"You look so tired"

I work in a coffee shop a few days a week and naturally a big part of the job is talking with the customers and making them feel welcome. I usually absolutely love this part about being a barista- socializing and making coffee, what could be better, right?

Kind of.

Sometimes you get that customer who feels like, in your five, maybe ten, minute exchange, you've instantly become best friends and they've earned the right to say things that I don't even want to hear from my husband.

For example, there is one "regular" who comes in almost every shift I work, we will call her "Strawberry Smoothie", because I'm super creative. Now, don't get me wrong, Strawberry Smoothie is a very nice lady. She always compliments me, says the usual "I CAN'T believe you're pregnant...you're TOO tiny", asks about Evelyn and AJ...the typical small talk-y things. But sometimes I feel like she takes it a little bit tooooo far. "Wow, honey", she said, "you look SO tired. Did you not get enough sleep?" Maybe I'm over reacting though....you guys can be the judge of that.

A while ago, after the aforementioned Strawberry Smoothie moment, I posted a Facebook status that read something like "I'm sick of people telling me that I look tired all the time". That wasn't my actual status, but that was kind of the attitude that I wanted to convey.

But seriously.

Strawberry Smoothie, in her sweet, just-trying-to-make-small-talk way, actually really offended me by pointing out that I looked SO tired.

I was wearing make-up. I had on a cute outfit. God help me if I had the nerve not to put on eyeliner that day...

WHY did she feel the need to point out the already obvious fact that I, a pregnant mommy of a 15 month old might possibly look as tired as I feel? 

And then comes the question of how in the world am I supposed to answer. I'm pretty sure I said something along the lines of, "Yep". Which most likely nipped our small talk right in the bud, but... sorry not sorry. This is definitely not the first time this has happened. Not with Strawberry Smoothie, mind you, but with other random strangers or "acquaintances".

I know this sounds like purely a pointless, silly rant. And, ok, it is. And I don't (really) care that much about what people think of me to let it genuinely bother me, but the frequency of this situation got me thinking. Does this happen to other people? Or am I the only tired looking human out there.

Facebook confirmed my suspicions that I'm certainly not alone.

So here is my question to you all. HOW do we respond?

I want your input so that next time this happens I'll be equipped with a witty, socially acceptable, non-rude response other than "yep". Something that stops them in their tracks a little bit and makes them realize that hey, we are all human. We all look tired sometimes. Maybe I should just get this t-shirt and wear it every day of my life.

This is becoming kind of an all-encompassing post, so I'll stop writing before I start talking about something actually serious.

But, really, I want to know your thoughts! How should we respond in the awkward "you look so tired" situations?