I recently experienced my first-ever rude encounter with someone on the Hill. I had been getting by for roughly two months before it finally happened. It caught me so off guard that I genuinely couldn’t do anything but laugh about the situation. There I was on a Saturday night minding my own business. I had been ready to go to bed for the night, because I’m boring and don’t go out. Keep in mind that it was going on at 12 a.m., so it wasn’t like I was heading to bed at 7 p.m. or anything insane. So, keeping in mind that I’m dressed for bed, it’s a reasonable time to go to bed, and I am just trying to do my own thing. It makes sense why I’m so shocked that I got hit with an attitude by a complete stranger.
I have the privilege of living on a floor with a little water fountain right outside my door. So, as I was going to fill up my water bottle, I noticed a girl standing near the fountain. Looking like she was about to go somewhere, dressed in a cropped graphic t-shirt and skinny jeans, she stood there waiting on an elevator around the corner. To acknowledge her existence, I gave her a small smile, and she responded with a quick glance at me, looking me up and down.
I’ll admit that my outfit for bed wasn’t anything spectacular. It was an old ratty t-shirt that was way too big to be worn anywhere outside of my room along with pajama pants that had to be tied as tight as possible so I didn’t pants myself. Not the most flattering thing, but I would argue that it’s perfectly reasonable to wear to bed. As soon as she was done assessing my looks, however, I quickly realized that not everyone feels the same. Without prior knowledge, I watched in confusion as she turned over to a friend around the corner — that I couldn’t see — and whispered to them, “What is she wearing?” Without much time to process, I watched as she rounded the corner to join her friend in the elevator, laughing at what I presume to be my expense.
Filling up my water bottle and returning to my room, I laughed my ass off. It was so blatant in the way that she hadn’t tried to hide her dissatisfaction at such a non-issue. I guess what made it even better was the fact that her outfit wasn’t much better than mine.
