The Weight of The World
Someone got the brilliant idea to make an office diet bet, with people pooling in their money to see who can lose the most weight by Thanksgiving. I am one of seven people not participating. There are lots of pregnant people, some bodybuilders, and people who maintained their weight who aren’t interested. However, since I’ve visibly gained weight, they thought I’d want to participate.
I didn’t. Jen, in charge of everything, kept dropping by to remind me to turn in my form and my money. I said “No thanks.” Jen wouldn’t drop it. Other people got involved, asking me why not all the time, it’ll be fun! Don’t be scared, I’d “feel better” and “look better” (I told them no, I wouldn’t) and it’s a great way to bond, we’re all in it together, it’s like Weight Watchers!
“I’m not interested,” and then eventually, “I. Said. No. Drop it.” But it was so far from over. They decided I wanted them to convince me. Two weeks into the bet, they tried to trick me onto the scale to “shock” me. I contacted HR, people finally backed down. I’m eating my food one day (rice and beans), and people sitting with me start dropping hints that how they feel so much better now that they aren’t eating carby comfort food all the time.
I said “I’m glad you feel better.” They took this as a sign that I “knew” I’d “feel better” again and started up saying I could still join in. I finally snapped and revealed my secret. I said, “You guys suck. I’m a recovering anorexic. I get one whiff of competition and start starving myself for days and start puking up what I do eat until I’d have to get my third oral surgery to remove rotting teeth. Does that sound worth it to you?”
Chorus of “wow” and “we were just joking.” I said “No, you weren’t just joking. Congratulations, by the way. After you all wouldn’t stop, I weighed myself for the first time in seven years and didn’t eat for two days. Does that make you all feel good?” None of them would look me in the eye, so I just went home for the day. I got a call from the women in HR, who were shockingly supportive of me.
One of the bodybuilder guys stepped up and said he’s witnessed a lot of the harassment and he doesn’t blame me for my outburst. A few others did too. However, they had to cancel the diet bet (I didn’t ask them to) and people are blaming me. Saying that I can’t take a joke, it wasn’t “that deep”—and it gets even more infuriating. The girls present said they no longer feel “safe” working with me because I obviously have mental issues.
One of them made a big stink about “politically correct” stuff and how I’m the typical hypersensitive millennial. I go back and forth on this all day, thinking I should have just swallowed my anger and gone back to HR or just stopped eating lunch in the office or whatever. I didn’t mean to ruin anyone’s fun but I also feel justified in pushing back on their harassment.