How to deal with entitled strangers with unwanted advice? TikTok mom says ‘Lie. Lie!’

Dealing with strangers who feel entitled to make comments about or ask about your personal life can be an absolute headache, but one TikToker has a strategy. Sarah K Mitchell, who posts under the handle sarah_katherine12, recently shared her blunt advice on TikTok on how to handle nosy people. Her video has already racked up more than 3.6 million views.

In her video, Mitchell gets straight to the point. “Hi. Good morning. I just want to remind you that you can lie to a stranger as much as you want when they decide they want to get all up in your business.” She then shares a couple of her own experiences to illustrate just how effective this can be. 

“A few years ago, when my first was a baby, I was in the aisle buying some formula, and some lady made some snarky comment to me about breastfeeding. I looked her dead in the eye and told her I had breast cancer. Why are you talking to me?” Mitchell then adds, “Yesterday, some guy at the gas station asked me why my husband wasn’t pumping my gas for me. I told him he was deployed overseas. Lie. Lie! Make them uncomfortable.”

Almost everyone in the comments had their own nosy story to share

The response to her video has been enthusiastic, with many viewers sharing their own creative ways to shut down nosy individuals. User Tiffany shared a particularly clever one, saying, “Strangers look at my husband and I and ask where my son got his size and height. We wince and tell them he’s adopted and he didn’t know but now he does. My son is adopted BTW and loves this game with strangers.”

Similarly, winterprincessxo mentioned, “At the gym I hear ‘You’ll lose that body after kids’ (I’m 26 with none) I reply with ‘I actually already have 3’ … the silence was amazing.” Meanwhile, Lahzeedah noted, “A woman kept asking me why I didn’t have children. I told her after my 5th miscarriage I couldn’t try anymore. I’ve never been pregnant and I don’t want kids. 🤷‍♀️” 

Then there is Caressa, who dealt with a sock-related inquiry: “I was at the allergist for my baby who was allergic to dairy and an old lady asked why he didn’t have socks on and I said he’s allergic to socks. That’s why we’re here.” It is honestly impressive how quickly people can come up with these scenarios on the fly.

The commentators’ tactics are great for a laugh, but psychologists have a different suggestion. According to  Psychology Today, people often fabricate stories to satisfy a stranger’s curiosity so they can move on with their day, though this can sometimes backfire if you have to keep up the pretense later. 

The article suggests that while there are no empirically tested prescriptions for dealing with nosy people, the psychology of communication can help. They recommend techniques like deflection, simply stating your discomfort, or even just ignoring the chatter if you are dealing with a “compulsive communicator.”

If you are looking for more ways to handle these annoyances, Medium also presented some fun ways to do so. They suggest everything from giving someone a “disappointed stare” to using a “reverse uno card” to turn the questioning back on the person prying into your life. Whether you decide to go with a wild lie or a sharp, sarcastic remark, the goal remains the same: reclaiming your space and making it clear that you aren’t there to be interrogated.

Nosiness is not only invasive, but it is also a type of entitlement, and the internet isn’t lacking in stories about entitlement. For instance, a Florida woman who was waiting for her divorce got a strange request from her soon-to-be ex: Can his side chick come live with them? Then there was a Florida beverage cart girl who shared a story of an entitled golfer who tried to start a tab at the cash-only cart