The "things you can't believe you just saw" thread...

[Thomas]



I didn't see this myself - but found this on twitter - at a Toronto IKEA people noticed there was a monkey in a shearling coat wandering around the store for about an hour

Someone on FB made up a movie still that showed the money as Gwenyth Paltrow. I laughed when I saw it.

i thought about putting this in the "things that are pissing you off" thread, but this thread more captures how i felt, although it works either way.
wife and i were leaving a restaurant after dinner, as we get into the car another family starts getting into the car next to ours. as soon as we're ready to go, i notice (havent started the car yet), that the family's adorable looking little daughter has toddled right in front of my car.
so my wife and i are sitting there, smiling at the kid and she's smiling back, waiting for her mom to realize that she's gone off, when the mom comes marching up, grabs the kid BY HER HAIR, and drags her by the hair for 8 feet to their SUV.
i had already unbuckled my belt to get out and ask the mom what the **** was wrong with her, but my wife grabbed me and refused to let me exit the car. if that child someday snaps and stabs you to death you only have yourself to blame. the little girl's screams were wrenching.

Well, I don't like how it was handled, but at the same time you really really really don't want small children thinking they can wander amongst cars anywhere, much less a parking lot.

 

[why]



i thought about putting this in the "things that are pissing you off" thread, but this thread more captures how i felt, although it works either way.
wife and i were leaving a restaurant after dinner, as we get into the car another family starts getting into the car next to ours. as soon as we're ready to go, i notice (havent started the car yet), that the family's adorable looking little daughter has toddled right in front of my car.
so my wife and i are sitting there, smiling at the kid and she's smiling back, waiting for her mom to realize that she's gone off, when the mom comes marching up, grabs the kid BY HER HAIR, and drags her by the hair for 8 feet to their SUV.
i had already unbuckled my belt to get out and ask the mom what the **** was wrong with her, but my wife grabbed me and refused to let me exit the car. if that child someday snaps and stabs you to death you only have yourself to blame. the little girl's screams were wrenching.

Mind your own damn business. Good thing your wife stopped you.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

 

[Find Finn]



Mind your own damn business. Good thing your wife stopped you.

Are you serious?

 

[razl]

on the "crazy stuff kids do" topic...

My gf and I are at a local sandwich shop that has a large dining room and is very, very busy - almost packed. After we place our order, we get a table and plop down. A couple of minutes later, 2 little rugrats clamber onto the chairs at the table next to us and proceed, loudly, to dump the salt and pepper all over the table and "paint" with it.

Wondering where the hell the parents are, I see the mom and dad across the restaurant ordering at the register, apparently oblivious to what their little monsters are doing. A few minutes later, after they've completed their order, dad finally locates them and the disaster they've created. Salt and pepper is all over the table, the chairs, and on the floor. He calmly escorts them off, presumably to their table, at which point I register a mental note "He's actually just going to leave that mess for someone else. What a ******."

A minute later, he shows back up, paper towels and a broom and proceeds to, almost meticulously, clean everything up. Even properly arranged the chairs, just so, when he was done. I happen to notice out of the corner of my eye that he's got a very tired and shameful look about him. I'm thinking 2 things:

Nice to see he manned up and cleaned up after his little monsters. He notched my faith in humanity back up just a bit.
I'm wondering at his indifference to keeping tabs on the little bastards is a subconscious hope that somebody nabs 'em.

 

[why]



Are you serious?

Yes. I can't believe anyone would think it appropriate to confront a stranger and tell them how to raise their children -- in front of the child especially -- unless there's serious harm being done.

 

[HRoi]



Yes. I can't believe anyone would think it appropriate to confront a stranger and tell them how to raise their children -- in front of the child especially -- unless there's serious harm being done.

you know, i get what you're saying and i would be furious if someone actually told me how to raise my children. and i don't know if "serious harm" can actually be done by an adult snatching a toddler up by her hair, lifting her clear off the ground by the hair, and dragging her 8 feet...but it sure looked bad. i suppose you would have looked on and said or done nothing.

which is, btw, what i ended up doing as well. child abuse is a personal issue for me and it was really hard to not do anything. i'm actually still bummed about what i witnessed up till now. the mother did see our shocked faces and tried to mollify and comfort the child...hopefully that meant she felt some shame at strangers seeing her snap like that and tries to get over whatever anger issues she has with her daughter.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

I remember when I was maybe a freshman in high school my parents and I were exiting a restaurant and there was this screaming, crying little girl going absolutely apeshit. She was being pulled by this man by her hand. She kept screaming, "I want my mommy! No! No!" Anybody in their right mind would have thought immediately this man was trying to snatch this little girl. I definitely thought this and my father certainly did. My father ran up to the guy and said, "Hey, buddy what the **** is going on here? Is this your little girl?" He was like, yes yes yes. My father questioned the little girl asking her if it was her father, but she was crying too hard to answer. The guy kept saying, tell him who I am to the little girl. They got no response from her. But we got the guy's plate number and because my father owns a body shop also noted that his car was painted blue, but was originally red due to the inside door panel being shoddily painted He had some cop friends of his run the plate and check him out and show up to his house. Turned out everything was fine, but I was so happy that my father did something.

 

[imatlas]

Good for him.

Dragging a child by the hair certainly borders on abuse, in my book. I would be tempted to say something as well, but I'm also not sure that I'd be able to overcome the taboo against commenting on someone's parenting. I'm also pretty sure that it would not be enough to make me call the police on her.

 

[acidboy]

I was at a huge shoebox of a mall saturday afternoon with the unwashed masses. more than once I saw a kid lying down/rolling over the floor while their parent/guardian/whatever is doing something else. once this fat annoying boy lay down and did snow angel motions on the floor and I almost stepped on the little bugger. how I wish someone drag them by their hair...

 

[Find Finn]



you know, i get what you're saying and i would be furious if someone actually told me how to raise my children. and i don't know if "serious harm" can actually be done by an adult snatching a toddler up by her hair, lifting her clear off the ground by the hair, and dragging her 8 feet...but it sure looked bad.

It's sounds like child cruelty in my book

I was at a huge shoebox of a mall saturday afternoon with the unwashed masses. more than once I saw a kid lying down/rolling over the floor while their parent/guardian/whatever is doing something else. once this fat annoying boy lay down and did snow angel motions on the floor and I almost stepped on the little bugger. how I wish someone drag them by their hair...

Not really the same thing, as the one HRoi mentions, some of those children deserve a smack in the face or personally I would prefer the parents.

 

[lasbar]



Yes. I can't believe anyone would think it appropriate to confront a stranger and tell them how to raise their children -- in front of the child especially -- unless there's serious harm being done.

As a parent,pulling a child by its hair for feet is not an acceptable way to deal with a situation and I'm not from uber PC brigade..

You can raise your voice,grab the child and telling him off and eventually smack him/her on the leg as a last resort...

What kind of signal do you send to the child and also others?????

I do not get involved in other people ways to deal with such situation but I would have given the parent the look...

Luckily, some people do say something in such situations..

The good old times when parents used to beat their kids up willy nilly without anybody willing to get involved are over..

 

[dopey]

Lifting and dragging a kid by the hair is way beyond what I would consider normal, acceptable parenting. But I am not sure if it really does any lasting damage and if, giving the parent the benefit of the doubt, was limited to those times when the child had put himself in danger, is probably not abuse.

 

[upthewazzu]

I remember when I was maybe a freshman in high school my parents and I were exiting a restaurant and there was this screaming, crying little girl going absolutely apeshit. She was being pulled by this man by her hand. She kept screaming, "I want my mommy! No! No!" Anybody in their right mind would have thought immediately this man was trying to snatch this little girl. I definitely thought this and my father certainly did. My father ran up to the guy and said, "Hey, buddy what the **** is going on here? Is this your little girl?" He was like, yes yes yes. My father questioned the little girl asking her if it was her father, but she was crying too hard to answer. The guy kept saying, tell him who I am to the little girl. They got no response from her. But we got the guy's plate number and because my father owns a body shop also noted that his car was painted blue, but was originally red due to the inside door panel being shoddily painted He had some cop friends of his run the plate and check him out and show up to his house. Turned out everything was fine, but I was so happy that my father did something.

My bro-in-law and I were with our wives at Costco with their 2 year old niece a while back. This niece is very emotional and it takes almost nothing to get her to go ballistic. As it was, my wife and his wife needed to continue their shopping and the two of us needed to head out. His wife asked us to take their daughter home. As you can probably guess, the niece then went absolutely bat **** ballistic in the front area of Costso. The place went dead silent and as the child is making the most epic scene ever made, she then starts screaming "I WANT MY MOMMY, GIVE ME TO MOMMY" repeatedly while at the same time reaching her hands out as if she's trying to grasp her mother. It was the single most embarrasing moment of my life, here we are, 2 dudes carrying a screaming [female] child out of the store against her will while she's screaming at the top of her lungs that she wants her mommy. If at any moment someone had stopped us, I doubt that little Olivia would have made any indication that we were indeed her father and uncle.

This is one of a million reason why I don't plan on ever having a child. Society will ALWAYS be suspicious of a man with a child. Always.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Too true. In the morning on the train platform sometimes I see this nanny with three girls. This one day this guy was talking to the little girls seemingly asking them innocent questions. But he just kept going. I am suspicious of any man who is uncommonly friendly towards children. Especially when they aren't his own. The guy kept smiling at them and talking to them the whole train ride. I don't know if the nanny was oblivious, but by the time the train got there if it were me I would have gotten on a different train car.