Today, my brother's in-laws visited my parents. We talked about lots of stuff, then the discussion switched to the topic of public transport. The mother-in-law, Larisa, remembered something that happened to her once.
She was on a bus. It was almost empty except for this guy. Then a woman with a four-year-old child got on. The child was crying and screaming about how he wanted to sit by the window. Larisa couldn't understand what his problem was. Then the woman approached her and asked, "Would you mind? My child wants to sit there." Larisa refused, saying that they could take any other seat on the empty bus. The woman started screaming and guilt-tripping Larisa, saying, "He's just a kid! How could you?!"... blah-blah-blah. The man then spoke up, "Lady, what are you doing? Are you purposely trying to raise a spoiled brat?" That finally made that woman fuck off. She retreated, grumbling to her son, "You see how bad that woman is!"
I jokingly said, "I think I've seen what kids like that grow into!" Then I told a story of my own.
I was taking a bus to another town. It's a 2.5-hour ride. The bus was half-empty, so I took a seat almost all the way in the back and I reclined my seat since there was nobody behind me. I'm tall, so sitting in those bus seats is often very uncomfortable. It's straight up painful when someone reclines on you, hitting you in the knees, so knowing that, I almost never recline my seat. At a bus stop, an old lady and a teenager got on the bus. They chose to sit behind me for some reason, even though there were other seats available. So the kid asks, "Could you please raise your seat? My mother wants to sit by the window." Even though they were polite, I said no. I didn't think I should sacrifice my comfort for their whim. It's not like they were struggling — they had a lot of options, but they chose the only seat they could that would disturb me. I pointed out that there were other seats empty, and the kid was like, "But my mom wants this seat! Have a heart!" Yeah, sorry, I don't think I will have a heart, even if it makes me a bad person in your eyes.
We're taught to respect our elders, but I think respect has its limits.
Headline image by anniespratt on Unsplash
First of all, thanks for another excellent, relatable post and so beautifully written. И, конечно, есть пожилые люди, которым наглости не занимать! I was once sitting in the dentist's waiting room, patiently awaiting my turn to see the doctor, when this battleaxe and her husband came in. As soon as she spied me, she charged over and announced "My husband's cracked a molar, so he's going to go next." Just like that! At first I was stunned, then I was flummoxed, then I was absolutely furious. I wanted to be respectful, but this was too much. I seethed, "Your husband is going to go in front of me over my dead body!" So she puts her hand on her hip and says, "And fuck you too!" Well, the receptionist had heard the whole exchange and came charging into the room, right up to the old lady, put her hand on her hip and said, "If this is an emergency, take your husband to the emergency room, but you will not come in here and curse our patients out!!" Meanwhile, the husband just sat there with his arms crossed as if nothing. I mean, if he'd come in screaming and bleeding, I would've "had a heart" and let him go ahead of me, but to demand to go ahead of me when the husband's just sitting there reading a magazine and then curse me out, takes a lot of nerve. Yes, it's correct to respect your elders, but you have to have your wits about you because there are a lot of nervy, fresh people out there, and if you give them a finger, they'll take your arm.
Another time, I was living in a condominium complex that was very pet friendly. I had a dog, Coco, who was only two years old when I moved there. One day, we were in the lobby waiting for the elevator when this old woman comes in with her chihuahua, who wasn't on a leash and who immediately charged over to Coco and started snarling and snapping at her. Well, Coco wasn't having it! She grabbed the little dog in her teeth and flung it across the room. The woman started screaming blue murder "They're killing my dog! They're killing my dog!" So the security guard comes over and asks what the trouble is. She immediately starts up, "We just walked in from outside and this dog attacked mine." By this time, she had put the leash on her dog and was holding it in her arms as if Coco was going to lunge at it. Luckily, the guard knew Coco and knew she was always copacetic with other dogs, so he was like, "Are you sure she attacked your dog? She's never done that before. I know this dog." The old lady became hysterical and screamed, "I'm calling the police!!!" The guard goes, "Before you do that, let me look at the surveillance video, so I can provide a report for the police." While he was gone, she called me every name but my own and told me to enjoy my dog because she's going to be taken away, etc. I didn't utter a sound. I just waited. The guard came back ten minutes later and said, "You can call the police now if you want, but I have to warn you — I have video footage that shows your dog, off the leash, attacking this dog, who was only defending herself. I'm fining you $300 for not complying with the leash policy and you owe this man an apology!" He left her with her mouth open. Then he turned to me and said, "I apologize, sir. Would you like me to file a formal complaint with the board?" The elevator opened, I got in with Coco and said, "That won't be necessary. Thank you." She just glared at me. If looks could kill, Coco and I would've been reduced to a pile of smithereens 😅
Both stories from BalaGi and Cocopop are very interesting. These people are annoying. They are just selfish and twist moral. Anyway, @CocoPop, my dog's name is also Coco. She is black lab.
My Coco was half black lab and half beagle! I actually wrote a post about her: https://journaly.com/post/16035