hey asshat, mind your own effing business!

i’m at my desk at the office, on lunch, having just returned from the compound cafeteria.

i’d gone down to pick up something to eat – i wasn’t especially hungry, and had just finished a mammoth apple, so i was looking for something fairly small-ish. like a bowl of soup and a bagel, or perhaps one of the side dishes always on offer with the array of main courses.

craving something savoury, i decided to get a side order of rosemary-mustard seed potatoes. they looked good, they’d be perfectly salty and a clamshell container full of them would fit my bill.

i walked up to the counter and the friendly guy behind it greeted me. i placed my order, and he set about scooping seven or eight whole mini potatoes into my container. (the cost? $1.)

as he did so, a clearly un-busy older cook, who mans the adjacent grill, wandered over to stick his nose where it didn’t belong.

he looked at my container of potatoes, and then at me, and then said, “someone’s on a diet.”

his tone wasn’t particularly jovial, though i suspect he thought himself quite funny. i quickly replied that no, they were just to supplement the lunch i already had upstairs, but it wasn’t until i was walking away that it hit me how completely out of line his comment was.

“someone’s on a diet”?

wait. what?

WTF?

i don’t know this man, he doesn’t know me. he doesn’t know what my situation might be or if i have an eating disorder or if i really am on a diet or if there might be any extenuating reason i would interpret his comment as meaning i’m fat.

his job is to serve me food, not comment on what i’m eating or not eating. had i been overweight, would he have suggested i perhaps not order carbs? or told me to “slow down there, hon!”?

honestly.

by the time i got back to my floor, i considered going back down to confront him over his ignorant remark. but by then the moment had passed, the asshat was back to flipping burgers and my potatoes were getting cold.

that said, if it happens again, you can bet he’ll get a less-than-amused retort from yours truly.