Pretentious or just clueless?

[kristilew]

I am editing to point out that it was me who was clueless. I have learned something about shoe sizes now. And I'm not trying to offend anyone....move along, nothing to see here.







UPDATE: apparently I am the clueless one. I had no idea that Euro sizes were so common in the northeast. The vote seems to be that this is merely the way children's shoe sizes are given up there. Who knew? Well, many of you knew, I didn't.

 

[SaraJayne]

Yeah, I'm going with "pretentious".

Sometimes you just have to laugh, shake your head and let it go.

 

[golfgal]

Look at the size label in your tennis shoes-chances are they have European sizing there too. If they shop certain stores, Hanna Anderson for example, they have European Sizing. She does sound a little overly picky though. She sounds a like my sister-who returns EVERYTHING her kids get for some reason or another and wonders why everyone just gives her kids cash now .

 

[padams]

I vote "pretentious snob".

 

[punkin]

Soooo, what the heck? Is this standard NYC speak for sharing your child's sizes? Is the city so multi-cultural that one could very easily be buying European stuff? I'm in Target, for crying out loud.

I see nothing wrong with this. She was being helpful IMO.

BTW, I am pretentious.

 

[AndreaDM]

Did she KNOW you were in Target? If not, she may have thought you were in a boutique type store.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I vote "not a big enough deal to get upset about or even really think about".

 

[DMass]

Maybe she thought you were in Target's Paris store.

 

[NMAmy]

Well, I would laugh a bit and, yeah, I do think it's pretentious.

I'd have probably texted back, "Oh, good, I'll drop them off when I get back from Paris."

 

[goodeats]

I can see where she's coming from. She's probably just a very literal person and was trying to be helpful. In the recent Hannah Anderson catalog there were some suede boots with fringe, so maybe she thought that's what brand they were.

 

[Aneille]

Wouldn't bug me at all.

Although its not something I would have added to the text.

I shop Marshalls all the time and they have UK sizing. There are even charts set up in the shoe section to help with conversions. They sell a lot of European shoes at Marshalls.

So not necessarily pretentious.

 

[LuvOrlando]

If she was from the country and moved to the city I'd say she was being a snob and trying to show off because she'd know the majority of the US uses US standards. If she is actually from a big city then her everyday clothes and shoes do tend to be sized like this for the non-US folks who live in cities. If she is from a city then she's just telling you the sizes in city language, she's not at all being a snob.... she might have no idea things are sized in US form everywhere else.

 

[jrmasm]

Did she KNOW you were in Target? If not, she may have thought you were in a boutique type store.

That what I was thinking so I guess I'd have to go with neither.

 

[MerMom60_94]

I vote "not a big enough deal to get upset about or even really think about".

ITA. If it takes as little as this to set you off, then I can see why there are issues and I don't know that I would say they are all hers. Sorry.

 

[kristilew]

If she was from the country and moved to the city I'd say she was being a snob and trying to show off because she'd know the majority of the US uses US standards. If she is actually from a big city then her everyday clothes and shoes do tend to be sized like this for the non-US folks who live in cities. Everyone does metric but us. If she is from a city then she's just telling you the sizes in city language, she's not at all being a snob.... she might have no idea things are sized in US form everywhere else.

That is interesting. And a perfect example of our culture gap. I had no idea this was the case, and I'm sure she has no idea how her text might play elsewhere.

 

[Stitchfans]

I vote "not a big enough deal to get upset about or even really think about".

That was my first thought also.

 

[MushyMushy]

From what you share of her background, then, yeah it was just her being her. Not pretentious, just different. And very precise.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Especially if she's from Long Island, she probably does a lot of shopping in Century 21 which is a huge department store in the NY area which specializes in designer items and caters to tourists, particularly Europeans, where sizes are displayed as American and European. I don't necessarily think SIL is pretentious, I think maybe you're feeling a little insecure and place that insecurity on her as her being pretentious. JMHO.

 

[luvmy3jewels]

Your SIL sounds just like a lady that I know and when I first read your post (and saw where you are from) I wondered if it was the same person. However, my acquaintance has a dd that is less than 1 year. Other than that, they could be twins!! I totally understand the cultural difference with her being from Long Island and you from the south. The lady that I know really sometimes says stuff that rubs me the wrong way and I have learned to chalk it up to her background (and not that she is intentionally being rude and witchy )

I agree with the other posters that say she is being pretentious. (This is assuming she has been living in the south for awhile and knows our stores). Just make sure you don't tell her where the boots came from, she may not want her dd to be seen with Target shoes.

 

[Swank]

I think the problem is when you read her text messages you are reading it to yourself like she speaks. Since you obviously have some disdain for her you immediately jumped to the conclusion she is being snobby. I don't know about the south but on a lot of shoes I see here in the Northeast have both sizes listed so she was not off base on telling you exactly what size her daughter wears. I know she is not your cup of tea, but please lighten up would you.