Monday, January 12, 2009

Putting Your Foot in It

I think putting your foot in it is a natural part of life. There are those gaffs that we make that the minute they’re out of your mouth you’d like to take back. Today one such thing happened to me… prior to a meeting at work a group of us were sitting around talking. A friend mentioned he had watched Tro.pic Thund.er on the weekend. I loved this movie – very funny and not very p.c. in places. Well, I say to the guy “what did you think of the full retard bit” (like I said the movie is NOT pc). Just as I said it I remembered that his sister has down’s syndrome. Of course, he said that he didn’t like it and I felt like I should crawl into a hole. Open mouth insert foot.

I was sort of on the receiving end of this on the weekend. I was getting my hair done and my hairdresser and I were shooting the shit. We start talking about friends that are pregnant etc. Then she mentions that one of the other hairdresser’s sister in law is infertile and how she’s done the full gamut of things and still hasn’t gotten pregnant. And all she really needs to do is… wait for it…. Relax. Because if she’d just relax there would be such a better chance for her to get pregnant. And, she’d be so much less touchy about the whole subject.

Well off I went. I identified myself as an infertile. Then proceeded to tell my hairdresser to never ever say that to her because it’s the worst thing an infertile can be told. Then I went on a diatribe about how being told to relax implies that your fertility is something that you can control and the next thing that’s almost as bad is being told to go on a vacation. Then on to how women are always blamed as being the reason a couple can’t get pregnant and the invasive treatments. And, how it should really start with the man ‘cause if he’s shooting blanks there’s not going to be any point sending them away with a prescription of clo.mid. And on, and on. Then finally I caught myself, I think I stopped mid-sentence and said “Sorry – I just know way too much about this stuff” and changed the subject. The poor girl didn’t know what had hit her.

Guess I was due some of my own today.

3 comments:

MissNoAngel (find me on Twitter) said...

Good for you, though. I would have gone off on that hair dresser too! Just relax! Ha! Don't we all wish it was just that easy!?

MRS. ERIN SMITH said...

[Standing, cheering!!!]
I say good for you. If people are stupid enough to say crap like that to us, then they deserve to be serve up that type of education!

Lost in Space said...

I'm so glad you let her know. I recently listened to my dentist complain about his kids fighting and how he worked an extra hour the night before to avoid them, blah, blah, blah. This was after I refused x-rays because I told him we were gearing up for another IVF cycle. After staring at him mindlessly for a minute, I said, "We'd trade you in a heartbeat." In his defense I don't think he completely understood what IVF meant, but I'm hoping his assistant (who was completely wonderful) explained it after I left. Total morons. I hope it makes your hairdresser stop and think next time.