Ask Amy: Gal pals show their mean side
Don’t bother lecturing these women about eating disorders. Not all obese people have eating disorders, and not all obese people hate their bodies or long to be thin.
When it comes to genius “comebacks” to this sort of bullying, I’m reminded of a legendary moment on the old Johnny Carson show.
Larger-than-life maverick genius film director Orson Welles (a man of many adjectives) was a guest on the show, along with the troubled and famously loudmouth actor Robert Blake.
Robert Blake enters, looks Welles up and down and says to him: “You make Wimpy look skimpy!”
Welles immediately shoots back: “I’m fat and you’re ugly … but I can diet.”
There is a range for how you could respond.
You could say, “How about we don’t slam and shame other human beings who are just out having their own kind of day, and whose only crime was to leave the house? These comments are ‘not a good look’ on you.”
Idea # 2 (which might convert these friends into frenemies): “Maybe we should rethink who really needs to be put in the closet, ‘Marlene.’”
There’s also a response that might inspire these women to reflect on their own behavior, without you directing them to: You pack up your stuff and simply say, “I don’t like to witness you two behaving this way. I’ve decided to go.”
Dear Amy: I am the youngest of many siblings.
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