Sunday, June 5, 2011

When asshats attack or people say the darnedest things to you when you're pregnant..

I'd like to say that I think of myself as a pretty mild-mannered person.  I try to be polite to strangers, for the most part if I come into contact with someone I've never met I tend to be quiet and observe.  I guess that's why I've been so floored by some of the ignorant and ridiculous things people have said to me since I began showing my baby bump.

I work in retail, so I come into contact with people all the time.   I don't know if perhaps because I am so available to them they feel so free to say things, or if I have a "humiliate me, I enjoy it" sign on my back.  My first awkward encounter happened during my fifth month, my bump barely visible.  An older man approached me, asked where something was and as I started walking him to the item's location, he said,"Oh you don't need to take me over there in your delicate condition."  I brushed off the comment told him I was tough and took him over to the product.  After he thanked me for helping him he grabbed my stomach and asked when the "blessed event" was.  I normally don't get grabbed like that, if someone is grateful I've helped them I've gotten hugged, but that's the extent of it. I was flabbergasted and if I wasn't at work I probably would have reacted much worse than I did.  I backed away and told him that I had personal space issues and to unhand my unborn child. 

I thought because I didn't have any strange things happen during my sixth month that I was home-free.  Well you know what happens when you assume and boy did I get hit with a barrage of stuff during my first week of month seven.   This merely was just the quiet before the storm.

I was cashiering one afternoon and this woman approached the register and I greeted her like I would any other customer.  She never acknowledge my greeting, kept looking at the screen to see if I was scanning things right.  She looked at me near the end of the transaction and said,"When are you due?"  It seemed like a normal question, I get it a lot lately so I answered with my standard answer of mid August.  She looked me up and down and replied,"Are you sure, you're HUGE!  Did you get your due date right?"  I said yes, I know my date, handed her her receipt, thanked her for stopping in, and told her to have a fantastic day.   Seriously, what do you say back to someone like that without getting yourself fired?
I've had other awkward interactions at work, one consisting of how great it is to work in an environment where food is so accessible when I have craving, another person said to a coworker that he should keep calling me over for help because I could use the exercise, and the list goes on.  My last encounter happened while I was shopping at the grocery store in town. As I was checking out my cashier said to me, "It must be hard being in your condition and single." I looked at my left hand and realized I left my wedding ring at home because I had been working in the yard prior. I looked at her and said, "No the surrogate parents pay me pretty well." That shut her up but I don't usually think of something good until well after the event happened.
So here's to hoping that even though I know it won't happen that people won't be so awkward around me the last two months of this journey or around other moms to be.




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