Have you caught strangers oogling your bling?

[ame]

Oh we're all fine, takes a lot more than that to get any of us down. We're kind of laughing about it now. Facts were not important to these people, at all. Apparently neither were showers. Surely because I showered today that was going to be the next commentary. How many drops of water did I murder to wash my hair and my butt? But I digress. The two girls I was with have been veg for the entire 25 years I've know them and neither can recount a similar experience, I certainly don't recall anything similar from any of our prior vegetarian dining experiences, this was quite spectacular. I know the girl at the register looked absolutely mortified/terrified of what was going on, I don't think she was the owner though, but she was totally uncomfortable. Any other time I would've absolutely responded with something equally obnoxious, probably like "yea i truly enjoyed whipping Jacques and Antonio to near death while they mined it for me", but today we just had enough going on between the three of us, and I just was not in the mood to get arrested. If we go back and have a similar experience I have a feeling my claws will come out.

LOL I get that. I would've been wracking my brain trying to come up with a witty comeback once I recovered from the initial shock of it all cause that really is shocking and upsetting. Why do some people have to be so judgy?? Pisses me off. I like the comment you suggested about Jacques and Antonio hahaha. Don't think you would've been arrested but hey they might have thrown red paint on you and your friends so better just to ignore them. Stupid people. Hard to ignore but usually the best option. I sometimes have trouble ignoring stupid comments but should know better. It's never usually worth the energy and time. Glad you guys still had a good day!

Thanks, we did! We've been trying to do a "new restaurant saturday" thing every few weeks, so we can check out new stuff and catch up. I try to make sure that its veg friendly so they're not trying to figure out what to eat.

That was actually my biggest reason for not engaging---what will they do to us. My one friend is in law enforcement so I wasn't ENTIRELY concerned even if I had been arrested (haha) but still, what will they do? You can't gauge crazy sometimes, and I don't really want someone actually physically attacking us over something so stupid. But that whipping comment hangs in my mind, and it is still making me chuckle.

 

[kenny]

ame, y'all should have thrown some bloody raw steaks at them busy-ahches.

 

[ame]

ame, y'all should have thrown some bloody raw steaks at them busy-ahches.

May have if I had some on me to throw.

 

[galeteia]

Re: Have you caught strangers oogln thing your bling?

If the restaurant is that close to a college-populated section of town, in a vegetarian/vegan restaurant no less, I can't say that I was totally surprised that happened to you. Before you hurl me off a cliff, I disclaim that I am in no way condoning what they said or agreeing with them in any way, just that I had a lot of friends (well, acquaintances really) in university who were vegan/vegetarian not out of health reasons but instead as an expression of activism/protest, and being college-age, they were unafraid to be obnoxious and in-your-face about it. Being the activist type, they tended to be very vocal and aggressive about all of their various causes, so the correlation between veganism and overall activism was pretty high.

I have a ton of friends (actual friends!) who are vegan/vegetarian for health, financial, sustainability, environmental, anti-factory-farm, anti-animal-cruelty, etc reasons too, and they're lovely people who find more effective ways to spend their energy and support their beliefs, so I am totally not at all lumping all vegetarians/vegans under that pro-activism brush! But I have to admit that I have had people (of the vocal protest-y type) I know rudely interject themselves into a conversation, demanding to know if the bread my friend was eating was yeast-free because if not, it wasn't vegan because they killed live yeast to make it and they couldn't call themselves vegan if that was the case!

So can I imagine said rude person making loud judgmental remarks in public, in an attempt to splash their prejudices all over someone who they perceive as not "measuring up" to their lofty moral standards? Absolutely. Again, totally rude that they called you out for it, but I think you run a higher risk of running across jerks like that in a vegetarian restaurant in close proximity to a college, sad to say.

 

[ame]

That is VERY true, the proximity DEFINITELY makes an impact on the involvement and ballsiness, I think. I would definitely be expecting it from a college-aged person, perhaps they think it's their act of civil disobedience, but only one of the involved was under 30 from our guesstimation. These were all grown adults. We speculated that one of them was probably "new at this" and therefore more vocal than usual. Either way...craziness.

I have thankfully experienced very little of the interjection. I am a meat eater, and ironically, both of those girls married meat eaters.

 

[Tuckins1]

Definitely. Every time I check out at a store the sales person comments on my rings

 

[Smith1942]

Ame - they were champagne socialists who were jealous of your beautiful jewellery. Genuine, concerned activists do not behave that way. The southeast of England where I'm from is full of these horrid raging lefties who see fit to insult you in a way that normal people wouldn't dream of. I used to work with a few, and they didn't like it one bit on the days I dressed up nicely with make-up etc and even had a good laugh at me for being so conservative as to get married. I don't think it's to do with politics or saving the world at all - I think it's personal jealousy dressed up another way. Although some of these people don't believe in showers or brushing their hair, they are no different from the beautiful cheerleader types in popular movies like Mean Girls. They cover themselves up in a cloak of self-righteousness to detract from the nastiness of their characters.

I'll tell you something else - a few years ago, two activists from Greenpeace, two brothers, climbed up Big Ben in London to draw attention to their cause - can't remember what it was, possibly the plight of whales. Isn't it nice that someone is so concerned about the animals that they do something like that? That's what you'd think, and you'd also think that these people must be lovely, kind and caring. Not exactly. I went to school with the elder brother, Harry Westaway, and I have never met a nastier little boy in my life. Ever since age 11, he literally couldn't stand it when a little girl did better than him. Every time a girl beat him in a test, he would have hit us if he could have got away with it. Even at that young age, he couldn't stand any girl in the classroom, he had a problem with all of us, and he continued to be nasty through age 18. Example: When my friend got into medical school (we go at age 18 in the UK - no need for a degree first) he made a point of saying that she was not clever at all, she just worked hard. No other boy in the school had such a burning problem with girls or behaved in anything approaching his manner. It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen.

My point is, isn't it interesting that such a horrible person is in a role where he can fly his nice-person flag? He has to cover up his true self! So Ame, they weren't true activists - they were just awful people. If I were you, I'd go back there wearing a ton of sparkling costume jewels!

 

[wordie89]

Lol the stairwell storyand I also imagined Dr.evil saying 1 million dollars. A couple of thinned ladies have commented on my red spinel when its been under the lights. Generally people notice but don't say anything. The ladies down here have stuff that dwarfs my modest collection.agree with Ames about inability to gauge crazy these days...good to have a sense of humor.

 

[Smith1942]

wordie - what are "thinned" ladies?? Agree re. gauging crazy. On the T in Boston the other week, a woman tried to push me off my seat with her elbow throughout the whole journey! When I finally looked at her, she was glaring at me like a possessed thing! All I was doing was sitting there! I reported her to the Transit Police, who said I was right not to interact with her.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

I had an absolutely RIDICULOUS experience today I am gonna update this with...I got some SERIOUS shade thrown at me and my friends today.

My friends and I went to check out a fairly new vegan restaurant in a part of town that borders some SERIOUS money, that is also not exactly broke, but butts up to a big college-y part of town. I had my rings on, and actually wore my studs today as well, to with my outfit consisting of jeans that I managed to rip a giant (almost visible) hole in the upper thigh/crotch region of on my way there but didn't have time to go back and change out of, my target tshirt and lane bryant cami, and my bought on clearanceclearance from Lucy hoodie and my converse, with wet hair and a little makeup and my nice leather LP bag. I got no less than FOUR people commenting on my giant blood diamonds while we were there. The first one was like seconds after we walked in and grabbed a table for the three of us in the corner while we wee waiting for our other friend while we were reading the menu and deciding what we wanted to go order. I got a snide "are you going to teach your baby about the people you murdered to own that giant blood diamond you're wearing?" I was like "what baby?" (my weight is in my middle, so people assume I am pregnant sometimes) My friend said "unless she's not told me yet, she's not pregnant, mind your own damn business". That person was mumbling and staring at me til their food order was ready and they left in a huff, spouting about how they'd lost their appetite after seeing such ignorance in all it's glory or something.

Then not 10 minutes later we got another comment from a couple sitting at the counter while my other friend and I ordered about how there are more ethical diamond alternatives out there, we shouldn't perpetuate murder to flaunt our "giant sparkling riches". She wears a 1ct Marquise that is quite nice as well. We both just glared at them. My friend from before was sitting at the table like "damn am I glad I came looking like a scrub in a plain band..." bec she had a garage sale at her home this morning.

After we were done eating and walking to our cars a little while later, ANOTHER comment was hurled at me that I think the one friend also heard, about how I shouldn't bother concerning myself with green eating and living if I am going to patronize blood industries like DeBeers, and wear leather (my purse). That I was a murderer and I will be punished for wearing murder.

I got in my car and had a group text from the one girl saying "next time we come here, we might need to look like hippies or something. Because that was RIDICULOUS. I guess being a vegetarian for 20 years doesn't offset the murderer in me because I had a desire for a nice diamond, even if it's canadian and ethical!" It was so weird! But the food was friggin awesome despite the drama!

This is certainly not how I feel, but at that point, I think it would have felt damn satisfying to start talking about how glad you were that people died to mine your diamonds and how you feel like it means more because lesser lives were sacrificed for your diamond's glory, and to say so very loudly.

Again, not how I feel at all! But short of punching those holier than thou S.O.B.s ....

 

[Rhea]

Not my engagement ring except from my clients who are mostly women who have a history of drug abuse or mental health and aren't always aware of social norms as you or I know them. The comments can be similar to what manderz mentioned above.

My wedding band, which has about 1/10 carat of diamonds on it, gets far more compliments and attention with virtual strangers asking about it. And by diamonds I mean diamonds that could easily be replaced with black rock salt and you couldn't tell the difference. It's the metal work that impresses with it.

 

[missy]

Ame - they were champagne socialists who were jealous of your beautiful jewellery. Genuine, concerned activists do not behave that way. The southeast of England where I'm from is full of these horrid raging lefties who see fit to insult you in a way that normal people wouldn't dream of. I used to work with a few, and they didn't like it one bit on the days I dressed up nicely with make-up etc and even had a good laugh at me for being so conservative as to get married. I don't think it's to do with politics or saving the world at all - I think it's personal jealousy dressed up another way. Although some of these people don't believe in showers or brushing their hair, they are no different from the beautiful cheerleader types in popular movies like Mean Girls. They cover themselves up in a cloak of self-righteousness to detract from the nastiness of their characters.

I'll tell you something else - a few years ago, two activists from Greenpeace, two brothers, climbed up Big Ben in London to draw attention to their cause - can't remember what it was, possibly the plight of whales. Isn't it nice that someone is so concerned about the animals that they do something like that? That's what you'd think, and you'd also think that these people must be lovely, kind and caring. Not exactly. I went to school with the elder brother, Harry Westaway, and I have never met a nastier little boy in my life. Ever since age 11, he literally couldn't stand it when a little girl did better than him. Every time a girl beat him in a test, he would have hit us if he could have got away with it. Even at that young age, he couldn't stand any girl in the classroom, he had a problem with all of us, and he continued to be nasty through age 18. Example: When my friend got into medical school (we go at age 18 in the UK - no need for a degree first) he made a point of saying that she was not clever at all, she just worked hard. No other boy in the school had such a burning problem with girls or behaved in anything approaching his manner. It was one of the oddest things I've ever seen.

My point is, isn't it interesting that such a horrible person is in a role where he can fly his nice-person flag? He has to cover up his true self! So Ame, they weren't true activists - they were just awful people. If I were you, I'd go back there wearing a ton of sparkling costume jewels!

Great points Smith and I totally concur. Truly concerned nice people don't do things like this. The people who do are trying to appear concerned and wonderful etc. Sad. I also love your use of the term "champagne socialists". In this country we say "Limousine liberals" but I much prefer your phrase!! Sounds so much more lovely.

 

[SB621]

AME wow just wow! I'm not sure what I would have done in that situation. I either spout off at the mouth and say things I shouldn't or I completely shut down and hope to just end the bad experience as quickly as possible. It sounds like you handled it so much better by keeping a cool head!

 

[ame]

It was generally out of character for me to not engage it, but I did not want to find out what they would do if we engaged them.

I may need to steal Champagne Socialists...

 

[missy]

Yeah-champagne socialists/limousine liberals. Hypocrisy at its finest...

 

[distracts]

Any other time I would've absolutely responded with something equally obnoxious, probably like "yea i truly enjoyed whipping Jacques and Antonio to near death while they mined it for me"

Perfect time for the perfect Parks and Recreation quote:

"Even the super left-wing chicks that saw Blood Diamond and cried? When they get a diamond, they're like, 'Yeah, bitch, gimme one of them blood diamonds! Make 'em extra bloody!'"

"Make 'em extra bloody!" is my go-to phrase whenever anyone talks about blood diamonds. Say it with a deranged look on your face. The ones who watched that episode will laugh... everyone ranting about blood diamonds will suddenly feel super-awkward. *nodnod*

But I have to admit that I have had people (of the vocal protest-y type) I know rudely interject themselves into a conversation, demanding to know if the bread my friend was eating was yeast-free because if not, it wasn't vegan because they killed live yeast to make it and they couldn't call themselves vegan if that was the case!

Oh those poor yeasties??????

 

[distracts]

I usually get several compliments on it a week. I've never had anyone ask "Is it real?" but I get a lot of "What is it?/Is that a tanzanite?/Is that a sapphire?" questions.

My favorite hilarious compliment from a stranger: "Man, that is some Titanic shit on your finger! Heart of the ocean, what!"

I've also gotten compliments on some of the antiques I've worn, even the plain half-carat OEC solitaire. NEVER on my costume jewelry rings though! The three most-compliment are, in order, my e-ring, my three-stone sapphire/chrysoberyl ring, and my new mint-garnet ring (well, it will be, judging by the rate of compliments). So I think colored stone rings may in general just get more compliments. They're a little more out of the ordinary.

I personally try to compliment nice jewelry whenever I see it. But I also have a "compliment one complete stranger a day" rule, and that's an easy way to hit my quota!

I have had a few people ask how much some of my stuff cost - I will tell friends sometime but never strangers. I will mainly tell friends if I know they are e-ring shopping or about to be, which is usually when those questions come up. Most of them have been surprised at how LITTLE I spend on my nice jewelry compared to what they thought I must spend. (People invariable think my e-ring must have cost upwards of 20k or 30k. Um, no. It did not. It would have if it had a diamond center stone though or if something similar was bought from Tiffany's!)

while no one has tried to buy my jewelry off my body, I have learned to be prepared for questions like these. DH collects classic cars and people often approach us and ask if they are for sale. People will even come to the door asking. While none are technically for sale, everything has a price, and if someone is stupid enough to make an overinflated impulse buy, I'm all for it.

People will leave notes on my fiance's motorcycle asking if they can buy it and including their phone number. It's like... go to the dealership and ask there, jesus!

 

[ame]

Any other time I would've absolutely responded with something equally obnoxious, probably like "yea i truly enjoyed whipping Jacques and Antonio to near death while they mined it for me"

Perfect time for the perfect Parks and Recreation quote:

"Even the super left-wing chicks that saw Blood Diamond and cried? When they get a diamond, they're like, 'Yeah, bitch, gimme one of them blood diamonds! Make 'em extra bloody!'"

"Make 'em extra bloody!" is my go-to phrase whenever anyone talks about blood diamonds. Say it with a deranged look on your face. The ones who watched that episode will laugh... everyone ranting about blood diamonds will suddenly feel super-awkward. *nodnod*