One of the qualities I truly appreciate in a person is the ability to be open, honest, frank and candor. Especially when it comes to human foibles. I am sincerely grateful when somebody has the decency to quietly inform me that I have a piece of corn in my tooth, I spilled soy sauce on my blouse, or I have mascara running down my face. It is the mark of a true friend when a person will eagerly tell you if you look like an idiot.
This morning I rode the elevator with two men, I'm guessing in their late fifties. Immediately I noticed that one of the men was sporting slacks with a completely exposed, and unzipped zipper. I was torn. Part of me felt that it was my social responsibility to help this poor man before he made a complete fool of himself throughout the day. On the other hand, I didn't feel it necessarily appropriate to point out that he was flying free for these reasons..
A) He was a complete stranger.
B) Another man was riding in the elevator with us and there was no possible way of quietly divulging the problem.
C) I didn't want him to assume that I was some young hussy, checking out his 'area' in an enclosed elevator.
Before I knew it, the doors opened and we were on floor 6.. my stop. As I slipped off the elevator my heart sank. I felt like a horrible person for failing to speak up, and allowing this man to subject himself to humiliation and embarassment in the workplace.
Seriously though, could I have done anything differently?? Four hours later, I just hope that he's not still walking around with his zipper down.
4 comments:
haha. the same thing happened to me today. i had a student with a giant fuzz ball hanging from her behind when she walked up to turn in a paper. i thought it better for her to suffer silent humiliation, because she is on the drill team. i'm an evil teacher.
Jessica the most hilarious part about your comment is that it came from an ex- CJH cheerleader. Ha, ha. You are amazing.
andrea, i think you should find that man and apologize. that's your new social responsibility.
I think you should've told him; as you said, he was a complete stranger, you could've gone with the hussy-thing and there wouldn't have been any problems as you were in New York, and that's expected, plus if it were me, I would've been too grateful to consider what type of person you were.
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