HIT IN THE FACE
I'm so insulted. My new over 50-years old colleague just told me that I have eye bags. "Surprisingly you have eyebags for someone at so young an age!"
She was telling me about her intention to get her eyebags 'surgically' removed.
I had to say this (stupid thing, stupid choice of words), "Well, usually people with larger eyes do have eye bags you know."
"Your eyes are SMALL. Not really big."
I terasa pulak. Like pinch in my ego. I'd always thought that I had reasonably sizable eyes. Not huge. But larger than many people. I smiled.
"You don't get enough sleep is it?" said the woman again. I was simmering inside, and I managed a friendly, "Yes, you know lah... have to study at night."
"Oh... yeah me too. 2-3 am every night. Chatting on MSN chat ler..."
Minishorts tried to look at her work and pretended to be as busy as possible to quit the subject before I burst in embarassed anger after being 'constructively' criticized like that.
See if you want to criticize someone, use more 'society-friendly' words please.
I thought I was brutally honest. Apparently there are people who think that everybody walks around with crocodile hides as skins.
If you're wondering why my new colleague is over 50, that's because in my department, usually people who have 'acceptable' English come from the colonial period education policy generation. Didn't I tell you that I'm the youngest in my department?
That probably serves to help me overcome this bubbling fume over the 'eye-bag' business.
