Mother furious after stranger says her baby looks like it is 'smoking a cigarette'

When a mother takes her baby shopping, it's common that people may stop to make a nice comment about the child - however, that wasn't exactly the case for one mum who shared a strange comment she received from someone about her baby.

And let's just say it didn't go down too well...

In a post to Mumsnet, the mum explained how she had been shopping in the supermarket with her baby when a random man came up to her and said something regarding her child.

"So I honestly don’t know if I was a bit too touchy about this and should’ve just smiled and moved on, but a random man leaned into my face and said 'he looks like he’s smoking a cigarette, look how he’s holding that crisp,'" she wrote.

"It completely rubbed me up the wrong way and I said 'thanks for that random man in the supermarket, that’s exactly the kind of comment a mum on her own in the supermarket needs to hear'. He responded 'don’t be stupid it was only a joke’".

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

"To which I said 'you don’t know what might be on someone’s mind when you make comments like that' and he tutted and said 'really it’s a joke, so ridiculous' and walked off.

"I felt so uncomfortable, people were staring and I thought maybe that was a step too far and I should’ve just let it go.

She then provided some context as to why the stranger's passing comment affected her.

"I lost two parents to cancer and one of the anniversaries is in two days. Today is the anniversary of me getting the call out of the blue at work that said 'it’s cancer and he’s dying so get down here (300 miles away)' when my dad had just felt unwell on holiday and gone to the walk-in. So maybe I’m too touchy.

"So, was I unreasonable, or was this random man really in need of my response?" the mum asked fellow Mumsnet users.

There were plenty of comments in reaction to this story, and all in all the responses were pretty mixed.

Some people sided with the mum and said her response was justified and labelled the man as an "idiot" for his comment.

One person said: "He deserved your response. It was a stupid thing to say about a baby or any child. He’s an idiot! Sorry for your loss"

"Why random men feel the need to comment 'joke' about others is unbelievable," another person wrote. "Would he have said the same thing to baby's dad??"

Someone else agreed: "He would never have said this to a man."

"You reacted because he touched a nerve," a fourth person replied. "Maybe people shouldn't make random stupid comments unless they're prepared to deal with a reply? Yes you overreacted but you had a reason."

On the other hand, others noted that the man wouldn't have known the family context when he made the joke and so felt like the mum overreacted.

One person said: "How was the random man supposed to know your back story?"

"Seems a bit over the OP for what was a daft throwaway comment," another person wrote. "At this rate, nobody will ever speak to each other."

Someone else added: "He made a dumb comment but your response sounds OTT and rude. Most people would just smile/chuckle (even though it wasn't funny) and move on."

"Random bloke, I’d have just walked away," a fourth person commented.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.