No matter how silly they say something sounds, or the date. I will automatically assume someone is being serious unless they say it’s a joke after saying it because if it isn’t a joke and I take it as a joke that could be harmful. I’ve been bedbound due to CFS for the last 7 years so I don’t have a good idea of what is normal and what is not anymore.
If you’re able to get “it’s a joke” from body language or verbal clues, then your last sentence probably explains it. Otherwise… have you considered you might be a bit neurodivergent?
Not neurodivergent no.
I remember many years ago my mom said not to do something on April Fool’s Day, and she was pranking me the day before that and also the day before that. She has a very dry sense of humor. The reason to not do that something seemed very silly and like the setup of a joke especially given the context. So I ended up doing the thing and my mom got pissed at me for it, calling me stupid and shamed me. I told my mom it’s April 1st, and she asked me why I assumed it was a joke, because she didn’t say it was a joke.
So, in order to avoid stuff like that again, I’ve implemented a kind of policy in my head where I must automatically assume someone is being completely serious unless they tell me right after that what they just said is a joke.