A Rant

I’ve read a lot of advice over the past few months about how to handle different obstacles while becoming a healthier person. In every article I’ve read, there is some mention of dealing with “haters” who will try to bring you down for whatever personal reasons they might have. But nothing has really prepared me for the onslaught of snarky comments that I have dealt with over the past few months. And the majority of the comments come from the older ladies that I work in connection with for my job. Here is an example of what I’m talking about:



I was walking down one of the hallways at work, on my way to the break room to grab my lunch. I hear one of my co-workers announcing to everyone that they are going to a nearby café to eat and she is inviting everybody to come if they want to. “Skool Lunch, everyone! Anybody want to go to Skool Lunch?” And as she is walking towards me, “Skool Lunch, everyone! Layne, do you want…… wait. Nevermind. You obviously don’t want to come, you only weigh like 18 pounds.” And this is accompanied with a slow hand movement that follows up and down my body, almost as to display as evidence that, in fact, I weigh as much as a toddler. WTF, people? W…..T……F? Since when did it become acceptable to ridicule people about their weight? And just because they are NOT overweight? Do you know how rude it would be if I walked around saying, “ Skool Lunch, everyone! We’re all going! Hey, so-and-so, do you want to go to…. wait. Of course you do. You are like 500 pounds!”


Another example:


Most days, for lunch, I will eat a salad and top it with tuna. Not that I should HAVE to explain why I eat what I eat, but I do this because I want to get in my servings of vegetables and my serving of protein that I am supposed to have with every meal. I also like to do this because I don’t like to eat heavy at lunch and then feel tired and overstuffed the rest of my working day. Well for our work Christmas party we went to a seafood restaurant. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am just not a big fan of seafood (except of course that tuna and sometimes salmon). I’d probably rather eat nothing than eat anything resembling clams or shrimp. (My brother can attest to this after witnessing a traumatic childhood experience where I was not allowed to leave the dining room table until I ate at least ONE of the clams served to me for dinner. I sat there for an hour before finally swallowing a slimy, cold clam, while crying, after which I ran to the bathroom and dramatically told my mom that I was going to throw up. I never did. But I never ate a clam again either.) So anyway, we are at this seafood restaurant, and as you can imagine, nothing on the menu is exactly jumping off the page to me. I opt for the salad bar and prepare myself a delicious salad and bring it back to the table. Immediately I get the sarcastic comments, “What? No tuna today?? Are you going to be ok?” and “Do you EVER eat anything unhealthy??” It is at times like these that I would love to reply, “What? No donut for breakfast today? Are you going to be ok?” and “Do you ever NOT eat anything unhealthy?” But I don’t. Cause that might be “rude”. At that same lunch, the conversation somehow got on the topic of chocolate. I was just sitting there, happily enjoying my salad, when for no other apparent reason than to be a biotch, one of the ladies pointed to me and said, “You know she can’t like chocolate. Look at her.” Um… ok. I like chocolate just fine. I guess because I’m not constantly shoving it down my throat, or have it melted and smeared across my face and hair, or bathe in it… I must not be a fan.


And another:


Most days there is always some kind of treat brought in for everyone to share. Sometimes I’ll have some, sometimes I won’t… I do have a little discernment when it comes to food, you know; I'm not a whore! Well for some reason, these ladies will zero in on whether or not I have partaken of that day’s treat. The other day, someone brought in fudge (YUM!) with nuts (GROSS!) and I didn’t want any. Well you would’ve thought I’d spit on the Pope, the way they reacted. “You’re not going to have any? Why? Eat some. Just try it. C’mon. Eat. Eat! EAT!”



Most people advise to just ignore it or to laugh along. I’ve done that, and its fine. I don’t want everyone to think that I’m freaking out about it… it’s just that I am just starting to wonder, how do these people not see the double standard? If I walked around saying what I wanted to say, I’d probably get in big trouble…. or beat up. Or sat on. Zing! (Sometimes you just gotta retaliate). But it feels good to vent.