Woman who judged man for his 'dirty face' gets an eye-opening response from him

A man named Andy Ross calmly confronted a woman at a store after she signaled him as a bad example for her little daughter, misjudging the man solely because of his appearance.

Andy Ross is a construction worker from Vancouver, Washington who faced prejudice over his ‘dirty face’ when he went to run some errands straight after finishing his job for the day and ended up teaching an important lesson.

Ross took to Facebook after the awkward incident to share what he had to say to the lady to point out her ignorance in trying to use it as an example of someone who was uneducated, with the hope of changing some attitudes.

As soon as the man entered a local store, he couldn’t help but notice a little girl who kept staring at him. He knew that his face full of dirt was not a common sight in a store, but never imagined what the girl’s mother was going to make of it.

Children are curious by nature, it is the way they learn about life and their surroundings. But the explanation this girl’s mother had to offer was far from a positive lesson. Read more on our Twitter account @amomama_usa

While it is understandable that a mother tries to teach her daughter the importance of getting an education, teaching a child to look down on people who look like they don’t work in a glamorous job is something reprehensible.

When Ross was checking out, the little girl and her mother were in front of him at the line, and the child was still staring at him. As he wrote on his post, the mother told the girl to stop staring.

But as the mother and child were in their way to exit the place, Ross could hear what the woman said to her daughter, even though she tried to say it quietly.

“That is why you need to stay in school,” the woman said, trying to make an example out of an individual from whom the mother didn’t know anything about.

This worried and angered Ross, but instead of making a scene, he decided to “educate” the woman and her little daughter by telling them more about his life choices and his background. This is how the conversation went.

What Ross wrote

“First, I happen to be a very educated dirty man. I not only have a high school diploma, I also have a college degree and many medical certifications. So assuming that I am uneducated because of my appearance is actually quite ignorant in itself.”

-Andy Ross, Facebook, May 21, 2018.

Beyond the offense he might have taken from the woman’s assumptions about him, Ross considered that the prejudiced views she was passing to her daughter were detrimental to the child’s development.

“Secondly, if you are telling your daughter to stay in school because I have tattoos up and down my arms, that will actually suppress her creativity and potentially hinder her imagination as she develops,” added Ross.

Ross defended his tattoos as works of art, acknowledging the person who worked on them, and he also revealed that they were mementos from the times he served his country in the army as a medic, something that makes him very proud.

The man went on to say that his dirty face was not a sign of him not having a work he loves and supports him, explaining that he is a construction worker by choice, as he had learned by experience that a ‘desk job’ wasn’t from him.

“I enjoy working with my hands and being outdoors. Subsequently, it comes with being dirty some days. I make good money, have benefits, and am able to provide for my family without issue,” he wrote.

“So my appearance reflects nothing to do with my level of intelligence or pursuing a higher level of education,” he stressed.

Online reactions

The post has been shared more than 160.000 times, and it has received 31.000 comments from Facebook user’s that praised him for his respectful way to prove this woman wrong.

“Very well educated indeed, and may God continue to bless you greatly,” wrote Debra McGee. “Keep educating people. I work in a high school and it’s amazing how many people besides the students need life education”, wrote Lori Girard.

The popular saying “never judge a book by its cover” has been around since the mid-1800’s, but as Jessica Gerlock, a mental illness advocate, wrote in a blog post for Huffington Post, it is something that is not practiced by most people.

“Whether it be skin color, weight, height or anything else, people look down upon you if your appearance is a little different than the ‘norm’,” Gerlock wrote, reflecting on her experience as an overweight woman.

Both Ross and Gerlock came to the same conclusion after their experiences, and it is a good one to teach our children: when you see someone that you don’t understand, get to know him or her first before making a fool or yourself and hurting others.