I was dropping the kids at a sports group this morning, sitting on a bench waiting. I’m sitting next to man B silently, never met him or seen him at drop off before. Man C walks over, I know him a bit and we often sit and chat and both help out some weeks. C greets both of us with ‘alright’.
After a small greeting C pulls his hand out of his pocket and says ‘oh I did this yesterday, still absolutely canes’ I offered to do his sons laces (which I did quickly). Then he shows us closer asks if he should get it checked out. His middle knuckle is really swollen and at an angle, his finger his says is feeling funny at the tip. I exclaimed in surprise when I looked back up from the laces at how bad it looked, and said ‘yes! That’s broken! You need to check that out not just strap it, it looks out of place and the numbness is...’
B then cut across me in a really curt tone ‘I am a doctor. I think he is asking me’ and then pretty much proceeds to repeat what I said about numbness/ angle and needing an x-ray. Uses a really slow voice loudly, I didn’t cut across him or anything when I first spoke. I kept my face neutral and C nodded and went back to his car to get something.
Now B’s wife is here (I recognise her) and she is clearly laughing about me and pointing across the field.
I’m in one of those situations where I’m pretty sure I’m not unreasonable, but there’s a group of mums and dad here who clearly think I am! Am I? I can’t think of any indicator that C was aiming his talk at B, he held his hand between us and had greeted us both. He probably was talking to him as a doctor in retrospect, but I didn’t know or see pointers. B has all these mums around him now and is listening to it all silently with his chin raised, chest out, arms folded and legs wide. From the actions I can see his wife is recounting the chat in an exaggerated manner.
It feels pretty shit. Man C is sitting alone