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By Sophie Lloyd
Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter
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A woman's response to a run-in with a former bully is being applauded online, with Redditors dubbing the response "subtle, yet shady."
Sharing her story with the Petty Revenge subreddit, u/Certain-Scarcity-442 explained that she used to work for a medical clinic. The manager's secretary was "petite, very pretty and a 'Southern Belle'" who was adored by the higher-ups. However, she was also a bully who targeted people for their appearance.
"She made fun of everyone who was overweight, to their faces, in front of everyone," the poster wrote.
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Shortly after giving birth, Certain-Scarcity-442 went to McDonald's for lunch and was "relentlessly" bullied by the woman upon returning.
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"You should have gotten a salad, for crying out loud, piggy," the secretary told her, but the bully never received any repercussions.
"She was the prima donna in the office and the head of HR was her mom's bff," she explained.
Years have passed since the poster left that job—and the bully—behind. She recently took her nephew to a birthday party, where she spotted her ex-colleague with her children.
"Turns out that 5 marriages and three kids have not been good to her. She is pushing 300 pounds on a 5ft 3in frame," she said.
"Those good looks up and left a decade or two ago."
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The woman noticed Certain-Scarcity-442 and her "jaw dropped." Using "the fakest voice and smile she could muster," the bully began to gush over the Redditor.
"'You look so pretty! I had no idea you were that pretty! You are so tiny!'" the woman said. To which Certain-Scarcity-442 just smiled and replied: "Yeah, I know," before walking away.
Certified relationship and intimacy coach Jeni Simas describes fatphobia as "last great acceptable form of bigotry," and a 2021 study published in the journal Psychological Science supports this claim.
Examining online attitudes towards various groups between 2007 and 2016, researchers discovered that Americans have become more accepting of varying sexual orientations, races and skin tones—but less tolerant of plus-sized people.
"Weight-shaming is incredibly debilitating," Simas told Newsweek. "I think thinner people do it out of fear of becoming overweight, but it does not define your worth."
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She said bullying is often a learned behavior taken from parents, other family members or friends.
"Unfortunately, it's incredibly easy to bully someone with body confidence issues, because they already believe that they are defective and worth less than their fit counterparts," she said.
If someone in your life is body-shaming you, Simas recommends asking why they have such an issue with another person's appearance.
"Sometimes people will weight shame under the guise of concern," she said. "If they persist, ask them if they have a problem with overweight people or a fear of becoming one."
Certain-Scarcity-442 said she got "immense satisfaction" from making her bully uncomfortable, choosing to ignore her for the rest of the party. Fellow Redditors applauded her response, with the post receiving more than 6,000 upvotes.
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"I can't stand people who fat shame people," said doubledees80.
"Good for you for giving her the cold shoulder," commented _Wrongdoer69. "So subtle yet shady," agreed Mauledbysilk.
"This is too good an example of 'living well is the best revenge,'" said DodGamnBunofaSitch.
"Isn't karma a beautiful thing when you get to see it in action?," wrote BeautifulPhantom1.
"My favorite part of social media is being able to Google all of my glamorous and good-looking bullies from the 80s and 90s to see how much they're now falling apart," said Ms_Rarity. "Lucky you, getting to see it in real life."
"People like her are such insecure scum," wrote j4321g4321. "She got her just desserts."
Newsweek reached out to u/Certain-Scarcity-442 for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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