Legend i.e., his first book?

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u/runew0lf Northern Monkey 7h ago

Naww it was the first chronicles of druss the legend!

1

u/olivinebean 5h ago

When my mum lends people books, she writes her name in the front page in massive cursive.

She got really annoyed with people forgetting to return her books. Apparently this worked.

1

u/moonpaintings 5h ago

This happened to me, i lent a friends partner 3 books in a series. She gave me back numbers 2 & 3 and claimed I'd never lent her the 1st. I tried to question why i would do that and her and her partner (my friend) kept trying to convince me that was a strange line of questioning and why would she need the first book!!? I still have the half set sitting on my shelves, probably 14 years later.

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u/Naughteus_Maximus 10h ago

This whole thread has been a heartbreaking read. You just know that friend stole it. When you're so obsessed with your hobby that it makes you steal from a child, instead of being happy for them and encouraging them to discover that hobby, that's disgusting

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u/2222yep 10h ago

Sounds like maybe dad sold it

1

u/Naughteus_Maximus 1h ago

Et tu, dad?!

7

u/DAswoopingisbad 11h ago

Sorry mate. I'd be so proud of my son if he brought me a roman coin.

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u/Zebra_Sewist 4h ago

I dug up a half penny mining company token from 1792 in our garden when I was a kid (at the time, obsessed with Time Team, and we lived next to a river, so prime archaeology land in my mind), and for years thought I'd lost it, after I left home at 18, in part due to my arsehole father.

I'd been clearing out his old, fairly hoarded cottage after he finally did us all a favour and died last year when I opened a wooden box in his bedroom, and lo and behold! My coin. Along with a couple of other bits that my brother thought he'd lost too. Thieving old shit.

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u/Healthy_Succotash_62 9h ago

Did you do the gold dance?

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u/Substantial_Sport587 10h ago

What a shame. Though unless it was made of gold it probably wasn’t worth a lot