You may have seen some chatter on my twitter feed about an interesting incident I had yesterday afternoon with a duo of ladies. The incident was both ridiculous and shocking and really got me thinking. The result is a much longer outfit post than normal, so feel free to duck out after the outfit photos/details if you’re short on time or attention span! 
Blouse: Talbot’s (via Goodwill), Necklace: Straw Market in Naussa, “Obnoxiously Bright” Skinnies: PacSun, Bar Ring: Downtown Threads, Heels: Michael Antonio (via Endless)
Yesterday two ladies in their early 30s picked the wrong place and time to talk smack about me/my outfit. It was the wrong time in the fact that I’d had a frustrating morning at work so I was already ready to snap on edge. I was running errands in downtown Burlington and had my earbuds in but my Pandora wasn’t loading so no music was playing… aka I could hear everything.
My ears perked up when I heard a female voice directly behind me say, “like those pants are just obnoxiously bright.” I immediately got that sinking feeling in my stomach, were they talking about me? After a quick scan I realized that I was indeed the subject of their chatter; which continued along the lines of, “… if you want attention that’s fine but nobody wants the kind of attention she’s attracting wearing those pants…”
99.2% of the time I would have just kept walking too embarrassed to say anything but I was already pissed hot under the collar so instead of being self-conscious I was furious. I whipped my headphone out and spun around to face these middle age mean girls head on. I was in platforms so I was literally looking down at them. I tipped my sunglasses down and gave them my best “who the hell do you think you are” look and their faces instantly changed. They knew they’d been caught and were as shocked as I was with what came out of my mouth next.
“Ladies if I were in your tennis shoes, I would be more concerned with finding jeans that fit over my muffin top* than worrying about what young girls are wearing.”
I flashed them my best “eat it” smile, popped my headphones back in, and continued on my way (with a spring in my step) before they even had time to process what had just happened. I’m not going to lie, it felt amazing to put these ladies in their place, and the fact that I managed to pull it off so smoothly made it even sweeter.
However when I recounted the story to D, I realized that while it felt amazing to put those mean girls in their place I was essentially no better than they were. Yes, I gave them a dose of their own medicine but like their comments about my pants my verbal assault on them was nothing more than a personal attack that didn’t address their bad behavior as much as it did their physical flaws.
I think 50 Cent put it best when he said, “…You shouldn’t throw stones if you live in a glass house , And if you got a glass jaw, you should watch your mouth…”
If this altercation taught me anything it’s that until we turn our critical eye inward and come to terms with our own flaws and faults we’ll always be looking over our shoulder wondering if the mean girls huddled in the corner are talking about us. So take it from me, unless you’re free of flaws stop and think before you point out the flaws in others. You never know who may be listening and ready to snap back.
Have you ever dealt with mean girls? How would you have handled this situation?
*I didn’t actually use the term muffin top when confronting these ladies. In the heat of the moment, and I’m not very proud of this, I used much cruder verbage (that may or may not rhyme with supa) and I apologize to anyone who was within earshot of my originally worded comment.
Wore Out 