Um, he's ten....

[Mrs. Pilgrim]

Oof, that drives me nuts!

I'm pushing 30, and I'm often mistaken for a teen.  When we lived in East Texas, I was expecting DD.  My hands swelled up so that I couldn't wear my rings anymore (I wore them on a chain around my neck instead).  Other patients in the OB/GYN's office kept giving me the UGLIEST looks.  I always felt embarrassed by looking like a statistic, so to speak.  (It was a very churchy town.)

I stopped wearing my college class ring when people consistently asked what high school it was from, and was I graduating that year?  (And that includes people interviewing me for a job, who had my resume stating "Bachelor of Arts" right there in bold-faced type!)

I guess it comes both of poor assumptions and not being observant.

[lady_disdain]

Other patients in the OB/GYN's office kept giving me the UGLIEST looks.  I always felt embarrassed by looking like a statistic, so to speak.  (It was a very churchy town.)

Oooh, this one gets to me. They have absolutely no right to treat anyone so.

I recently had the opposite (and much less flattering!) problem. I really, really wanted to get tickets for a show, but it was sold out. A friend mentioned that just before the show, extra places in the wings were sold to students under thirty.

I laughed and said that I would have to convince them I was a student. My friend looks at me oddly and says, "well, and that you are under thirty". For the record, I am 27. I wonder how expensive Botox applications are.

[Mrs. Pilgrim]

Other patients in the OB/GYN's office kept giving me the UGLIEST looks.  I always felt embarrassed by looking like a statistic, so to speak.  (It was a very churchy town.)

Oooh, this one gets to me. They have absolutely no right to treat anyone so.

One thing I don't understand is the lack of charity implicit in such a thing.  I mean, even if you regard unwed/underaged sex as totally inappropriate (which, to be frank, I believe myself), behaving hatefully toward the sinner is more likely to make them resent than to repent.  A little CHARITY goes a long way!

It didn't help that the nurses kept calling me "Miss [Pilgrim]."  I always corrected them loudly (but cheerfully) with "That's MRS., please."  They never seemed to have that pronunciation problem with the other married patients, I noticed...

[Brentwood]

If someone mistook me for a teenager, I'd assume they had cataracts.

 

[littleoats]

Oof, that drives me nuts!

I'm pushing 30, and I'm often mistaken for a teen.  When we lived in East Texas, I was expecting DD.  My hands swelled up so that I couldn't wear my rings anymore (I wore them on a chain around my neck instead).  Other patients in the OB/GYN's office kept giving me the UGLIEST looks.  I always felt embarrassed by looking like a statistic, so to speak.  (It was a very churchy town.)

I stopped wearing my college class ring when people consistently asked what high school it was from, and was I graduating that year?  (And that includes people interviewing me for a job, who had my resume stating "Bachelor of Arts" right there in bold-faced type!)

I guess it comes both of poor assumptions and not being observant.

I get the same thing.  One woman even asked me if I was planning on finishing school once I had the baby.  I just looked her right in the eye and said "well I'm finished my masters but maybe I'll go back for my PhD some day."  She probably thought I was just being snarky but frankly I don't care what someone like that thinks of me. 

[Brentwood]

Oof, that drives me nuts!

I'm pushing 30, and I'm often mistaken for a teen.  When we lived in East Texas, I was expecting DD.  My hands swelled up so that I couldn't wear my rings anymore (I wore them on a chain around my neck instead).  Other patients in the OB/GYN's office kept giving me the UGLIEST looks.  I always felt embarrassed by looking like a statistic, so to speak.  (It was a very churchy town.)

I stopped wearing my college class ring when people consistently asked what high school it was from, and was I graduating that year?  (And that includes people interviewing me for a job, who had my resume stating "Bachelor of Arts" right there in bold-faced type!)

I guess it comes both of poor assumptions and not being observant.

I get the same thing.  One woman even asked me if I was planning on finishing school once I had the baby.  I just looked her right in the eye and said "well I'm finished my masters but maybe I'll go back for my PhD some day."  She probably thought I was just being snarky but frankly I don't care what someone like that thinks of me. 

When I was pregnant with my oldest (at age 20), the Gladys Kravitz of my mother's neighborhood had seen me leaving my parents' house one day and went to Mom's door full of nosy questions about me and my pregnancy. One of her first questions was, "Will she be going on welfare?"

My mother was truly puzzled. She told me she answered by saying, "Why would she do that? She has a perfectly good full time job."

We all know that my mother had no obligation to answer those nosy questions, but we also know that if Gladys didn't get a satisfactory answer to THAT question, she would have spread around to the whole neighborhood that I was going to be a Welfare Queen.

[bionelly]

I am a man who (many years ago) used to teach elementary school.  Some of the teachers I taught with used that "smarmy" tone of voice with their students, and it always used to bother me.  I talked with my students as if they were real people.  That is, I spoke with them politely and matter-of-fact-ly, as if I was speaking with adults.  (And, of course, I expected them to speak respectfully back to me.)

I guess I thought of speaking "normally" to students as a good opportunity to model appropriate behavior.

I cannot see educators (and a librarian is a type of educator) talking down to students.

When I was in college, I had a biology teacher who talked that way.  If you just went by her tone of voice, you would have thought she was teaching Kindergarten instead of Botany.

I recently had the opposite (and much less flattering!) problem. I really, really wanted to get tickets for a show, but it was sold out. A friend mentioned that just before the show, extra places in the wings were sold to students under thirty.

I laughed and said that I would have to convince them I was a student. My friend looks at me oddly and says, "well, and that you are under thirty". For the record, I am 27. I wonder how expensive Botox applications are.

I have a worse one!  A 19-year-old coworker was sitting near me on her break, and a customer assumed she was my daughter.  I'm 25!!! 

I don't know...if someone told me to my face that they thought I was 31, I might suspect some insincere flattery.

  Actually, if that's you in your sig, that's about what I would have guessed.

[blue2000]

When I was in college, I had a biology teacher who talked that way.  If you just went by her tone of voice, you would have thought she was teaching Kindergarten instead of Botany.

I had a manager who did that, too. He would start off meetings with "Helloooo, boys and girls!! How are we dooooiiing?" with a big huge smile on his face, and his hands clasped to his chest.

Some people nicknamed him "Barney", after the dinosaur. Mean, yes, but very accurate.

[Addy]

Yes, please, everyone, do not ever guess anyone's age, especially a child, and especially not to his face.

When my son was in the eighth grade, we went to visit my sister, who has a BIL who teaches 4th grade. My son at the time (and now, actually) was very small for his age, due to a chronic disease, which, at the time, was in the process of being diagnosed.  My sister's BIL said to my son "I'm going to guess how old you are.  I bet you're 9.  I can tell because I teach 9 year olds."  My son, who was 13, was very embarrassed at that, but to make matters worse, when told of his mistake, the teacher asked why my son was so small.  What the heck?

As a side note, and another rude question, my sister informed me that after we left, her neighbour asked her "what was wrong with that boy who was visiting? Does he have cancer?"

[Brentwood]

  Actually, if that's you in your sig, that's about what I would have guessed.

It is, but I'm turning 42 this month.

[Suze]

  Actually, if that's you in your sig, that's about what I would have guessed.

It is, but I'm turning 42 this month.

Remember Cathy has one of those "special" portiats in the attic.

>running and hiding now<

[Brentwood]

  Actually, if that's you in your sig, that's about what I would have guessed.

It is, but I'm turning 42 this month.

Remember Cathy has one of those "special" portiats in the attic.

>running and hiding now<

No need to hide. I'm fearfully waiting for that portrait to come out of the attic and whack me across the head.

[MissBrit]

I used to get this so much growing up and it drove me nuts. My mom had this boss that would call the house periodically to talk to my mom. The first time she called I was probably about 10 and she asked, "Is your mommy there?" One time I took a message for her since my mom wasn't home and she said to me at the end of our conversation, "I remember when you were so young you couldn't even write and now you're taking whole messages!" Yeah... I was in High school!

[willow08]

  Actually, if that's you in your sig, that's about what I would have guessed.

It is, but I'm turning 42 this month.

Remember Cathy has one of those "special" portiats in the attic.

>running and hiding now<

No need to hide. I'm fearfully waiting for that portrait to come out of the attic and whack me across the head.

This is why I love this board.  You don't normally see Dorian Gray references in average, everyday conversation.

[GoldenGemini]

  Actually, if that's you in your sig, that's about what I would have guessed.

It is, but I'm turning 42 this month.

Remember Cathy has one of those "special" portiats in the attic.

>running and hiding now<

No need to hide. I'm fearfully waiting for that portrait to come out of the attic and whack me across the head.

This is why I love this board.  You don't normally see Dorian Gray references in average, everyday conversation.

Exactly!  Most of my IRL friends would say "Dorian who? What movie was he in?"