Woman tells a stranger, 'maybe you could have the decency to mind your own business.' AITA?
"AITA For Telling A Stranger, Maybe You Could Have The Decency To Mind Your Damn Business?'"
I am a 23 y/o woman, the other two women involved were (and I’m estimating, I don’t know them) were a mother around 45 and her mid-late teenage daughter. So I just left the pharmacy where this took place and I’m writing this in the car before I head out, but I was waiting in line to pick up my prescription.
Line was pretty long, it went all the way down an aisle a few feet from the counter. I’m chilling in line, it’s inching along, and about ten minutes into waiting, this woman and her daughter come out of a different aisle and start browsing the one that the line is in.
They’re talking about what they want to get, and suddenly the daughter goes “does something smell like a grease trap to you?” I laugh and turn around and say “yeah, that tends to happen after 11 hours in a kitchen” in a casual, joking tone. The mother makes a face and says “well you smell awful. You could at least have the decency to go home and shower first.”
I didn’t expect a stranger to get nasty with me, and after a long day I didn’t have the grace for it, especially with over an hour of driving ahead of me. I also didn’t feel like explaining to the woman that I had about 1.5 hours of driving ahead, that I wasn’t going home first, and to take this little detour would’ve meant 50 minutes of driving (30 from work to home, 20 from home to pharmacy) instead of 15 (from work to pharmacy). So, I snapped back “well maybe you could have the decency to mind your own damn business!”
She chastised me for being rude and stormed away with her daughter saying she was going to tell the store I’m “mistreating her." Nothing happened. Ten more minutes later and I had my meds, and now I’m here wondering if maybe I snapped a bit too hard. AITA?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
PumpKiing said:
NTA, you're right they need to mind their business. I was raised not to point out anything someone can't fix right then and there so like: DO let them know their fly's down, they've got food in their teeth, etc. DON'T tell them they need a shower - because they probably already know and there's nothing they can do about it in the moment.
goodest-girl- said:
NTA this lady should have laughed with you, you had the grace to acknowledge that you smelled and had a reasonable explanation (which you already gave). A reasonable woman would have apologized to you for her daughter making an insensitive (tho likely unintentional) comment...
NoSalamander7749 said:
NTA and you're right, you have no reason to explain all of that to her. No wonder the daughter acted so rude with someone like that for a mom.
mlc885 said:
NTA. You were rude but not really out of line, at all, the mother should have had the good sense to not double down on being mean if the daughter didn't realize she had said something somewhat clueless. People who work in restaurants also have to go to pharmacies while they are open. It isn't like you were covered in sewage or waste, obviously the people with those jobs would have to find some way to wash up first.
MarigoldMoonx said:
NTA: The mother should've been a bit embarrased of her daughter's actions and should've considered herself lucky that you were nice and laughing about it. Shame she had to be an ahole about it instead.
fromhelley said:
Nta. You could be very ill and not showing it. You could be diabetic and need supplies. You could just not want to leave the house again after working 11 hours. That IA all legit reasons for being there and being fragrant.
My mom had lung cancer. I would drop her at the entrance to UCLA hospital and drive to find a handicapped spot. This is so I was not half a mile away when she got out of chemo. One lady started in on me with the "you don't need that spot" bullsh$t. I laid into her, because I needed the spot a lot more than I needed the insult.
Sometimes you just react. To me, it is because you have a reason for being down, but are still feeling okay until some jerk tells you what you didn't need to hear. Instant loss of patience for me! And she doesn't get to talk to you like that and expect meekness. So you have that too! Nta!