Hey, You're Fat. You must work here.

So when I was really overweight from the insulin resistance, almost every single time I was in a place like Target or Walmart or sometimes some place else, I’d get mistaken for an employee and asked about products. Almost without fail. Even if I wasn’t wearing the colors of the store. I rarely had it happen to me prior to the weight gain. No one assumed skinny me worked at a store.

When I lost all the weight, things went back to normal. I rarely got assumed to be an employee of any store.

But now I’m pregnant. I’ve gained thirty-five pounds and though all the weight is on my front, particularly belly, my baby bump is not a perfect round shape yet. Angled at just the right way, you might assume I’m just obese.

Today I was at Home Depot and bending down to get something. So at the angle I was at, you might not have been able to see I’m pregnant. Mind you I was wearing black capri pants and a dark turquoise T-shirt with “Zoo York” on it. My cart was full of stuff I was buying. There wasn’t a single bit of orange on me (the Home Depot color). And yet, a woman just presumed I worked there and started asking me questions like I worked there. I stood straight up, rubbed my belly in that maternal way everyone knows, and said, “I don’t work here. I’m pregnant.”

I wasn’t mean about it, but on the inside I was furious. Again?! Seriously?! Why is it assumed that if you’re fat that you’re there to wait on people? Am I the only one that this happens to? It only happens with significant weight gain.