well the good news is, I got another month of HRT. the weird news is, there was a strangely aggressive (random, non-pharmacy technician) guy at the pharmacy and I'm a bit rattled, even though I told him off and nothing happened.
I had just stepped away from the pharmacy counter when a completely unremarkable-looking guy came up to me real hostile and asked "are you a boy or a girl" just like that, like a child would.
I reacted as though he'd propositioned me and I was turning him down gently ("oh I'm flattered by the interest, but I'm afraid I have to say no, I'm happily married, we've been together eighteen years this Halloween, actually, I'm putting together a present¹...") and wouldn't let him correct me or clarify what he meant. I just kept talking very loudly and clearly until the social pressure of people stopping to stare got to him and he fled. like I said, nothing happened.
but given the general state of things, I was of course thinking "does he have a gun, am I about to get hatecrimed here" and watching his hands the whole time. rattled.
the guy's affect was very aggressive and he sure sounded like he wanted a fight, but the weird childlike phrasing is still bugging me, hours later. like: was I ready to deck a mentally disabled person back there? with the compounding issue that I'm not always the best at reading people, and frankly I've come across as unintentionally menacing more often than I'd like to admit.
or maybe there's nothing to learn from this encounter and people are just random.
at least at the clinic I finally got to do the "while I'm here, would you mind checking out this mole²" bit I've been saving up. so that was fun. for me. the poor PA didn't even suppress a smile. I guess things are tough all over.
- none of this is true. when threatened, I surround myself in a cloud of nonsense like a squid exudes ink.
