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Woman Claps Back After Overhearing Woman ‘Slut-Shaming’ Her And Friends In Her Native Language

Ben White/Unsplash

There is very little that is more frustrating than when people are talking about you behind your back.

Perhaps the only thing worse is when they’re literally talking about you behind your back.

When people think that you’re either out of earshot, or not in their vicinity, and say things about you that they would otherwise not say to your face.

Redditor GarlicAvailable1905 found herself in such a situation recently, and made it known to the person talking about her that she heard everything they’d said about her.

But after being somewhat surprised by the way they reacted, the original poster (OP), took to the subReddit “Am I The A**Hole” (AITA), where she asked fellow Redditors:

“AITA for publicly embarrassing a girl and making her cry?”

The OP shared how she and some friends were enjoying what they thought was a casual girls day out, when she realized that the next table was talking about them, and what they were saying wasn’t nice.

“I (F[emale] 20) went out for lunch with some of the girls from high school.”

“I haven’t seen many of them since graduation so we were talking a lot and catching up.”

“So this girl from the table next to us was speaking in Bengali, which is my native tongue.”

“I overheard her talking to her partner and judging us in Bengali.”

“My chair was facing them backwards so probably that’s why they couldn’t see me directly and guess my ethnicity.”

“I let them keep going and heard everything she was saying, like how we’re so shameless to dress like this in public and so on.”

But when it was time for the OP and her friends to leave, she wouldn’t let the behavior of the next table go unnoticed.

“We were almost done when they came in.”

“By the time we were ready to leave, I went up to their table and asked her in Bengali “excuse me, ma’am, are you done slut-shaming all of us or do you need few extra minutes before we leave?'”

“The look on her face was something and she started stuttering as I confronted her.”

“Her partner came to the rescue and started arguing with me about why didn’t I just step out earlier and asked them to stop if I knew what they were saying.”

“I kept ignoring the man and asked the girl again ‘ma’am do you need me to unbutton my shirt further so you can have a better look and give us an updated review of your slut-shaming session?'”

“At that point she started to cry and her partner was yelling at me to leave them alone.”

“I left with my friends and saw some people staring at me horrified probably thinking I made some poor girl cry and they were the victim or something.”

Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation by declaring:

  • NTA – Not The A**hole
  • YTA – You’re The A**hole
  • NAH – No A**holes Here
  • ESH – Everyone Sucks Here

The Reddit community agreed the OP was well within her rights to call out the woman making disparaging remarks about her, and was in no way the a**hole.

Just about everyone applauded the OP for how she handled the situation, agreeing that the woman shouldn’t have made those disparaging remarks about the OP and her friends while sitting right next to them, regardless of whether or not she knew the OP could understand her.

“NTA.”

“Calling her out is not asshole behavior, idk what some of these commenters are on.”-c*ntliflower.

“Damnnnnnnnnnn, you are NTA.”

“This woman was actively slut shaming you behind your back and she got caught.”

“She should be embarrassed, she is not the victim in this situation, you and the other women she was talking down to are.”

“People who make negative comments about woman/persecuted/minority groups need to be called out (preferably publicly) or they won’t understand what they are doing is wrong.”

“It happens time and time again with sexual harassers”

“They should feel bad.”

“OP did not yell at this woman, she essentially asked ‘I don’t get it, can you explain it to me’ multiple times to someone making an ignorant joke.”

“Why didn’t OP ask them to stop earlier?”

“Because she shouldn’t have to and it’s uncomfortable.”

“Do not blame the victims guys.”-SandBrilliant2675.

“NTA.”

“This is f*cking awesome!!!”

“She got what she deserved.”

“Hope this was a learning lesson for her!”- Blaaaazeit.

“NTA.”

“She was having a full blown session of talking trash about you.”

“You wouldn’t do that to people who speak your language and you shouldn’t do it to people you know won’t understand you.”

“It’s disrespectful.”

“Hopefully she learned a lesson and will stop trash talking people.”- MaxScar.

“NTA.”

“She got as good as she gave.”

“She shouldn’t talk about others like that.”

‘Maybe next time she’ll think about that.”

“He should have stopped her himself, but he wants to stop you?”

“He’s as bad as she.”- TrelanaSakuyo.

“NTA!!!!”

“This is fantastic!! “

“And I bet she will NEVER think she can ‘safely slut-shame’ again!”

“You made the world a little better!!”- whatever9753.

“NTA.”

“As a fellow Bengali, I applaud you.”

“If she can’t take it, she shouldn’t dish it out.”

“She was insulting you (irrelevant of language) and then starts crying when you rightfully call her out?”

“Maybe she shouldn’t have been so mean in public.”

“And her SO saying to step out earlier?”

“The audacity.”

“So you won’t stop being rude and slut-shaming someone unless the people you slut shame tell you to?”

“Disgusting.”

“Seems like she has that future auntie behavior in the bag.”

“Ok, but also please give the Bangla of those sentences you said?”

“They’re…for a friend.”-artemisinvu.

“NTA.”

“She was publicly insulting you for no reason.”

“And she cries when confronted about it?”

“That’s just sad.”

“Don’t dish what you can’t take.”- pisces2003.

“How DARE you not stop her from voicing her terrible, unwanted opinions EARLIER?”

“If only you let her know you spoke Bengali, that way she could have kept the fact that she’s a horrendous human being to herself.”

“NTA.”- Historical_Blip_0505.

“NTA.”

“If she didn’t want to be called out, she shouldn’t have said it.”

“And this was a delight to read.”- flowersarebeautiful_

“NTA that was pretty epic!”-OgZero.

“Oh heel naah.”

“As an Indian, you did a great job.”- cherry__12345.

“NTA.”

“WELL DONE OP.”

“We can only hope that she’s learned her lesson.”-RevKyriel.

“NTA.”

“That’s how you deal with judgmental AHs.”- usernametaken6000.

“Hmmmm.”

“F*ck it – NTA.”

“You probably could have stopped at the first comment and dropped the mic, suuure.”

“I’d say it would have been just as effective to turn around while she was making her comments and say something, whatever.”

“But I can’t hate on someone getting some comeuppance for being an AH ‘slickly’ like that.”- riding-the-wind.

“NTA and I’m in love with your sass!”- Sufficient-Gazelle87.

“NTA.”

“I bet if it was just a few words you would have left it alone.”

“But she kept going.”

“You matched her energy.”

“Happened to me plenty of times within my own family talking sh*t openly about me or my kids.”-Ok_SomewhereAK.

“NTA.”

“And well done.”- einat162.

“NTA, in fact you’re the hero (YTH).”

“Maybe they’ll think twice before being nasty.”

“Keep being who you are and make the world better.”-Jstrangways.

“NTA.”

“So proud of you for standing up for yourself.”

“Slut shaming is ridiculous and should absolutely be called out.”-stardust_wanderlust_.

“NTA.”

“They can clearly dish it but can’t take it.”-dumbbinch99.

“NTA.”

“The audacity of this man to say ‘if you knew what we were saying you should’ve said something earlier’.”

“How about you just don’t slut shame strangers??”

“I love that you called her out and didn’t let up, maybe she’ll use better judgement next time.”-Pale_Willingness1882.

A number of Redditors shared stories of when they found themselves in similar situations.

“Absolutely NTA.”

“A buddy of mine is a 6’6 250lb white guy that speaks fluent Japanese and had some old Japanese ladies calling him a ‘stupid fat American’ in an elevator.”

“He politely told them he was Canadian and walked out.”-normalnugget227.

“I’m Mexican i dated a white guy who went to a middle school where they taught you English and Spanish.”

“He was pretty much fluent.”

“He had some big ears on him and one day we were standing in line for a movie.”

“These ladies started talking a bunch of crap about us for being gay and his ears.”

“He just loudly asks me in Spanish ‘so where are we going for dinner after the movie?'”

“The ladies were bright red and got out of line it was awesome lol”.-OverPot.

“I’ve actually had something similar happen to me and a friend.”

“For context my friend and I are latina (I’m Puerto Rican and she’s Dominican) and we were both raised in an English/Spanish speaking household.”

“We were out at a club one night and we went to use the bathroom, while we were washing our hands two girls a few sinks down from us started making rude comments about us to each other in Spanish.”

“When we realized they were talking about us my friend goes ‘I hope you realize we can both understand you two’.”

“‘Maybe keep the comments to yourselves next time before you go assuming we won’t know what you’re saying’.”

“The look on their faces was priceless.”

“NTA, they ran that risk of making comments in another language you just happened to be a native speaker of.”

“If they made these comments in the language you and all your friends were speaking you would still be well within your right to defend yourself.”

“People shouldn’t be allowed to just mock others simply because it’s in a language they think no one else around them speaks.”- the_blonde_taurus.

Whoever this restaurant patron was, one imagines she’ll think very carefully before making disparaging remarks about fellow diners ever again.

No matter the language.

Written by John Curtis

A novelist, picture book writer and native New Yorker, John is a graduate of Syracuse University and the children's media graduate program at Centennial College. When not staring at his computer monitor, you'll most likely find John sipping tea watching British comedies, or in the kitchen, taking a stab at the technical challenge on the most recent episode of 'The Great British Baking Show'.