Week Six in What's Happening

It’s week six of orientation training at my new job. One of the older guys in my hiring class was trying to make fun of me and someone else today for discussing our carbohydrate intake. He jumped into our conversation from across the room loudly saying “I remember back when men used to talk about sports, and sex, and beer. NOT how many carbs they ate.” No one really entertained his comment, but he continued: “I’d rather die early, happy and with a full belly.” A couple of people joined in with support for his opinion after this.

They were all fat.

I wanted to reply with something like “You can’t possibly tell me you wouldn’t be happier if you were able to bend down and tie your shoes without cutting off your air supply.”

I didn’t though because that would be mean. I bit my tongue as they continued to agree with each other about how great life is when you are fat and eat whatever you want.

Also, we still talk about all those other things too. Just the other day I was saying to the guys how I couldn’t concentrate during one of the classes because I kept fantasizing about the female trainer who was giving the class. It’s just that in addition to all the classic man banter we are also conscious about our health and fitness.

In a man’s world you have to be careful how you reply sometimes. You never want to let on that what they are saying to you is bothering you at all. In this case, the guy wasn’t bothering me one bit. I actually felt sorry for him a little because I felt deep down he wishes he could have been part of our conversation about carbs and not be as overweight as he is.

Still though, It’s all about perception. You never break your frame. You never try to rationally defend yourself. It only shows weakness. You will get eaten alive. The only appropriate way reply to this would be to hit them back with an even better insult (it must be funny though) or do what I did: smile to let them know you acknowledge that they are roasting you in the background and carry on with your conversation to let them know you don’t care.

Last updated November 20, 2019