Shaming Special On The Pre-Wedding Aisle

(I am in a grocery store with my two-year-old nephew. I am 22, and wearing my engagement ring.)

Other Customer: “Hey, you!”

Me: “Me?”

Other Customer: “Yeah, you. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Me: “What?”

Other Customer: “It’s bad enough that teenagers like you seem to think you can just sleep with people. Then you have kids and try to act like you could raise them!”

Me: He’s—”

Other Customer: “It’s things like this that show me that you have absolutely no respect for this country! The entire country is going down the tubes. It’s appalling to think that you would ever even consider having a child outside of wedlock.”

(An employee comes into the aisle to stock things, but overhearing the other customer’s comments speaks up in my defense.)

Employee: “Hey, are you going to even let her talk? She doesn’t have to, but I think she’s entitled to respond to the things you’re saying.”

Other Customer: “You keep out of this. There is nothing she can say to make it any better.”

Me: “Actually, there is. One, this is my nephew. Two, I’m 22, which means if he were my child, I would have been twenty when he was born. Third, his parents are married and have been since before he was even conceived. Fourth, before you start flying off about unmarried people, you may want to check their ring hand.” *I hold up my hand* “I’m engaged, but you couldn’t know I wasn’t married. Fifth, even if I was 17, and this was my child, and I wasn’t married, why would it be any of your business?”

(The customer doesn’t say anything, and slowly walks away. I turn to the employee.)

Me: “Thanks.”

Employee: “No problem. That actually turned out as well as it possibly could have. I was mostly saying it so you could just say, ‘None of your business’. It’s even better that none of the things that she was accusing you of were true.”