What ever happened to Discretion?

I'm kind of seething at the moment.

We Germans have a term called Schadenfreude:



Someone today had the gall and poor taste to question me about my financial situation - unprompted and completely blindsiding me in what was, up until that point, a friendly social occasion - because I've been on parental leave, moved my family to B.C. and managed to balance everything without having a job yet.

This is not a nosy relative. This is not someone I've signed contractual papers with or taken a loan out from (which would justify a bit of nosiness.) This was not the RCMfuckingP or Revenue and fucking Taxation Canada. This is a friend I thought until that moment had a bit of tact and judgement.

How does one deal with the question? "Mind your own fucking business" is too little, too late, because at this point the jolly happy little gang will start to whisper about how "stressed" you seem, and how "concerned" they are for your "welfare," all the while doing secret calculations about how much your wife's dead father left her, what you sold your house for, what you earned for how many years minus the appearance of new vehicles in your driveway, etc. etc. Once the question is out there from a close friend, the damage is done.

The only motivation to ask such a question would be to see if I had any "problems." Hence my suspicion of Schadenfreude.

Why the fuck do you need to know? How the hell does this make your life ANY better? Do you realize how uncouth this question is and how such a question asked in such a way DIMINISHES you in my eyes? For it has, my friend. It has.

From my wife's collection of choice Italian that explains my feelings about this and you.



Am I making my point here?