the ring thing

[metaphortunate]

Do you wear a wedding ring? Or a ring on the fourth finger of your left hand? If so, do you notice any difference in the way people treat you when you’re wearing it vs. when you’re not?

This question brought to you by the guy who was so very friendly yesterday, like making paper airplanes to amuse a grumpy sick little toddler friendly, like get off at the wrong stop because you just think you’ll sleep a little better if that guy that is soooo friendly maybe doesn’t know exactly what street you live on kind of friendly. Huh, I thought, that’s odd, I don’t get that much anymore, I really thought I had aged out of that, especially what with the kids and all, and then it occurred to me: because of the eczema flareup, I have been wearing my wedding ring on a necklace instead of on my hand.

Huh.

Comments

[laurajv]

I first noticed this not long after I was married, during a period of unemployment -- it was summertime, so I'd drop my husband off at work, then go rollerblade for an hour or two. I wore wrist braces that almost hid the base of my fingers, and sometimes I forgot to take my ring off before heading down the trail.

Eventually, I started wearing it on purpose, even though it got all gross & had to be cleaned every day, because I did not enjoy the CONSTANT hitting on when I didn't wear it. They had to be looking -- because it would take effort to see under the wrist brace, and because the hitting on dropped by a LOT when I wore it. Often I'd be hit on three or four times during a skate when not wearing it; when I wore it, it was more like once a week. (and the guys who ignored the ring/didn't pay attention and hit on me anyway were notably skeevier, I have to say.)

[metaphortunate]

Well, and I think that people should hit on you less when you're wearing a ring, though. That is one of its purposes, yes?

[laurajv]

well, yes, but also, people should maybe not hit on you when you are rollerblading 12 mph. and not when they have to stare underneath a piece of protective equipment to see if you are wearing a ring on your hand -- especially considering that lots of people don't wear jewelry while doing sports.

It doesn't particularly bother me that if I'm walking around dressed in ordinary clothes, I get hit on more if I happen not to be wearing my ring. It was the specific act of deliberately peering *underneath gear* to see if I was wearing a ring *that I ordinarily would not wear while exercising* that I found bizarre, and I was irked that in order to have a peaceful skate, I *had* to start doing the thing that was more uncomfortable, put me at risk of losing my wedding ring somewhere along the trail, and created a greater injury risk to my hand if I fell.

[metaphortunate]

Well, yes! Inappropriate hitting on and too much hitting on is another issue.