Swimmer with ripped suit: WWYD?

[Anonymous]

A pool I frequent is divided in half - one side for lap swimming: the other side for play. Last weekend I was lounging on the deck with another mommy, watching DC play. She noticed a lap swimmer's one-piece speedo was torn on the seam revealing her entire butt crack. She was swimming lap after lap after lap for like, 30 minutes. My friend said "someone should tell her!" but of course no one did, but most people noticed, especially when she did her flip turns!

Would you have approached a stranger and told her that her suit was, well, ventilated? Would you want a stranger to tell you?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. The one upmanship really gets out of control here sometimes. Don't be one of them.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would have told her. I bet she was mortified when she changed out of it and discovered the rip.
I once told a teenage male store clerk that his fly was open and I could see his underwear. I placed my bag in front of him while he quickly zipped up. He was pretty embarrassed but I bet he would have been even more embarrassed should he have discovered this after he cashed out a long line of people.

[Anonymous]

Yes! Tell her. Walk up to her, don't yell it across the pool.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would have told her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely. The one upmanship really gets out of control here sometimes. Don't be one of them.

What does this post mean? I don't get it!

[Anonymous]

Holy crap why would you NOT? Wouldn't you want to know??

[Anonymous]

One of my professors had her cleavage showing because of an undone button. She walked around the classroom and would bend forward when talking. She was an intimidating woman and no one said a word but looked away when she approached. How would you discreetly signal that in the middle of a lecture? Anyway, she probably noticed when she went home and wondered how long it had been open.

[Anonymous]

Yes- everyone here agrees that telling her about her wardrobe malfunction is the right thing to do - i'm sure if you polled people *anonymously* at the pool that day, they'd say the same - but the reality i NOBODY TOLD HER no. body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my professors had her cleavage showing because of an undone button. She walked around the classroom and would bend forward when talking. She was an intimidating woman and no one said a word but looked away when she approached. How would you discreetly signal that in the middle of a lecture? Anyway, she probably noticed when she went home and wondered how long it had been open.

I'm a guy and have been in a meeting with a woman whose top button came undone revealing much more of her bra than she would have wanted to be seen. I waited until I caught her eye and pointed to my shirt button. She realized, rotated her chair to face the wall and buttoned up. Yes, she was embarassed, but it was dealt with without interrupting the meeting and we moved on. Life happens. You let people know when something embarrassing is going on so that they can address it as soon as possible and avoid future embarassment plus damage control. While the people already there saw the button and the rip, you can ensure that new arrivals don't see the embarassment.

[Anonymous]

I still remember one time in high school, I was walking upstairs when one of the most popular girls in the entire school (NOT in my crowd) called to me from below. As I turned, she said "Oh, Jessica -- you must have sat in that spilled paint in the art room! You should rinse that out before it stains."

In fact, I had bled out. But she was so convincing that half the kids around me -- female and male -- checked their butts for "paint."

I was SO grateful to her.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I would go over and tell her. Once my skirt was tucked into my waistband revealing my hose and bloomers. A car-ful of grannies stopped me in the parking lot on my way back into my office to tell me. It was embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as it would have been if somebody at work had had to tell me.

I resolved to keep paying that forward the rest of my life.

[Anonymous]

If it's something the person can fix, tell them right away and discreetly. I hate it when I talk to someone for ten minutes and then catch a glimpse of my reflection and see I had spinach in my teeth or an unbuttoned shirt...ugh.

If it's not something the person can fix (boss has a run in her pantyhose and is already standing in the front of the room doing a presentation) I wouldn't say anything right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it's something the person can fix, tell them right away and discreetly. I hate it when I talk to someone for ten minutes and then catch a glimpse of my reflection and see I had spinach in my teeth or an unbuttoned shirt...ugh.

If it's not something the person can fix (boss has a run in her pantyhose and is already standing in the front of the room doing a presentation) I wouldn't say anything right away.

+1

Karma, people. Definitely tell. In OP's situation I would have brought my towel over to the side of the pool, caught the woman's attention, bent down and quietly let her know, and then loaned her my towel to wrap around herself until she could get to her things and cover up. Isn't that just basic kindness??

[Anonymous]

You should've taken pics and posted them all over the net.