So this happened a couple nights ago during dinner with my girlfriend and her parents. Things were going fine until their internet went out briefly. Her dad starts saying, with absolute confidence, that the Wi-Fi was “probably running out because too many people in the building were using theirs at the same time.”
I thought he was joking. I chuckled and said, “Oh no, that’s not how Wi-Fi works.” He didn’t laugh. In fact, he looked at me like I had just insulted him. So I tried to clarify — I explained that each household has its own router, its own bandwidth, and that while network congestion exists, it’s not because Wi-Fi is a shared neighborhood pool of signal that runs out like hot water.
Then his wife jumps in and says something like, “Well, if our phones are near the neighbors’ walls, maybe it interferes and weakens our Wi-Fi. That’s why I always keep mine in the center of the house.”
At this point I was genuinely confused and tried to keep it light, like “Ohhh okay I see what you’re saying, but I promise that’s not quite how it works.” I even offered to help optimize their router placement later.
But they both kept arguing with full confidence, and after the fifth time her dad said “Wi-Fi can run out if the building is too full,” I lost it. I let out a laugh. Not a polite chuckle, a genuine, caught-off-guard, snorty exhale kind of laugh. It was bad.
Her mom stopped mid-sentence. Her dad stared at me like I’d insulted his entire bloodline. My girlfriend gave me a subtle death glare across the table. I immediately apologized and tried to backtrack, but the damage was done. The rest of dinner was painfully quiet. On the drive home, she told me I made them feel stupid and that I should’ve just let it go. Now I’m debating whether to show up with flowers or a Wi-Fi explainer chart.
So yeah. TIFU by trying to correct a harmless tech misconception and accidentally turning it into a dinner disaster.
TLDR
Laughed at my girlfriend’s parents after they insisted Wi-Fi can “run out” — now they hate me.
Original Post by WillingTank3132: Link