A coworker brought her young daughter in to work today. The coworker looks to be in her late 40s; the girl is probably eight. They both have full cheeks, fair hair and blue eyes. "You guys look alike," I say.
The girl smiles. "Do you hear that a lot?" I ask her. She nods and kind of rolls her eyes.
"Yes, we do hear that a lot," my coworker says. "Which is very funny, because she is adopted."
There's really no way to recover from that, is there? Nonetheless, I tried to defend my comment by continuing to point out the specific similarities between these two totally biologically distinct people. I didn't really get anywhere in trying to convince them that they could be related.
Maybe I'm just a violent prick, but that co-worker Mom needs a smack -- never mind the U.M. she threw your way (which viacariously made me U.), but what about the poor kid -- who's so used to it she's just rolling her eyes at this point? "Which is very funny because she's adopted -- I mean soooooo totally not my own flesh and blood -- my real daughter was eaten by wolves and this adopted child was the best substitute we could find. And while we constently remind her she's not ours, we love just about the same! Right sweety? So cute -- little imposter!"
ReplyDeleteOr maybe I just have issues!
I know! I was thinking the same thing but then I guess there's no reason not to be open about it. Of course, I could have made it worse and said "Oh, that's funny because my brother and sister used to say I look nothing like them so I must be adopted, but we're actually related!" Which is true.
ReplyDeletethat's kind of an UncMo but of course you didn't say they were genetically related; you only said they looked alike.
ReplyDeletei give it 3.5 UncMos on a scale of 10, 10 being metaphysical queasiness of the soul and 1 being comfy as a nap on the couch on a rainy sunday.