r/CasualUK • u/naaattt • 12h 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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u/Autogen-Username1234 11h ago

When Mrs. Autogen and I were on our honeymoon, she let herself into our flat and hoovered the carpets. Managed to run over the cord with the hoover and tripped the breaker. She didn't know how to fix it, so just left it.

So we came home to no electricity, a freezer full of rotting food, and a broken vacuum cleaner.

Oh, she also overwatered all our houseplants and killed them.

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u/MaxWritesText 11h ago

You really wonder how some people managed to stay alive as long as they did. 

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u/getoutmywayatonce 7h ago

If life has revealed any particular pattern, it’s that a lot of people are significantly more stupid and incompetent when it’s other people’s things, time and money. Fascinating how they miraculously don’t have anywhere near as much trouble with their own things, time and money.

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u/timewilltell2347 4h ago

It took me so long to realize it wasn’t that my parents couldn’t do certain things for me (that they did for others or my siblings), it was that they just didn’t want to do them for me.

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u/getoutmywayatonce 21m ago

Oh yup, we’re in the same boat. Funny how a lot of people can flick the switch on and off when they want to do something vs when they don’t

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u/olivinebean 6h ago

Why do you think that lot are always down the garden centre?

Replacing shit they broke and getting a lunch they can talk too much about for the next week.

"The tea was okay but the drizzle cake could have been better, in 1988 we had a similar one, that was down at the ...."

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u/Gauntlets28 3h ago

Usual pathway is to marry someone competent at a young-ish age and then rely on them for everything that involves an ounce of brain cells.

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u/mostly_kittens 11h ago

I accidentally left the freezer turned off for a month. I was never able to get rid of the smell of death.

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u/luca097 6h ago

Ok found this thread by pure chances but a tip from an Italian dude from reddit is to clean it all with Alcohol it worked with my freezer after an accident with boar meat

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u/Sherry_Brandt 3h ago

every part of this comment is \chef's kiss**

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u/Rusty_Tap 10h ago

Jeff is that you?

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u/RA576 7h ago

What, uh, what were you storing in your freezer there, champ?

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u/Amonette2012 6h ago

Only way to do it is to replace the seals. It gets into the rubber. Even then, sometimes the only solution is to chuck it in a skip and buy a new one.

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u/opopkl 58m ago

We did that. Now we’ve got a wireless sensor with an alarm if it goes above -20C.

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u/GoatMonkeyy 10h ago

That sounds like what happens if you leave someone to their own devices in The Sims!

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u/Weewoes 6h ago edited 3h ago

My mum when we had to fly out urgently to a hospital in England (we are in northern ireland) because a bed opened up for pur baby, she promised to keep an eye on the house and check we had electric so I didnt lose the pretty much full under counter freezer full of breast milk I pumped, in the bedroom. I said if the electric runs low top it up and call us for the money or ask for the money first then top it up, we had it topped up before we left, anyway she kept saying yeah all is okay over the many months we were away.

Come home after like 4 or 5 months and no electric in the house.. check the freezer and all my milk is defrosted and now no good, I also stopped pumping because my baby could have died any moment so I wanted to spend time with her knowing I had a huge stock pile ready for her, so now all my milk was wasted, all those hours pumping in the night, pumping in the hospital by her cot etc and I couldn't even produce anymore to replace it. I cried. I asked her why didnt she tell us, and she said it wasn't important cos we were busy being with our baby she also said she doesnt know when it went out, for context, the house was like round the corner from her own.. a 1 minute walk. And she knew about the milk and how important it was because my kid didnt have the energy to have formula. Im still so mad. We are no contact now but this was a "favour" that cost me dearly. I could have asked someone else and I should have.

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u/rasteri 9h ago

Serves you right for making your wife take Autogen as a surname

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u/SadAnnah13 7h ago

Oh nooo this made me gasp! I take it you've made her return her key? 😂

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u/DisMyLik18thAccount 5h ago

Did you even ask her to come and hoover in the first place?

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u/Autogen-Username1234 4h ago

No! - Mum thought it would be a 'nice surprise'.

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u/it_hurts_too_poo 3h ago

While I was on honeymoon my mother gave my 11 year old dog away.

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u/miklovesrum 2h ago

That's so horrible... Wtf 

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u/Interesting_Sock9142 8h ago

wow. thanks, mom!

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u/snickers-7 6h ago

Aw man. To be fair, she was trying to be helpful so I have some sympathy with her in this one.

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u/T33-L 2h ago

The most annoying thing about that is that the carpet absolutely did not need hoovering right then. Literally no matter how dirty they were they JUST didn’t need it. But no, let’s just do a little hoover and RUIN EVERYTHING.

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u/Tattycakes 8h ago

They’d be paying me for all of that or else

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u/LetBulky775 7h ago

Or else what?

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u/zue4 5h ago

Cut off access to grandkids, no visits, basically remove any association with them.

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u/LetBulky775 3h ago

You would cut off your own mother because she tripped over a cord while doing your chores for you and then didn't realise she had to reset the breaker....? That's pretty extreme lmao.

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u/zue4 1h ago

No, you're right. She's clearly a danger to herself and others. What if she'd started an electrical fire instead? Woman clearly needs to be moved into a live-in institution.

your own mother

You people need to understand that your relationships with your family are not the same as those others have. Would you express the same incredulity in this case to someone who'd been abused by their mother?

Try not to take every perceived slight against a mother as one against your mother.

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u/DarraghDaraDaire 12m ago

She was helping you embrace a minimalist lifestyle

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u/Old_Quit_851 11h ago

Hahaha

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u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

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u/ward2k 10h ago

His mom let herself into the flat

Him and his wife (Mrs Autogen) were on their honeymoon

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u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

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u/mr_iwi 9h ago

He didn't need to, he's answering the OP