Most BIZARRE Rude Thing That's Ever Happened to You?

[NEDESAPIO]

I'd be interested in knowing what is the most bizarre rude thing that anyone has ever said or done to you:  by this I mean words or actions that were completely inexplicable, that made you think the person who said/did them must have been just clueless.

For instance, a really bizarre thing happened to my mom last year.  I can swear this story is true; my mom doesn't exaggerate or make things up, and the person who was with her backs her up.  She and my uncle (her brother) were eating in D.C. at a very popular Italian restuarant.  My mom paid the bill, left the tip, and was getting ready to leave when the waiter who'd served them approached.  He was a young man in his mid to late twenties.  Standing in front of my mom, this guy then proceeded to get down on his knees before her.  In a whining voice loud enough for everyone sitting near to hear (they all began to stare), he said to my mom, "Wasn't the service all right?"  Totally puzzled and embarrassed, she answered, "Yes, the service was fine."  It turns out that the waiter thought my mom had not left him enough of a tip; he went on to ask her, in the same loud, pathetic tone, for more money.  She and my uncle simply turned and walked out.

She did contact the restaurant management about this weird waiter; they told her they'd "look into it," but she never heard anything further.  Edited to add:  She hasn't seen that waiter working there again since the incident, though, so he may have been fired.

[Cupcake Fiend]

When I had Thing 1, I would often BF him in public.  I was always discreet and no one ever looked twice at me.

Except one time.

I had been shopping in a store that happened to have a lounge area set up outside the entrance to their restrooms.  Thing 1 got hungry so I took him to that area and started to feed him...discreet as always - everything covered up.

This woman walks by us to go into the rest room.  And stops, and stares at me.  Actually, glares is a better word for it.  Just looking at me like I was something smelly and slimy she'd found on the bottom of her shoe.  For feeding my child -- in a place that had been specifically set up for this type of purpose.  Finally she continued on into the restroom.  I was far too shocked to say anything at the time, although I did think of some good comments about 3 hours later.

I never sought out one of those areas again...and I never had a negative BF experience again after that one either.

[Rei-chan]

OK I think I've got one.  I was working at a clothing store last year, doing markdowns on a low shelf, so I was sitting on the floor.  A man came up to pay, and my coworker (who was new) asked me a question about a procedure, so I stood up.  The man looks at me, smiles and says "So, when are you due?"

I reply, "Due for what?"

He says, "You know, DUE."

Again I say "DUE FOR WHAT?"

Finally, he gets it.......I may be overweight, but no I AM NOT PREGNANT.

I turn to go back to my markdowns, and he mutters "Well, you don't have to get mad about it!"

At this point, I turned, smiled, and replied:

 "Well, how would you feel if I said that is a LOVELY toupee you have there!" and went about my business.

[gjcva1]

tonight at the grocery store was a pretty good example.  i'm minding my own business, checking out.  DH has already left to get the truck after we finished shopping and were checking out.  i ask the cashier for a carton of cigs.  she gets them and is scanning them, and behind me i hear "i hate when people buy cigarettes in front of my children."  i glance over my shoulder, there's a dad, and the kid he has with him is so small he can't even see the conveyor belt.  so i doubt he knows that i'm buying something evil.  my comment: "i've been an example to my kids, it's not my job to raise yours."  response was "oh i'm sorry, i must have been thinking out loud, i didn't mean anything by it, not at all!". BS.  i answered, you better work on that internal talking thing, cause it doesn't seem to be working.

now i'm almost done checking out, and i have already felt the crumb cruncher with said dad behind me pass by because he grabbed my coat as he passed.  this really cute little guy was watching a really annoying little girl who was behaving very badly (and i know he was trying to figure out how to play the same game). now i'm ready to leave, but i know exactly where this little boy is when behind me i hear "Ethan, Ethan, get back here, you're about to get run over by that lady's cart and it will hurt!!!"  i'm sorry, i turned around, put my hands on my hips, and looked at this dad....his reaction?  "oh i didn't mean YOU, i didn't mean that YOU would hurt my little boy!".  um, excuse me, you just told your son that i was gonna run over him with my cart as i was leaving the checkout line!!!!

[Lysitheia]

Oh, the Greeting Card Wars:

In 11th grade the history class was distance learning (meaning the teacher was at another school and taught us via real time internet). His name was Mr.Smith. Mr.Smith was a seriously cool guy (he was in a rock band, I kid you not). Mr. Smith had once mentioned not being an organized religion person, his discomforts with formal belief systems, etc.

One of the girls in my class was named Leeza. Leeza's family owned Tinytown. They were  fervant members of a certain church. Leeza had  few social skills, could be pushy and obnoxious, etc.

Mr. Smith's beloved mother died very suddenly and he took a week off. I offered to get a card for us all to sign, and found a nice secular one that said somethig like "Sorry for your loss." The day I brought it in, my classmates mobbed to sign, and most wrote something like "I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Smith". All the sentiments were lovely and  totally acceptable. The aide also signed and wrote.

Leeza comes in with a card she brought. It's full of flowery, overtly religious language. Also, you could only sign your name; she stood there and watched to make sure people put just what she told them. Okay, fine. She sees my card and does not sign it. She approaches me later:

"You know, we should only send one card.  You shouldn't have let people write things in yours, that's wrong."

She kept going at me until I finally said "I'm sorry you don't like it, Leeza, but I'm sending the card and that's it."

[Gigi]

We thought my husband's grandmother would be thrilled when we told her we were expecting her first great-grandchild. When we made our big announcement  her response was to look me right in the eye and say "You know, if anything ever goes wrong with your marriage it won't be Jimmy's (my DH) fault"

[NEDESAPIO]

I'd rather be disfigured than in constant pain.

What a horrrible woman; any "disfigurement" she has is in her personality.

Just recently, in fact, I was reading an etiquette book and saw "disfigured" on a list of words you don't use, in public, to describe a person, ever.

[Amanita]

The joys of public transit...

Recently, my friend and I went downtown to watch our city's tree lighting festivities. We had a good time there, and after it was over, went our seperate ways to catch our busses.

The bus I got on was PACKED. No room to sit down, no room to move back, I ended up standing close to the front of the bus, grasping a handstrap for dear life. A construction worker got on shortly after I did, and the two of us ended up standing face to face, pretty much smushed in there. Every time more people got on the bus, I got shoved and knocked around. Every rough movement of the bus caused me to have to shift my footing to keep my balance. Anyhow, at one point, I got shoved right into a grandmother and her kid who were sitting next to the spot I was standing in. Shoved and jostled by several people in fact.

Well, grandma didn't like that too much, and started screeching at me, telling the kid if I bumped them again, to KICK me, and ordering me to move my legs. I know this is not very nice of me, but I pretty much lost it. I told her in no uncertain terms that there was no place for me to move to, and that I was being shoved into her by people on the other side of me, and there was nothing I could do about that because the bus was so bloody packed. Then the construction worker I had been chatting to got in on it, saying out loud that he could not stand F'ing ignorant people like that, and that we were all packed in like sardines, so grandma needed to suck it up and deal. And ordering her kid to kick me? Hoo boy, we had a field day with that one. Between the two of us, we pretty much embarrassed her into silence. I know, not very nice. But on a crowded bus, you have to expect some bumping and jostling. You just don't start foolishness like inciting your kid to kick other passengers.

[Lady Vavasour]

This happened to me when I was in Trinidad and Tobago.

White people in Trinidad are fairly uncommon so they get a lot of attention. Most of it I can deal with (stares, comments etc.--most of it not least hostile), but one day I was walking down a busy street when a heavily pregnant young woman threw her arm out and SLAPPED me on the shoulder. I was completely stunned.

[Brentwood]

A former friend called my unborn child a bastard, to my face.

[SunkissableOne]

This happened when I was out to dinner with my gal pals....we were at this place and we had all ordered our food and drinks...everything was going great until the food came out.  The waitress handed all of my friends their correct orders and then sat down something I would definitely never eat let alone order.  I piped up and mentioned that the order was wrong...the waitress then ARGUED with me!  Finally she conceded and took it back and brought out what I did order.  Throughout our dinner she would refill my friends drinks but never mine.  She COMPLETELY ignored me!  Needless to say when the bill came I paid with credit and on the tip line: "here's a tip, learn how to serve!"  

[TZ]

1.  I was waiting in a long line at a crowded pharmacy.  I was about fifth in line, and there was a shelf about 3 feet to my left.  A lady in a wheelchair was trying to get through this narrow aisle, and she accidentally knocked a bunch of boxes off the shelf.  So, I step over about a foot and a half, pick them up for her, and arrange them back on the shelf.  She thanks me and goes on.  The line has not moved in this time, but when I go to step back in line, the woman who had been behind me refuses to let me back in.  She starts screeching about how I got out of the line, so I lost my place.  She starts complaining about how rude I am!  I was in shock!  Um, actually I didn't get out of line, but ok...Fortunately, the guy behind her was very gracious and let me go ahead of him. 

2.  Not only did one of BF's (female) coworkers corner him in the break room to ask if my breasts were real, she asked him if she could feel them!  Fortunately, he doesn't work with her anymore, because those company parties were getting a little awkward.

[Lady Vavasour]

2.  Not only did one of BF's (female) coworkers corner him in the break room to ask if my breasts were real, she asked him if she could feel them!

 

[hollasa]

Oh, I've got one!

My father died unexpectedly (well, kind of unexpectedly, he did have Alzheimers and was in a nursing home). My mother and I went to the local seniors centre to have the catering for the funeral done (sandwich tray, goodie tray), and we went the day after, or maybe two days after the death, and I think it was two days before the funeral.

We sat down with the person to take the order, explained the situation, and she said oh, we generally prefer more notice than that, couldn't you have let us know last week?

We just kind of sat there, with our mouths open, and then I said something about if we had known just when he was going to DIE, then sure...

[kingsrings]

This happened 10 years ago. I was in a play, and one of the costumes I wore was kind of revealing. It was a black lace dress and it was kind of see-through, but not blatantly so. I wore a same-colored bra and tights underneath it per the director's instructions. I wouldn't wear something like that today, but I still don't think that it warranted the rude and nervy response I got from one woman at the reception afterwards. She was a complete stranger, and she came up to me and told me how much guts I had to wear something like that given the size of my breasts. She said it so casually too, like it was just a general thing that could be said to anybody.

Another weird-stranger thing happened to me just last week after one of my cardio-kickboxing classes. I was picking up my stuff getting ready to leave, when this woman whom I had never met approached me and yelled, "I want cardio kickbox!! Show me how!!!". I was like huh? and simply pointed her to our instructor. Why would you come up to a total stranger and do that?