Some people say offensive things so casually that they don’t even realize how bad they sound until somebody makes them explain it out loud.

This woman worked as a professional window cleaner and spent years handling the same physical labor and ladder work as anybody else in the trade. While she cleaned windows high up on a ladder outside an apartment building, one resident decided to start what he probably thought was a friendly conversation.

Instead, he suggested her boss might have received government incentives for hiring a woman to do a “man’s job.”

Rather than arguing with him or snapping back, she simply kept asking questions and let him keep talking.

That strategy worked pretty quickly.

Read on to see how the conversation went.

AITA for not just laughing off a customer’s ****** remark?

I’m a woman and a window cleaner by trade and have been for years. I obviously am required to lift heavy things etc. which I do with no issue.

Today, I was up a very tall ladder doing window cleaning.

A resident of the apartment building was at the bottom of the ladder watching.

She was taken aback by his question.

Him: Oh wow! Did ya boss get a payout from the government for hiring you?

Me (still up the ladder, legitimately looking down on him): What for?

Him: Oh you know there’s all kinds of grants out there.

Me: What do you mean?

Then, he dug the whole a little further.

Him: Yeah, you know how they pay sometimes for women to be hired for stuff like this.

Me: Stuff like what?

Him: You know, a man’s job. Stuff like this… ladders, manual labor.

Me: What’s a man’s job?

At this point, he realized how it sounded.

Him (finally catching on that what he’s implying might be a tad offensive): Oh yeah. I didn’t mean anything by it. My mate works in yada yada blah blab blah .. and he got a grant to hire a woman laborer. All power to you, though.

Me: *silent*

Him: But yeah. You are doing a good job. I didn’t mean anything by it.

She just stayed polite and cut the conversation.

ME: Oh, you were complimenting me?

Him: Yeah.

Me: Oh yeah. You’re welcome. No worries.

AITA?

Wow! What a thing to say to someone.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a betting shop employee who is asked the dreaded question “don’t you know who I am?”

Let’s check out how the readers over at Reddit would’ve handled the guy.

Here’s someone who loves the response.

She was being facetious.

This person would’ve been more upfront about their opinion.

Yet another person who thinks she handled it well.

Talk about someone who’s out of line.

This guy clearly thought it was acceptable to stand there and imply she only got hired because she’s a woman instead of because she’s good at her job.

Think before speaking.

One day, he’s going to make a comment like that to the wrong person, and the conversation won’t be so polite.