As I hop from blog to blog, I frequently run into people whose lives are completely different from mine. People who value different things and focus their energies in other areas. For the most part, I enjoy this. I like learning about other people and seeing a way of life that differs from mine.
But every now and then I run across someone who irritates me. Not because she is different, but because she is superior, snotty, and judgmental of those who are different from her. In her world, she is right and anyone who sees things in any other way is wrong and stupid and doesn't deserve the good things in life.
This happened recently. Through a blogging community, I found myself at the blog of a woman with whom I am fairly certain I have almost nothing in common. We are both women. We both live on the planet earth. I'm guessing we both breathe oxygen. I'm pretty sure that's where our similarities end.
She is single, lives in London, and focuses much of her attention on fashion. And I offend her.
I know I offend her because she said so. In the post that bugged me she said that anyone who shops in their pajamas offends her. She said that I had no business in the grocery store in my pajamas. That there is no excuse, no matter how tired or lazy I am. She said shopping in my pajamas is a statement about my low self-esteem. She then proceeded to tell me the proper way to go to the grocery store. The GROCERY store! Seriously?
I understand that this post was meant to be comedic. She was going for snarky/funny. And from the comments on her blog it looks like her audience liked it.
I found it ridiculous.
If we are going to ban people from coming to the grocery store dressed offensively then I have a few things to add: ultra-short shorts (the kind that barely cover their cheeks); wife-beater shirts; intense cleavage; and any clothing that is so tight or revealing as to be inappropriate for public viewing (since I am making the rules, I get to decide what is inappropriate).
From now on we will all shop in uniforms. All pants/skirts must reach the knee. All necklines must reach the collar bone all the way around. Your clothes must be loose enough that you can easily put them on even when you are wet. And I want them to all be olive green. That way, people won't clash as they walk past each other -- because that offends me.
What an incredibly lucky young woman the author of said post is. Her life must be flowing along smoothly and without any major problems if she has time and energy to worry about this. She must be generally healthy and have plenty of money. And thank heavens she decided to make sure we know what is and is not appropriate to wear to the grocery store.
I guess she has never run to the store in a hurry to try to get there before it closed because her child came down with a fever and she needed medication (after she'd gone to bed). I guess she was never told at 10:45pm that her child had a project due the next day that would make or break his grade so she decided to sacrifice her sleep to run to the store to get what he needed and stay up all night helping. I guess she has never been so ill she didn't know how she would make it to work and had to run to the store for anti-diarrhea medication so that she didn't get fired for missing work.
And besides all this, I guess she is so worried about what other people think of her that she feels she must put on a show every time she steps out of her house. Some of us are actually self-confident enough to be seen in whatever we happen to be wearing without caring if the people around us approve.
I sometimes shop in my pajamas. Sometimes because it takes every last bit of energy I have to get to the store so my family has milk. Sometimes to get a treat for my daughter who had a difficult day. And sometimes just because I am comfortable in my pajamas.
When I mentioned this to my friend, she pointed out that when super models are trying not to be noticed they walk around without makeup on and in sloppy clothes. (I guess that's because they're so insecure, right?)
So I would say to the author of that post, next time you see a woman shopping in her pajamas just pretend she is a super model in hiding. Maybe that way she won't be so offensive to you.
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No question, this was a full-on rant. I was not proud of how I handled myself and addressed it soon after in A Difference of Opinion.