Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod
If one more person asks me “How’s your love life?” I’m going to punch them in the face.
Fortunately I learned a long time ago how to shut someone up really fast when they say that after I figured out that it’s always married men who ask single people such a rude and stupid question. (No offense to married men but single people never say that to each other and neither do women.)
My response?
“How’s yours?”
Funny how quickly they change the subject.
And how about all of the dumb things people say after finding out that someone doesn’t want kids?
“Aren’t you worried about ending up old and lonely?”
Aren’t YOU worried about ending up old and lonely?? Because that’s what’s going to happen if you keep talking to people like this.
“It’s a woman’s greatest achievement.”
Oh.
So if I don’t pop out a kid I haven’t achieved anything? That’s my only possible purpose on this planet?
“You should have at least one of your own.”
Oh really? Well you should get a nose job and some lipo but you don’t see me walking around berating you about it, do you?
What’s the rudest thing someone has said to you at work — and how did you counter it?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 4 comments }
This is soooooo funny! Oh, how I wish I could actually say what I’m thinking sometimes.
Tell me about it!
LOL…love the frankness of your post!
Well, I’m no longer in the corporate world, but a few years back when I was an accounting supervisor, my employer hired a CTO (chief tech officer) who appeared very smug, obnoxious and condescending. We never spoke in passing. I handled all the expense accounts and if you wanted to be reimbursed, the expense forms were due on specific days.
Now, most often everyone followed all the expense acct rules: must have receipts, must be received on specific day, explain why no receipt, explain unusual expenses.
So…not only did I receive this guy’s expense report late, he didn’t have all his receipts…nor was it approved by his superior. So I call him up and explain the scenario. He had the neeeerve to say something to the effect of “what’s the big deal, do you know who I am?”. We went back and forth for a bit and of course I tried remaining polite, professional and courteous…but he just got louder and became more obnoxious and condescending. So..my solution after asking him if I could call him back? I hung the phone up in his face!!
I was very well respected by my peers…from top executives down to the mailroom guy and I respected them in turn. Now you’re probably wandering if I faced serious repercussions for this…not at all! (barely a slap on the wrist) And what happened to this guy after this incident….he spoke to me in passing
Wow! I guess you got your message across…
Comments on this entry are closed.