Does anyone else get completely random, judgemental statements from strangers?

[DGoddessChardonnay]

It's fun to talk with the voices in your head. You're always guaranteed semi-intelligent* conversation.

* "Semi-intelligent" because there's always THAT voice. The one that likes to say "Hold mah beer."

Even more fun when the voices in your head decide to argue . . . with each other!

[Nunavut Pants]

[Pixelated]

When I was young, back in the early and mid 80s, I used to get comments about "Are you a boy or a girl? Haw haw haw haw!"

I remember getting that once. IIRC, I said, "Which are you looking for?"

One of the few times I thought of a response -- in time to use it -- that actually shut the person up.

[Ironclad Alibi]

"I was right, that person is a heathen!"

I prefer to think of myself as a pagan, but I have to be careful about who I tell because those heathens have given us pagans a bad name.

[morgana]

I've pretty much never gotten the judgmental cat-calls. Apparently I give off some sort of "I will eat your face off if you give me any shite" vibe.

[Blue Ginger]

I'm a casper and wish I had a dollar for every time some fruitloop told me to get a tan. My standard response now is 'I don't fucking tan, so piss off.' Yep classy as hell but it gets the point across.

If I wear mostly white, my skin blends right in, especially my legs. I have no issue with my lovely moon glow, but it's annoying being judged for being an Aussie casper. My charming brother once compared my legs to the moon and said that my legs were brighter.

[EricKei]

Even more fun when the voices in your head decide to argue . . . with each other!

Nothing wrong with that -- just as long as you don't lose any of those arguments!

[Nunavut Pants]

I'm a casper...

A casper? That's a neat turn of phrase!

My usual response is "This is my tan!" Then I show the underside of my arm to them, so they can see it's even whiter than what they can see.

My wife and I had been in Hawaii for almost two weeks in mid-winter one year, when she saw someone wander by on the beach who had obviously just gotten off the plane from Duluth or Bimidji or somewhere else that requires significant layers of clothing. A very pale human, in other words. "Boy, I bet he's even whiter than NP," she thought. Just then, I stood up in the water.

"Nope, NP is still whiter."

[dalesys]

..."Nope, NP is still whiter."

Aha! A sighting of the Great White! ... snark ...


... THX, venison.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

--I was standing outside my doctor's clinic for some reason and it was in the high 40s or maybe low 50s and drizzly that day. I had on crop pants and flip flops and a light sweatshirt. I didn't care if my feet got wet because flip flops will dry and so does human skin. Some old woman looked me up and down and said "It's raining, you know." I guess she thought my attire was inappropriate. Again, I had never seen her before in my life and we had not even interacted. I simply happened to be standing 3 feet from her.

This is where you tell the old woman "I know, it's awesome!", kick off your flip flops and jump and frolic in the puddles barefoot.

[Blue Ginger]

A casper? That's a neat turn of phrase!

I was in late primary school when the Casper movie came out. I knew the teasing would be bad because I was already being bullied for being pale, having freckles and red hair. My defence was owning it. I played it up. Was a ghost bride for book week, stayed out of the sun even more. I still had people trying to start shit but they got bored with me agreeing that I was a Casper.

Dad used to sometimes say I looked like Casper when I was sick as a little kid. But that was from the old cartoon. When I'm sick or have a migraine I'm even paler, like printer paper pale. Even my lips lose colour.

My usual response is "This is my tan!" Then I show the underside of my arm to them, so they can see it's even whiter than what they can see.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who does this. Usually I compare the top of my arm to the underside of theirs. Freaks people out and it's so much fun.

[Pixelated]

I was told decades ago to stay out of the sun because I was having radiation therapy for cancer. It was no problem because I've never been a sun-worshipper. For a long time the only tan I had was on my left arm, which rested on the open window of my car. And since I wore wristwatches in those days ... I had this nice little white stripe-and-blot just to add some contrast.

[XCashier]

People who make random, judgmental statements to strangers are usually looking to boss someone around to make themselves look better. Some guy who says "Smile! It can't be that bad!" may think himself a jovial wit, but the person he says that to sees a bossy man demanding that she change her face to suit his pleasure. (Yes, the "smile" crap is almost always from a man to a woman or girl. It's a form of intimidation.)

Situations like this happen very randomly, right out of the blue. You might want to practice some comebacks. "Mind your own business, nosy!" will cover most situations.

[Blue Ginger]

I very very rarely get told to smile by strangers, but when I do, I pull out my deranged smile and watch them slowly back away. Think Jack Nicholson in The Shining. It makes me happy to freak them out.

And yeah it is usually men who say that, although I have had the odd female boss say it too.

[MoonCat]

I have to say that I don't believe these people "mean well." I believe they're control freaks.

I recall one time I wore a raincoat in the morning because it was cloudy and drizzly. It got warmer later in the day, and after work, as I was walking through the parking lot of a supermarket, some random guy going past me said "It's kinda warm for a coat!" REALLY?? NO SHIT!

Then once when I was waiting for the bus on a freakin' cold winter day, wearing my heavy coat and earmuffs, some twit passing in a car yelled what sounded like, "Hey earmuffs, what are you afraid of?" Which, really, makes zero sense.

Idiots abound. I try to ignore them. Next one who tells me to smile, though, is getting either a demented grin or a "mind your own damn business."