What's your most bizarre experience of being mistaken for someone or something you are not?

Question

My embarrassing story follows.

After losing my friend briefly in a London nightclub a few years ago and finding myself alone for a while I was approached by a young man who asked me, "Are you working?" Having spent the latter half of my life in the countryside at that time I was a bit sheltered and on that night a bit pissed and being of a friendly nature I replied yes, I was working but I was on holiday. He said, "Won't you make an exception for tonight?" There followed a brief moment of confusion on my behalf, then I'm sorry to say, I nearly killed him.

I don't look like a tart, really, and it was very humiliating and well out of order. Can anyone top that?

Answer 1

Regarding your story - I was that man and I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise. Goodbye.

Answer 2

People always tell me I look 'just like' their neighbor's cousin's brother-in-law's sister, or some such nonsense. Apparently I have a very generic face.

Some time ago, when I was a bartender, there was a period of time when several of my regulars would come to the bar in the evening & be all annoyed with me because I had evidently snubbed them earlier in the day/week/month. As it turns out, there was a female security guard at one of the office buildings in town who looked remarkably like me, and was, by all reports, quite rude. Which, by the way, I am not. She was also Puerto Rican, & I don't even speak Spanish.

I was also once mistaken for a prostitute in Salzburg. But really, I'm not sure why. Like I said, I'm rather ordinary looking & I was pretty conservatively dressed (at least compared to my friends). Probably had more to do with walking home alone from the bar to the hostel at 2 in the morning. At least I hope that was the reason. At any rate, it was quite unnerving, but no harm done.

Answer 3

I was waiting at a bus stop one evening, going to meet some friends when a cop car mounted the pavement near me. The cops jumped out and approached me meaning business. Apparently I fitted the description of a guy who had robbed an off-licence.

They started asking me questions but the closest one smelled of alcohol.

I suddenly realised that they thought I was the guy who had held up the off-licence that was 20 feet from where I was standing.

I asked the nearest cop if he thought anyone would seriously rob a store and then stand waiting for a bus as a getaway vehicle. Then I told him that he should try sucking a mint next time and I made some references to coffee breaks and doughnuts not being the same as a forty ounce bottle of vodka. Then I asked for his number and station.

They left really quickly after that.

- - - - -

I also met an American girl on a train once. We got chatting and finally she asked me what part of Australia I was from.

I've only ever lived in Northern Ireland. Except for a few holidays.

I've never been to Australia.

I have often been mistaken for Scottish as I do not have a typical 'Norn Iron' accent.

Answer 4

thats really funny! once i was in a jewelry store just killing time with my little sister (she is 11 but looks younger than her age and i am 16) and another costumer with her daughter were standing near us and she started watching us. when i would point something out that i thought was pretty, my sister would pipe up in agreement. the woman began chuckling to herself and said "isn't it sweet how daughters want to be just like their mothers?" i looked over at the woman confused and just smiled. she continued following us around the store for a few more minutes (i was getting creeped out) and then she asked how old my daughter was. i told her "err shes 11." The woman just smiled and nodded. "oh thats nice"
im not sure if the woman caught on that there was no way that i was even capable of being her mother or not but i tried to get out of there as quickly as possibe!

Answer 5

One Halloween many years ago, I went to the supermarket for my mother after school. Outside the store, I was talking with a friend when some young kid threw two eggs at me which splattered all over my legs. I turned and saw him walking away with a guy my age who turned out to be his older brother. I ran after them, stopped in front of them and asked why the hell did they do that? The older brother said it was because I threw eggs at his brother. I told him I did no such thing and we started fighting. I got the better of the brother and I broke his eyeglasses. A security guard separated us and the guy took off with his younger brother in tow. That left me standing there, covered in egg yolk, my pants ruined, and angry as I did absolutely nothing wrong. The next day in school, it was learned that another kid who looked like me threw the eggs at the guy's kid brother and everyone knew I had nothing to do with it. Still, I got no apology from the older brother who couldn't fight. After that, he never came down my block and he stayed away from me in school. I was no tough guy, but the whole incident could have been avoided if the brother simply asked me what happened before he let his brother toss eggs at me.

Answer 6

One night at a high school football game this guy kept calling out a name which of course I didn't respond since it wasn't mine. He caught up to me and started yelling at me for acting like I didn't know him. When I explained that I didn't know him and I wasn't that person, he went to get his friends and they were all amazed at how I looked just like this other girl from their school. As I met other people from that same school within the next couple of years, I was mistaken for her repeatedly. And her name rhymed with mine which to me made it more bizzare.

Answer 7

i was pulled over by 2 male cops, they walked to my car , gave me the usual 20 questions , & as they walked away again 1 said to the other 'told you it was a guy'

i had long blonde hair at the time , & 3 days worth of beard . LOL

Answer 8

I was working in an operating theatre, I was all gowned up and masked, a surgeon arrived and thought I was another doctor and started chatting away like old friends, I just stood ,nodded and said nothing, I was too embarassed to tell her I wasn't who she thought I was.

Answer 9

Well, actually it was my mistaking someone for someone else.

I went to kings island with my boyfriend, my best friend and her boyfriend. [which, by the way, her boyfriend and my boyfriend look like they're twins].

Well, Teddy and Joey [my boyfriend and her's] went to use the restroom and Blythe and I walked over to a gift shop but forgot to tell them. Well, they had all of our money and our cellphones.

We lost them.

Well, we went looking for them, freaking out because this place was huge and we were lost and confused.

Around two hours of looking for them we saw two guys who looked like Joey and Teddy from the back and both of us were like "on the count of three, run up, grab their butts and jump on their backs".

We did.

It wasn't our boyfriends.

We were so embarressed because we were on the other two guys' backs when Joey and Teddy showed up looking for us and were all confused.

Needless to say, we will never, EVER do that again.

Answer 10

I had a friend that looked a little like me, I though. But several people couldn't tell us apart. We teamed up for a debate and it drove the other team nuts. They lost a lot of points trying to remember which of us said what.

And there was one guy on the team that hit on me but called me her name. I was really angry by that.