Etiquette School is in session! > Complete Silence

Is silence appropriate here?

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Isometric:
This happened a while ago to a friend of mine. Should silence have been used by Ana?

My friend, Ana, was out at a popular restaurant. She over heard the 4 females at the table next to her taking about age. These females were all dressed in short, tight clothes, had bleach blond hair and pancake make up. She thought she heard one say she just turned 40. We'll call her 40girl. A little while later, Ana was leaving and 40girl said to her "how old do I look?" Ana, thinking she was paying a compliment, offhandly said 32. 40girl, who was obviously not 40 after all, and in fact not even 32, said *female dog*, followed by "at least I don't look like you" (FTR Ana is gorgeous) Ana was blindsided and said something along the lines of "if that's what you have to tell yourself to get up in the morning".

I know You're not meant to engage the crazie, but I'm proud of her for sticking up for herself. She's by no means conceited, but said it as a defensive line. What would you say? Nothing? Or something?

Who even asks strangers how old they look!

katycoo:
Silence is more polite than snarkiness.  Retalitory rudeness may make you feel better, but its still rude.

Ceallach:
Ana's response was rude, and definitely falls into the retaliatory rudeness category.   (It was of course somewhat understandable given the provocation, but that doesn't make it ok from an etiquette perspective - rude is rude).

Silence could possibly have worked, accompanied by a cold look before turning away.  However in this situation I'd prefer to say *something* in response to a direct insult... possibly "Excuse me?" with a raised eyebrow.   

Of course, she would have been better off not guessing any age in the first place and deflecting with a smile and "Oh I couldn't say! Did you enjoy the beandip with your dinner?" or similar and therefore avoid inadvertantly starting the insult war.

Mental Magpie:
It was retaliatory rudeness, so yes, it was rude, but like Ceallach said, it is of course somewhat understandable.

I definitely would have wanted to reply, as well, but I probably would have said, "If you didn't want to know what I thought you shouldn't have asked.  Sorry for being honest."  I don't know if that's quite e-hell approved, either, though.  My default is sarcasm; perhaps it would be better to have left off the last part.

Anyhow, silence probably would have been the best option, but huffing away in anger would have only satisfied the actual witch in this scenario.  A shrug, a smile, and silence probably would have done it.

Piratelvr1121:
Ugh, I hate when people do that.  My usual response is "You know, I am REALLY bad at guessing ages, so I better not play this game!"  It's not a lie either, I am awful at guessing ages. Sometimes I can get it within 10 years but even then I've been wrong so I refuse to guess anyone's age.

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