My neighbor is a psycho

[Guest guest]

I have been working on being more assertive and I think many of us have problems

with that. I am completely dumbfounded by my new neighbor, though, and am not

sure how to approach her the next time I see her.

I live in a luxury high rise building and most of the residents are very

discrete. This woman, however, is not. My first thought when I saw her in our

lobby: Why on earth did the doormen let in a pimp?

Seriously. She had the hat, cane, and fur coat. The building has just opened a

sundeck on the roof with beach chairs that many residents use for sunbathing. I

was sunning and studying there earlier today when this woman came outside. I

knew that most of the residents in the building had shunned her so I tried to be

nice. She starting gushing about all of the amenities, including our gym, and

here is roughly how the conversation went:

her: the gym is fantastic although I never go. I've always been skinny and I can

never put on a pound. do you put on weight?

me: not really.

her: well what are you, a size 10?

me: excuse me? no, i'm a zero or 2.

her: really? I'm an 8 and I find it hard to believe that I'm bigger than you.

**Keep in mind this woman is definitely at least in her 60's and I am in my

20's. I don't even know why she brought this up. I was just completely

dumbfounded! I wish I hadn't been so stunned so I could have let her know how

rude she was but I was just shocked!

I was pretty upset by this conversation, first- because it was so insulting and

rude! But also because I really do think I've made huge strides on being

assertive and not letting bullies walk all over me and I'm so confused by this

woman! I can't evaluate if she would have said this to anyone or if something

about me screams " it's ok, you can be rude. "