Today, after I turned down some cake that was offered to me, the stranger next to me looked at me and said, "You're not on a diet, are you?"
I explained to her that no, I was just a picky eater, at which point she asked if I was a vegetarian. Because apparently picky and vegetarian are synonyms and vegetarians don't eat cake? (Then she went on to tell me how great the cake was and she needed to find out who made it. When she found out it was from a local grocery store, she came back to tell me where this cake I didn't want was from.)
Perhaps she was just making conversation. But I felt like it was a terribly rude thing to say to someone you'd never even introduced yourself to. (I still don't know her name, nor does she know mine.) There are any number of reasons I could have not wanted the cake. Maybe I was diabetic. Maybe I used to weigh 300 pounds and yes, I was on a diet because otherwise I would gain it all back. Maybe I had a gluten or dairy or egg allergy. Maybe I was nauseous. Maybe I had some other type of medical problem that was embarrassing to share about. Maybe I had an eating disorder and really did think I was fat and needed to diet - would that really be a stranger's business?
What do you think? Am I overreacting, or was she rude to ask me that?
1 comments:
I would say rude, but not malicious. Maybe even intended as a compliment? (Since you're thin and she would be shocked if you were dieting...) I dunno. It's hard letting something like that roll off your back, but I don't think you need to worry about it. She was probably just trying to connect (albeit in a very nosy way...)
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