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  • SC at Target - Case of Minding Your Own Business

    Here's a good little story from a trip I made a week or so ago to Target with my wife, her mom and her friend. At that time, she was babysitting her other friend's baby. Now, he's little and just started teething, so now and again he'll become very upset and start crying, so we'll tend to him and eventually he'll quiet down. He'll also get upset - of course - when he's tired. And when it's both? Oh, mercy.

    Anyway, the four of us are in Target and we're walking around when the baby starts to cry - and I mean *cry*. Basically, there was little we could to do take care of it at that moment, so my mother-in-law elects to take the baby and bring it outside so she can sit, let him sleep, maybe even give him some infant Orajel stuff for his teeth (which usually helps). So, she loads up the stroller and heads in the other direction as we go further into the store with our cart.

    Now, keep in mind, this kid can be loud when he wants to be. So, as we're heading to the back - we can still hear him and this customer, apparently commenting to a friend of her's, happens to say - as we're passing...

    SC: "Ugh, how can they just let him cry like that?"

    My wife, I should point out, has no fear of conflict. She will say whatever she wants to say if it needs to be said, the exact opposite of me. She would have let it pass, but that comment made her stop in her tracks.

    Wife (J): "Excuse me, but that's our baby, and he's tired and teething, that's why he's crying."

    Instead of stepping away gracefully? Maybe apologizing? Nah.

    SC: "Well, why don't you pick him up?"
    J: "That doesn't help. He's eight months old, I think I know what I'm doing. He needs to sleep, he's teething, he'll stop crying when those things stop bothering him. I don't need your advice, but thank you for your concern."

    And we turned and walked away. The SC, by that point, had this expression on her face, apparently in shock that someone was actually going to talk back to her like that. But seriously, people, mind your own business. It's one thing if we were neglecting him or - like other parents - just letting our kids run around wild, but it's another thing when it's just a baby and when he wants to cry, he's probably just gonna cry.

    Oh, BTW, yeah, she did say the kid was her's, but it's a lot easier to say that than it is to explain the whole babysitting principle, especially to someone who feels the need to complain about something for no reason.

  • #2
    I guess you can't see objectively speaking how anoying a crying baby is.

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    • #3
      Quoth tonydanza View Post
      I guess you can't see objectively speaking how anoying a crying baby is.
      Of course he knows how annoying a crying baby can be. What the SC didn't seem to know is that sometimes babies (especially ones who are colicky or teething) are inconsolable, and his wife and MIL were already taking steps to deal with the problem. It was not the SC's place to offer any "parenting" advice, no matter how annoying the crying was.
      "My mother always said, 'Feelings are like treasures...so bury them.'"

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      • #4
        "SC: "Ugh, how can they just let him cry like that?"

        I like that. As if it's always a simple matter to quiet them instantly.

        That's okay. Chick will probably get her turn eventually. Maybe someone will even ask her how she can just let her baby cry like that.

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        • #5
          I always liked my sister-in-law's answer.

          "All right, Dr. Spock, why don't YOU tell me EXACTLY what will make him stop? Or better yet, why don't you take him and fix him right up?"

          You've never SEEN backpedaling so fast...
          "Maybe the problem just went away...maybe it was the magical sniper fairy that comes and gives silenced hollow point rounds to people who don't eat their vegetables."

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          • #6
            Quoth tonydanza View Post
            I guess you can't see objectively speaking how anoying a crying baby is.
            We all know how annoying a crying baby can be.

            We also know that it won't make things better to get in the parents' faces and say "Will you shut that kid up already!?"
            Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

            "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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            • #7
              Quoth MystyGlyttyr View Post
              "All right, Dr. Spock, why don't YOU tell me EXACTLY what will make him stop? Or better yet, why don't you take him and fix him right up?"
              That's awesome. I'll definitely have to remember that.

              In regards to the comment about the crying baby, of course I can see how it is. Who in their right mind LIKES the sound of a crying baby? I mean, one who is already well born.

              But seriously, it's like the kid has an off switch. I almost wanted to tell the lady "Oh, shoot, I left the baby on again? Crap. Hey, can you switch the baby to off please? I forget every time... Thanks, his batteries might have died."

              It probably wouldn't have mattered if, even after that comment and what my wife said, they said something like.. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense. I hope he feels better" or something along that vein. But "Why don't you pick him up?" That's it! The magic cure! Picking up infants cures all ails. In fact, when I'm upset, I just stand and it all goes away.

              Pfft. Busybody.

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              • #8
                It's one thing if it's a kid who is screaming just to make noise, running around knocking things over, etc. The parent can, and should, put a stop to it.

                But a crying baby? Sometimes they just cry, and you can't stop it. Especially when they're teething, tired, or just grumpy.
                Sometimes life is altered.
                Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
                Uneasy with confrontation.
                Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

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                • #9
                  Even me, who hates screaming kids, will forgive a crying baby. Babies can't help crying for things; they're either tired, hungry, teething, sick, or maybe just bored, and there's nothing a person can do to quiet them.

                  However, if we're talking a school age kid, then that's different.
                  People who don't like cats were probably mice in an earlier life.
                  My DeviantArt.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth MystyGlyttyr View Post
                    I always liked my sister-in-law's answer.

                    "All right, Dr. Spock, why don't YOU tell me EXACTLY what will make him stop? Or better yet, why don't you take him and fix him right up?"

                    You've never SEEN backpedaling so fast...
                    Heh, bad thing is.... I mentioned it to a woman ignoring her kid she basically pushed the screaming munchkin into my arms and within ten seconds the baby was asleep. I just smirked and said, "Well he likes me.... What's that say about you?" Woman took her baby and stormed off....

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                    • #11
                      Quoth Lace Neil Singer View Post
                      Babies can't help crying for things; they're either tired, hungry, teething, sick, or maybe just bored, and there's nothing a person can do to quiet them.

                      However, if we're talking a school age kid, then that's different.

                      EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't have said it better myself.
                      Unseen but seeing
                      oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
                      There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
                      3rd shift needs love, too
                      RIP, mo bhrionglóid

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                      • #12
                        what....the customer expects the baby to say "hey mom, dad my teeth are hurting right now... and im really tired.." uh...babies communicate BY crying at times. Its not his fault he was teething....when a baby cries they are trying to tell you that something is not right. Kudos to the wife for saying she did not need the advice of the sc....
                        NEVER underestimate the stupidity of the customer

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                        • #13
                          I agree. It is easy to forgive babies- I mean, they are babies! Sure, the crying may drive me nuts, but I always give the parents the benefit of the doubt, especially if they are trying to console their child and are not just ignoring it while it screams.
                          In this case, I think the appropriate steps were being taken! Kudos! Sucky Lady should have minded her own business- I'd like to see how well she would handle a baby that was teething and tired.
                          I will not shove “it” up my backside. I do not know what “it” is, but in my many years on this earth I have figured out that that particular port hole is best reserved for emergency exit only. -GK

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