Coworkers, family, friends, total strangers... some well-meaning, some simply clueless. What are some of the stupid, obnoxious, embarassing things people have said to you about your symptoms (acne, hair loss, extra hair, etc.), diagnosis, medication, etc.?
I think I've gotten the most comments on my chest hair (which I don't usually shave unless I'm performing), but my favorite on that is this one: When I was 19, this elderly black man with a very strong southern accent came into the store where I worked, and as I was finishing our transaction he suddenly commented out of the blue that it was "good to see a woman with hair on her chest -- it's a good, strong woman what's got hair on her chest, so honey you be proud of that and don't never go lettin' no one tell you otherwise!"
I was, of course, absolutely mortified.
I do believe he was sincere, though! It was just... weird.
A couple of years later, I had my boss (female) take me aside and suggest that I might try washing my face more often and maybe use an anti-acne soap because the parents and some of my coworkers at the daycare where I worked were worried that I had some sort of contagious skin condition (the acne was really bad, and now I know why -- I was pretty much living on ramen noodles, lol), and if I didn't do something about it she would have to let me go. I ultimately had to present a physician's note confirming it was only acne and not contagious... which was then shared with parents and coworkers. Ugh!
Just a few days ago as I was talking to some friends about my journey to diagnosis, and one of them suddenly asked what kind of VD causes PCOS. Sort of a conversation-stopper, that one! The look on her face as it dawned on her what she'd just said was absolutely priceless.
So let's hear it -- what unthinking, insensitive, well-meaning, or just plain rude or mean comments have people made to you over the years? And for that matter, what snappy comebacks have you managed to come up with at the right time?