The Irish Are Either Downtrodden Or Down Under

(I’ve recently moved back to the UK having lived in the South of Ireland for 26 years. I was born in the UK, but my family moved when I was a baby, so I have a Southern Irish accent. I get customers commenting on my accent every so often, and normally they’re complimentary. In this instance, it is a perfectly normal transaction at a till until this point.)

Customer: “So, why did you leave?”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Customer: “Why would you want to move here after living somewhere so lovely?”

Me: *kind of befuddled* “Well, it’s nice here, too…”

Customer: “But why would you want to leave Australia, where it’s always sunny?”

Me: “…”

(I’ve been told I have a “lovely Belfast accent” before, which is nothing like what I’ve got, but nobody has ever thought I was from Australia before.)