Should I have just not said anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in a hospital, and today I was headed to get some soup in the cafetria, and I noticed a woman had dripped the soup all over the styrofoam container. I do it all the time, the stupid ladles they have are terrible for pouring into the container. Anyways, she was busy trying to clean it up and I essentially said, "Ugh, that happens to me all the time, I know it's so frustrating." I was really just trying to make her feel better, because I always feel mildly stupid when that happens.

She turned around, kept saying "What?" louder and louder, and I thought maybe she was hard of hearing, and I said, "I'm just sorry that happened." She looked at me and said "This is none of your business. What happened here is none of your business."

I apologized (although I'm not sure why), and immediately wrote her off as a being a bit mentally off....

But... I got to thinking. Did I do something wrong? She's right, it's not any of my business, is it not normal to say things like this? I guess I personally kind of like it when someone tries to strike up a conversation like that, but perhaps others don't? Is it wrong that I think she may be mentally off? Perhaps her response was normal? Perhaps she's having a bad day in other regards (after all, she is in a hospital).

I guess I'm struggling with something socially (in terms of colleague relationships) and feeling left out, so I'm second guessing some of my normal social responses.

Perhaps I should just keep my mouth shut in the future if I don't know them.

Unless she was intellectually disabled or an alien this is made up and I'm not sure why.

OP here. Certainly not made up! Annoying troll patrol.

PP who mentioned the tremor, you may be onto something.

[Anonymous]

Was she black? Could be cultural. I'm pretty friendly and when I interject myself like that with blacks, they look at me like I'm high. It's like a "whatcha talking to me fo" kind of look.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was she black? Could be cultural. I'm pretty friendly and when I interject myself like that with blacks, they look at me like I'm high. It's like a "whatcha talking to me fo" kind of look.

+1

[Anonymous]

Op here. She was black. I'm not. Never considered that would be a factor!

[Anonymous]

You seem like a nice person, forget about it. I do the same thing to strangers sometimes and I think my wife finds it strange that I'm comfortable being friendly to someone I don't know.

[Anonymous]

While my dad would not have responded as such, he has Parkinson's. You're in a hospital and you have no idea what other people have going on. My dad sometimes spills things because of the muscle paralysis he experiences (not all Parkinson's is like Michael J Fox). He really just tries to clean it up and hide it before anyone notices that he basically just dribbled something everywhere. Perhaps this person is similar and was really embarrassed. I think, in general, it's best not to point out something like this. For all you know they may be thinking "Oh god, I hope no one realized I don't have enough control to just put the soup in the cup"

[Anonymous]

You had me at "i work in a hospital".

Everyone is there because they have something wrong with them. (Oftentimes even the staff. Don't overthink this.)

- Worked in a hospital for years and learned fast that breaktimes are not opportunities to chitchat with strangers, or even to make mild, kind comments without reprisal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: 20 percent of Americans are mentally disturbed

90% of statistics are made up

OP, you were nice and what you said is fine. Keep being nice. For some, your little kindnesses will be a much-needed tiny bright spot in an otherwise tough day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was she black? Could be cultural. I'm pretty friendly and when I interject myself like that with blacks, they look at me like I'm high. It's like a "whatcha talking to me fo" kind of look.

+1

Wow. "Whatcha" and "fo"? Maybe they sense you are racist.

[Anonymous]

You did nothing wrong, but let it go.

You were in a hospital. That person was either sick or visiting someone sick. They probably just took out thier fear and anger on you. You did nothing wrong, you just happened to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You seem like a nice person, forget about it. I do the same thing to strangers sometimes and I think my wife finds it strange that I'm comfortable being friendly to someone I don't know.

OP started the post by calling the cafeteria employees stupid. How does OP seem nice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seem like a nice person, forget about it. I do the same thing to strangers sometimes and I think my wife finds it strange that I'm comfortable being friendly to someone I don't know.

OP started the post by calling the cafeteria employees stupid. How does OP seem nice?

You do realize she said LADLES and not LADIES, right? Bumping a post that's 10 years old just to say this is so weird. Are you the woman with the soup?

[Anonymous]

OP, I don’t think you did anything wrong.

The lady could have been stressed out and maybe heard you (or your intention) wrong — stress from visiting whomever in the hospital.

Maybe she is dealing with an elder care issue and wrongly viewed your comment as suggesting she was old.

I just spent two weeks at the hospital with my mother, who was in hospice. I was exhausted, stressed out, and grumpy. It doesn’t make it right (if I was short with anyone), but maybe it makes it more understandable.

[Anonymous]

I work in a hospital, too, and one thing that’s drilled into us is that most of the people who aren’t staff are probably having the worst day of their life - trying to support a loved one who is dying, getting bad news about a test result, that kind of thing. I always practice defensive driving on campus, in the halls, and in the cafeteria. They are having a worse day than I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you just ran into a cranky person, OP. There was nothing wrong with what you said.

+1