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'AITA for being offended that a dinner guest implied podiatrists were deviants?'

'AITA for being offended that a dinner guest implied podiatrists were deviants?'

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"AITA for being offended that a dinner guest implied podiatrists were s--ual deviants?"

It has been my dream since 1995 to be a podiatrist, and I set my life to achieving that goal. I accomplished it! I have been a practicing podiatrist for years. It is wonderful to do my dream job and I am fortunate that it pays well to boot. I recently was invited to a dinner with my girlfriends co-workers.

When it was revealed that I was a podiatrist one of the guests, a "gentleman," laughed and asked what I really did. I said I really was a podiatrist. For the rest of the dinner he kept calling me "Quentin" in a funny sarcastic kind of voice, which I don't understand. Later in the dinner he said something like "Okay, be honest, what percentage of podiatrists are just foot fet-shists?"

I laughed it off at first but then he kept asking. "No seriously, ballpark? Fifty percent? Forty? It has to be some."

To my astonishment several people at the dinner found this amusing and seemed to agree. One person even said "SOME of them must be."

I said I was very uncomfortable with this line of questioning and that I took my profession seriously and so did every colleague I know. Their questions were unethical and an insult to an honorable and essential medical field. This guy then said "You can't seriously think NOBODY got into podiatry because of their foot thing?"

This is when I got up to leave. When I was walking out of the kitchen (this was at a home) I heard him say to the table "Hope he only takes his OWN shoes" and the whole table laughed. I couldn't believe it. When we got home, my girlfriend told me she had texted her friends an apology for my "inability to take a joke."

I said I don't take kindly to my dream job, and a critical and noble medical field, being disrespected. He accused me and my colleagues and indeed my entire profession of being deviants with ulterior motives. She said he took the joke too far but then she said "You have to admit there must be a few podiatrists who are a little too into feet."

I was astounded. I said no, there weren't. Nobody who studied podiatry would violate the codes of the profession. She said "I'm not saying a lot, just a few. Like 5%."

This is when I left and went back to my own apartment. I have never been so offended in my life. But now my Aunt is telling me that I need to get over "my issues" and "accept that podiatry is kind of a funny thing." I have always known my Aunt to be someone of high moral standing and good judgment, so although her comment dismayed me it did make me start to wonder if I overreacted.

The internet did not hold back one bit.

ImportantLog2 wrote:

NTA, it's one thing to make an offhand joke. Another thing to keep making your profession the butt of a joke when you're clearly getting offended by it. Repeatedly making jokes at someone's expense is just plain b-llying. Your girlfriend should have backed you up and left with you for that level of disrespect.

steinerific wrote:

Response: “Foot feti-hes are not really something that podiatrists discuss professionally, so I don’t really know much about it. You seem to know plenty, could you educate me about it?”

Azetburgorkon wrote:

A male colleague, who is an OB-Gyn, told me that if he is asked his profession he only ever says "physician." In the past, when he used to say he was an obstetrician, he would be subjected to insulting and filthy remarks from other men.

dealienation wrote:

Couldn’t imagine making a joke like that to a stranger, much less a colleagues spouse. Then again, I don’t make jokes where laughing at someone is the butt of the joke (unless it’s punching up). That your girlfriend apologized on your behalf rather than condemning the co-workers tactless and rude behavior is disqualifying. NTA.

Mr_Mike013 wrote:

The unfortunate truth of the matter is that there are always going to be people who suck and you are going to have to learn to deal with that. Was he being an AH? Yes. Is this probably going to happen again, given your field? Also yes. I want to share my personal experience with you. I am a firefighter and have been one for over a decade.

People ask a lot of the same questions but there’s always that one guy (or girl) who pressures you to tell them “the worst thing you’ve seen”. Not a cool story, not a funny story, the worst story. I used to get annoyed by it. For a while I would just talk around it, then I would get angry, then I would oblige them.

I would tell them some horrible tale about d--d kids or someone burned to d--th or horrific ab-se. It would instantly k-l the vibe and make the person look like a huge AH. But you know what? It wasn’t worth it. It always put me in a bad mood and k--led the vibe. I eventually took the advice of one of my captains and would make a joke out of it.

I would tell a story about something stupid or just say something like “ah well there was this one cat that just wouldn’t come out of a tree” and eventually the guy would drop it. There’s always going to be people that just don’t “get it”. You’ve got to learn to roll with it. Trust me, it made me happier and ultimately that’s what matters.

_elegiggle_ wrote:

How many teachers are secretly p--philes? Would that be a funny topic to bring up, and accuse up to 50% of only doing the job because they are into children? What are their professions? There’s probably an equally bad joke about them. Furthermore, most feet most likely don’t look like something a foot f---hist would like. It might even “cure” their f---sh by seeing all those ugly feet, and foot diseases.

I mean why would someone with sexy feet go to you in the first place? They probably got some foot fungus, or something worse. So it would probably destroy any attraction someone would have. Maybe that’s what you should have told them. People like disgusting medical stories.

Sources: Reddit
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