I would love to slap you

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Customer: there is this two year old who lives here who loves hitting buttons! I would just like to smash her with a hammer!
Me: um...
Customer: you know, i just hate her! She loves buttons and & hate that! I just want to...arg!!!

I know why I want to slam this guy to the ground. Tell me your thoughts...

Ummm...tough call. On one hand parents do sometimes say off the wall stuff like that about or to their kids, and if you know them enough to know they wouldn't actually do that it's no big deal.

On the other hand I sense quite a bit of hostility from the caller, especially when he says he hates the two-year-old. He may not literally hit the girl with a hammer, but he may hit her with his fist. Hard. In sensitive places.

Like this one guy in the next town over who hit his two-year-old daughter in the chest because she wouldn't clean her room (Since when do two-year-olds clean their own rooms anyway?) The girl died.

[Broomjockey]

I know the parents all say random stuff like that, but the phrase used was "Two year old who lives here." That doesn't imply a lot of relationshipness to me, so I'd be inclined to take it slightly more at face value. Like Irv said, maybe not a hammer, but maybe...