I'm just ticked off

[dutchy kilted]

If you figure out the name of her business, please feel free to "pass it along" to the rest of us.

[GMan]

Venting is good for the soul.

[creagdhubh]

Ok, I just need to vent to "my people."

I had a bad experience tonight. I was at a local business expo a few miles from home. One of the vendors asked me as I walked by, minding my own business, where my bagpipes were. I told her that though I have the utmost respect for pipers and have even hired one for my upcoming wedding I do not play myself. "Well if you're not carrying bagpipes, you are just cross-dressing aren't you?"

Now I know this lady was obviously just ignorant of the long and honorable tradition of the kilt, but it ticked me off. If she had made her "jokes" and let it be I would have been ok but when she kept going and going, showing off for her co-worker in the booth with her...well you know. Then to top matters she showed up at the restaurant where my family, my fiance, her mother, her nephew, and my daughter, were having dinner. She did not continue her attack because of the lack of audience.

Sorry but I had to vent.

Graham

I have had a similar event happen to me. In a agreement with everyone else that has already commented on the episode, just let it go. Being quite outspoken, bold, and confident myself, I have confronted people taking "snipes" at me whilst wearing Highland attire in many different locals. Oh they have tried to ridicule and poke fun at the whole thing, yet they have never succeeded. They are simply just ignorant and really, when you get down to brass tacks, look stupid! They are just trying to get a row out of you that's all. Forget them and enjoy your heritage! The kilt is the finest national dress in the world and should be preserved as such! Cheers my friend!

[Atlanta Kiltie]

I just let such comments go and chalk it up to ignorance. To paraphrase my Drum Major:

"Why would you want to get into a stinking contest with a skunk"?

[Dukeof Kircaldy]

Well lass, I keep my bagpipes well hidden, but if you're good, I'll let you blow them.

That's nearly as good as the one I like for THE QUESTION:

Nothing, mam, it's in perfect working order.

The only comment I have received was from a woman who said something along the lines of she thought men in kilts looked really super (other than the question later that night from a woman at the Whisky tasting I was attending: Ricky Crawford and I had fun with her).

I try to stay as "authentic" as possible when I wear the kilt outside of the highlands, which means at least a sporran and a sgian dubh to stab someone who makes stupid comments along the lines of the one that started this thread.

If you don't like MacBean's answer (which I am filing away for future reference), I can send you a crappy set of ebay bagpipes.

Then you could truthfully say, "are you want offering to come to my house and blow them?"

[Downunder Kilt]

A foolish person is 'quick' to condemn what they do not understand. A wise person is 'slow' to condemn what they do understand
Martino, Joseph P

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because they have to say something.
Plato

[CDNSushi]

"Well if you're not carrying bagpipes, you are just cross-dressing aren't you?"

Given the advances that the LGBT community has made in the past years with civil rights and equality, I think it might also work well to simply just say, "Yes. I suppose I AM cross-dressing. Are you saying you have a problem with cross-dressers? Are you homophobic?"

Just watch her backpedal...

[The Barry]

To paraphrase my Drum Major:

"Why would you want to get into a stinking contest with a skunk"?

I like that, I might file that away for future reference.

[jkane]

When it's a woman and she won't let up, I assume she's flirting, and I start to flirt back. Then she will get embarrassed if it's around her friends and then she usually shuts up. If she keeps going, it gets awkward, but I find it entertaining. Only once has a woman had to get one of her friends to ask her to let it go. I'll ask her if she's not just interested in knowing what under there and things like that. Twist the tables around, and act like you enjoy her pokes. Just like in grade school. The more you get upset, the more they want to pick on you. If you join them, they usually don't know what to do.

If it's a man, I just walk away. That would never end right for either of us!

I am fortunate to have a great wife who puts up with me flirting with the ladies. If your woman is not so clear and comfortable about your own relationship, then flirting with other ladies might not be such a good idea!

[Spc. Scott]

When I'm alone most of the time I just respond with something like a joke and laugh it off as it doesn't bother me most of the time.

On the other hand I got to use this when my son was with me: "Nathaniel, this is an example of your typical ignorant, ill-mannered, human. Learn to spot them and avoid them as much as possible".

I have only had to use it once and the effect was exactly as you could imagine. Stunned silence combined with utter embarrassment and a deer-in-the-headlights look that was epic.