londonclubguy, I'm sorry to read that a pilot could be so unthinking as to tell you thinks that are true - but without giving them a context and likelihood. You have read from others the probability, here is my experience from nearly 44 years of paxing. The worst was in 1970 and that was ONLY because it was a turbo-prop aircraft (Viscount) and we could not get above the thunderstorm, nor get around it.
Since then? Nothing more than being bumped around when skirting some big storms and I could see the storm off to the side and see that the crew were taking us nicely around them. I've been round the world in a variety of aircraft and I know that they are built to withstand these unexpected pressure changes and have always come through OK. The only time I have seen stuff falling from the overheads is when people open them without checking that something has moved - either in flight or on arrival.