diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a4138ff..807705f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,3 +16,7 @@ now you can get current user via:
 
     user = get_request_user()
 
+
+If called outside of a request context (i.e. ./mange.py shell), get_request_user() returns None
+
+
diff --git a/requestuser/requestuser.py b/requestuser/requestuser.py
index 69f9629..c9c86ad 100644
--- a/requestuser/requestuser.py
+++ b/requestuser/requestuser.py
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ def activate(user):
 def get_request_user():
     from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
     from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser
-    if not hasattr(_active, 'user') or _active.user is None:
+    if not hasattr(_active, 'user'):
+        user = None
+    elif _active.user is None:
         user = AnonymousUser()
     else:
         User = get_user_model()