Until recently, I had never really been self-conscious about my height. At my job, I am one of the shortest people there, but only by an inch or two. Standing behind the register not only do customers talk about my height, but so do most of the people I work with.

Whether it’s saying “Wow, you’re so short I almost didn’t see you” or “Oh you should get a step stool,” it can be offensive even when you’re not meaning for it to be when you’re constantly hearing it from the same people in the same place.

I am 4 feet 11 inches tall and I am not ashamed of how tall I am, even when things like this happen and make me feel bad about my height. I didn’t choose to be this tall, and there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it. So, don’t say things as if I can control it, especially if you’re only a couple inches taller than me. You have no room to talk.

That job is the only place I’ve ever really been aware of hearing so many comments about my height. I have other jobs, and for the most part everyone is close to the same height as me. My friends are taller than me, but none of them are bothered by my height, and my mom and I are the same exact height.

Don’t comment on a person’s height excessively and constantly, as it can cause a lot of unnecessary anger and pain.

If you were called ugly multiple times a day by multiple people, it wouldn’t take long before it started affecting how you felt about your looks, right? It’s basically the same thing with height. If you’re told multiple times by people that you’re short, that you need to wear heels or get a step stool, it’s going to start affecting how you feel about how tall you are. Saying comments that you may not think are harmful actually could be without you realizing it.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE being the height that I am. Sure, I may have to stand on my tippy toes more often than you do to reach something or climb up the shelf at the store, but it doesn’t bother me at all, and it shouldn’t bother you.

The average height for a 17-year-old girl in America is 5 foot 3 inches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So if you think about it, I’m really just a little under average for an American girl.

Several factors go into what affects your height. 60 to 80 percent of your height is due to genetics and the remaining percent is due to how you sleep, what you eat and how often you exercise, according to Healthline. So, even if you eat healthy, sleep well and exercise, you’re still going to be short if it’s in your genes.

Honestly though, being short isn’t a problem for me and it shouldn’t be for you either. If you were in my shoes, would you want people making you feel bad about something that you can’t control? Hopefully the answer to that is no. So, don’t make people feel bad about something they can’t control.