On behalf of fat people......

On behalf of fat people everywhere, I have a message for thin people.  Fat people actually know they are fat.  It is not necessary to point this out. 

I first learned that when I was having a tubal ligation.  I was living in a small town and I worked in the hospital so I knew most medical providers.  My doctor referred me to the Obstetrician.  He examined me and he said he would try to do the least intrusive procedure which would be through my belly button, however, I may have too much fat on my belly so he might have to do the more intrusive procedure through my vagina.  He referred me back to my own doctor, a female, for a pre-op.   

She asked why a pre-op was needed and I said it was because I might be too fat to do the procedure which just required a general anesthesia and I might need to be fully anesthetized.  She turned red and said she was going to speak to this guy.  She said he had done the belly button way with people who are much heavier.  He should have never told me I was fat.  People who are fat know they are fat.  

Two days later, I was having my surgery (small town, no waiting).  I was laying on the stretcher prior to surgery and chatting with the two operating Nurses who I knew and one was quite a bit heavier than I was.  They asked me why a anesthetist was scheduled to be present.  I said I might be too fat to have the least intrusive method.  They knew who told me that and they said they would be speaking to him.  And then, the anesthetist, a friend of mine, entered the surgical room.  He asked me why he was even there.  At this point, the medication given to me made me quite relaxed and I told him it was because I was too fat.  I could see him get red.  

I had the belly button method.  When I went back to the Obstetrician for my post-op check-up, he apologized to me and said that everyone in the clinic had spoken to him.  I felt badly for the poor man.  However, my doctor was right.  People who are fat know they are fat.  

We have a member of our family who we refer to as a Hurricane.  He flies into town without much notice, stirs up a bunch of things, and then leaves.  I thought I might go without seeing him but then he insisted on going out for Sunday brunch.  

We went out to a popular Asian buffet.  It is a little expensive but you definitely can get all of your Asian cravings satisfied.  If I wasn't going to have a good time, at least I could have a good meal.  

So, there we are and he set the parameters for our meal.  Even though it is a buffet doesn't mean that we can't eat healthy and we would both agree that we would not go back for seconds and we would only have one plate.  I didn't know why we needed parameters for our meal and the only thing I could think of was that he was planning on treating.   

So, he brings back his plate which contains about two leaves of lettuce.  My plate has everything that I could pile on and still I didn't get through half the buffet choices.  As we ate, he kept telling me how full he was and kept encouraging me to leave my plate half-eaten.  The conversation revolved around health as he told me that every overweight person he had ever met had died suddenly and coincidentally, at my age.  He brought up Canada's Food Guide and analyzed my meal accordingly.  The only time he asked my opinion was in regard to the new Weight Watchers advertising?  Did it motivate me to join?  

When the waitress came, he said our bills would be separate.  

I regret that brunch.  I regret not telling him that I go to the restaurant twice a year and it is a treat so I indulge in all of my favorites.  I regret not telling him that I earn my own money so I will spend it as I want.  

Mostly, I regret not calling him out on his passive aggressive attack.  I regret not telling him that I was aware that I was fat and didn't need him to point this out.  I regret not telling him that what I chose to put in my mouth was none of his business.  

I also regret that I didn't call him a jerk.  Although I am aware that I am fat, he may not have the common sense to recognize this flaw about him.