So tonight while I was waiting for the cooks to finish hosing down the floors so I could do my sidework, I wandered out to the table where my now-ex-roommate was eating. She had ordered hot wings and a chocolate chip cookie sundae, because 1) the other hostess wanted some and 2) no one's food is sacred in that place and she knew it'd be munched on by everyone else and 3) none of that matters, she was hungry and doesn't have to justify what she eats. Not that it matters, but my friend is skinny. She's perfectly healthy-looking and proportionate. To be honest, she's hot.

So I was really surprised when I walked up and she whispered to me that the three guys--total strangers--at the table next to her (two feet away) had been commenting on what she was eating. As in "oh my god, look at how much she's ordered! Look at all that food! I can't believe she's eating all that!" Like I said, they were two feet away; they made no effort to keep their voices down. They sat there, two feet from my friend, commenting on how much she was eating. When the other hostess came up and took a bite of the dessert, all three of them stared at her. Then they went back to commenting on my friend's food every time she took a bite.

Now, I'm sure we're all guilty at one point or another of judging what other people eat. I know back in my self-hating dieting days, I would look at fat people eating "unhealthy" foods, or large portions, and think uncharitable things. I still sometimes envy people who can put away all the food they want and be smaller than me. Sometimes I still catch myself thinking "what's the point of ordering diet Pepsi with that meal?"

But I would never, ever sit next to a total stranger and comment on their food! Well, okay, if it was something bizarre I might whisper to my friend that it looked disgusting, but I wouldn't vocally judge someone's meal and how much they were eating. I expect assholes to do it when I dare to eat and be fat in public; but for someone to rag on an average-sized woman, whom they'd never seen before, within her hearing range? Because she dared to have an appetizer and a dessert? Are you fucking kidding me?

Had we been out to eat, I would've turned to them and demanded to know what their goddamn problem was. But since I was in uniform and they were at work, I couldn't be directly rude. Instead, I stepped back from my friend a bit and said, quite loudly, "You know, I think it's really rude and inappropriate for strangers to comment on what other people are eating."

My friend about choked on her hot wing. I managed to keep a straight face and not even look at the assholes next to us. The other hostess asked what I was talking about, so my friend very quietly told her; I don't remember exactly what I said, but it was in the same vein, and it was quite loud.

I was very pleased when, about thirty seconds later, the asshats got up and left--leaving half-full beers. I didn't look at them as they passed, and I barely moved out of their way for them to leave, leaving my fat, full-meal-eating ass mostly in their way. I hope they're suitably humiliated for their douchehound-ness.