Enter my story about being mistaken for a foreign (non-English speaking) under 15 boy (talk about mis-judgements...) I was headed back to my college after one spring break, I was 20, so not quite the mid-twenties that I now enter, but definately not under 15. The plane was a tiny prop out of LaGuardia and only held like 20 people. My ticket sat me next to someone in an emergency exit row, where you have to be at least 16 to sit. My hair was down to my ears, my glasses were wire rimmed, and I was wearing my wool sailors cap I picked up in Germany, because despite it being Spring Break, there was over a foot of snow on the ground in NYC. Jess had commented that the hat made me look like a tweenage Israeli boy, the curls looking a bit like peyas. So first, the flight attendant comes up to me and reminds me that I must be at least 16 to sit in that row. I gave her a blank stare, confused that she might mistake me for being under 16 (I was a mere four months away from being 21, afterall) and then nodded. She then said that because the flight was nerely empty I could sit somewhere else and not next to anyone. Note that she said this to me and not to the guy next to me, who despite having a small goattee I found out later was YOUNGER than I. It was early in the morning, I was reading a book, a bit slow on the uptake you could say, and gradually started gathering my things. She then asked me if I understood English. I stood up, scowled, and shouted at her: "I'm not a 12 year old Israeli boy!" Her reply? "I'm sorry sir, please take a seat."
UGH.
Moral of the story: people are bad at guessing when people look "ambiguous". I don't know why she thought I didn't speak English (I was reading a friggin book in English), but I have large boobs. I think, too, that people assume that you either grow out of acne or get it treated, and so if you don't give a shit and have acne as an adult, you get mistaken for being much younger. Frustrating.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-07-26 03:08 am (UTC)I was headed back to my college after one spring break, I was 20, so not quite the mid-twenties that I now enter, but definately not under 15. The plane was a tiny prop out of LaGuardia and only held like 20 people. My ticket sat me next to someone in an emergency exit row, where you have to be at least 16 to sit. My hair was down to my ears, my glasses were wire rimmed, and I was wearing my wool sailors cap I picked up in Germany, because despite it being Spring Break, there was over a foot of snow on the ground in NYC. Jess had commented that the hat made me look like a tweenage Israeli boy, the curls looking a bit like peyas.
So first, the flight attendant comes up to me and reminds me that I must be at least 16 to sit in that row. I gave her a blank stare, confused that she might mistake me for being under 16 (I was a mere four months away from being 21, afterall) and then nodded.
She then said that because the flight was nerely empty I could sit somewhere else and not next to anyone. Note that she said this to me and not to the guy next to me, who despite having a small goattee I found out later was YOUNGER than I. It was early in the morning, I was reading a book, a bit slow on the uptake you could say, and gradually started gathering my things.
She then asked me if I understood English.
I stood up, scowled, and shouted at her: "I'm not a 12 year old Israeli boy!"
Her reply?
"I'm sorry sir, please take a seat."
UGH.
Moral of the story: people are bad at guessing when people look "ambiguous". I don't know why she thought I didn't speak English (I was reading a friggin book in English), but I have large boobs. I think, too, that people assume that you either grow out of acne or get it treated, and so if you don't give a shit and have acne as an adult, you get mistaken for being much younger. Frustrating.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-27 04:19 am (UTC)but never have i (knowing) been mistaken for an israeli boy/man.
then again, i can't even pull off drag all that well and i have minimal boobage.
but, i have to agree. the acne thing is a mistaken attribute of young-ness.
as is (lack of) height.