Last night at work was kind of fun, as fun as work can be I guess. Since we're a postal sub-station, people kept coming in to get their taxes post-marked with the date, so they wouldn't be late. What people didn't understand was that our last pick up of the day was at 2:30, and after that, we change the date stamps. Some of the customers coming in just couldn't get that fact, and would start arguing that it was still the 17th, that we should still be stamping their mail with that date. Even though their letters would be sitting in the backroom overnight, not getting touched until the 18th. At first I felt a little bad for them, but then I remembered that they had 3-and-a-half months to get their taxes done and sent it, so they lost any sympathy. Everyone was even given an extra day! Nope, I don't feel sorry for you. Did you really think that you could go to a grocery store at 9:59 and get your taxes in the mail? Come on!
Also last night, my co-worker was asked when she was due. As in when she was expecting her baby to be born. She's not pregnant. She doesn't even really look like she would be pregnant. Maybe very early in the term. But either way, that's not something you ask someone when you're not sure, right? I mean, there have been a couple instances where I thought someone was with baby, but I held my tongue until I was sure. You have to have that sort of self-censoring voice in your head in such occasions. Anyways, the girl laughed about it, didn't take it too hard, which was nice. But it got me thinking, is there a similar situation for men? Is there something that someone can say or ask that could potentially offend or upset a guy as much as saying something about a woman's weight? The only things I could come up with were either something about balding ("Hey, when did you start shaving your head?") or maybe either hitting on or making disparaging remarks about a guys wife/girlfriend/sister without knowing their relationship ("Look at that girl, she's got big knockers!""That's my sister." or "Don't look now, but Fido is heading this way.""I'm dating her.") But that would just most likely result in some sort of fistfight, not the shaking of a man's vision of himself. And I don't know if guys are as sensitive about their hair as girls are of their weight. So I'll contemplate this a little while longer. Any input or suggestions would be appreciated!
4 comments:
I think you'd need to be more abstract to get to a guy, and it would have to be particular to a weak spot of that guy's sense of self. Usually anything like salary, education, or relationship status will do the trick. They'd be more hurt than angry, thus not getting you beat up, but still having the same effect as asking a non-pregnant woman when she's due.
As an aside, the person who asked that must have no mental filter whatsoever. That's a real no-brainer.
i agree with jad, as well as know that guys are more "forgive and forget" while girls, easily image oriented, seldom let go of a hurtful comment.
my stupid people experience of the day: why is it so difficult for AP kids to fill out standardized testing forms? "wait should I put DR or DRIVE? my actual zip code? i don't have a middle initial!"
I don't think you should ever ask a woman when she is due unless you know, absolutely, positively FOR A FACT that she is pregnant. Don't walk around asking complete strangers when their potential babies might be born; it's really none of your f-ing business.
I remember one time in high school when a girl I graduated with had gained quite a little bit of weight, she had a little tummy going on, and it wasn't really a pregnant looking tummy, just more of an overgrown FUPA, but another girl said, "Erica, are you pregnant?" and she burst into tears and ran out of the room and I don't think we saw her again for two days. Needless to say, she wasn't.
As for the guy thing...the receding hairline one is as close as you can get, I think.
Actually, I think I might have said something to an ex boyfriend once about losing his touch. I can't remember what we were doing, but I think sports was involved somehow (so get your mind out of the gutter) and he was pretty upset after that. Oh...now that my mind has gone into the gutter, and you should keep it there for this comment, making a disparaging remark about bedroom behavior will SURELY upset a guy. I haven't ever done this one though, but I have heard things. . .
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