Then why are you having the party in the first place?

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

This one comes from a friend of mine who works at a party place back home in New Hampshire. We were comparing horror stories and I had to concede the win to her.

So a month ago a couple reserves a room for their 13-year-old for his birthday party with all his friends and family. They filled out the form that describes all the options and extras one can get (catering, soda, decorations, etc) and what they cost. A final price is tallied and the couple pay for it and all seems like it's well.

It wasn't.

Day of the party and the decorations are on the wall, the streamers are run and the balloons are inflated and are set everywhere. The food is prepped, the cake is delivered from the baker (properly decorated and spelled correctly), the music selected is playing on the sound system...they're ready to have a bunch of 13-y-o's party hearty.

MY friend ends up backed into a corner by the couple demanding to know why there are decorations, why there are balloons, why there is music, and why there is so much food.

She explains that she just followed the order sheer that THEY filled out and THEY signed, and THEY paid for.

It turns out that their kid decided to do something (sorry, it was never disclosed to my friend) very naughty and as a result his party was pared down substantially by way of punishment. The kid was told that as punishment, there would be no inviting his friends, there would be no cake, there would be no music, there would just be his relatives (all five who showed up) because they were coming from out of state, and any presents he got were going to be confiscated until he got off of grounding at Christmas (which was at the time 8 months away...what in the hell did this kid do?).

The couple never bothered to let my friend know that they wanted things pared back. They were demanding their money back even though there is a 48 hour deadline for changes or cancellations and freaking out because "That little bastard of ours doesn't deserve having a birthday party with his family mush less all the happy crap you're making us pay for!"

My friend explains the cancellation/change policy but before she can get too far the person demands to speak with the owner of the place. MY friend got on the phone and while the customer was listening got to fire off this nice bit of pwnage.

"Hey Mom? Could you come down to the hall? I have a customer who is complaining that we fulfilled the order sheet completly and that his son doesn't deserve it and wants a refund."

The Mom came over and the customer left without a refund.

Mongo

[crazylegs]

I'm with you,

What the HELL did this kid do to deserve this punishment?

[Andrew B.]

What the HELL did this kid do to deserve this punishment?

I'm thinking either property damage on a massive scale or something that illeglily changed the map of the area.

Maybe he somehow destroyed a dam that drained a man-made lake and flooded part of the town.

[friendofjimmyk]

I'm with you - if the deed were so bad as to illicit an 8 month grounding - the party should've been cancelled. Out-of-town relatives be damned - they can go to the kids house and drop off the gifts - or merely be told its cancelled.

Unless the deed happened that morning or the night before - then there was no reason the entire thing couldn't have been called off.

[blas]

I was grounded for almost an entire school year because of receiving a C for a midterm grade (what your grades are at halfway through the quarter, in other terms...meaning it was like, October and we were only 4 1/2 weeks in). It wasn't completely consistent, but any time that grade went back to anywhere near a C again, I was back on grounding. I'm sure my teacher thoroughly enjoyed having to print out a report of my current grade and test/homework scores nearly every week!)

Maybe his parents are just as big of Quakers as mine were.

Back on topic.....most likely scenario....he did something naughty enough to be recognized, but not enough for juvie.

[jerkface11]

Maybe something Cartman would do.

[Emrld]

As told we don't know what the kid did.

I know of cases where punishment like that could and would be given . . .just for not using manners, hitting a sibiling, using a curse word, breaking a household item. In otherwords the opposite of not giving a flip about ones kid.

Again we don't know the details. I do think it is great for the employee to be able to say "Mom" when a manager/ owner is asked for.

[IT Grunt]

"Hey Mom? Could you come down to the hall? I have a customer who is complaining that we fulfilled the order sheet completly and that his son doesn't deserve it and wants a refund."

The Mom came over and the customer left without a refund.

Mongo

I love this part. Pure pwnage. I can just imagine the SC's eyes when Mom was called in.

[Becks]

That little bastard of ours

What a charming way of describing your own child.

Tsk, tsk.

(Usually I'd laugh at something like that. I was born out of wedlock and take pride in mentioning that now I come with papers , but this just saddened me.)

[PepperElf]

i dunno. to me it's kinda harsh to pull a kid's birthday party for that. but that's me, and all i have is a cat.. and that cat's with my sister right now.

but i know my nephew had a kinda second birthday party this weekend... traditionally the real one is with the family and then the following weekend he gets to spend it with his 2 best friends... he did something to get in trouble, but... was told that he'd pay for it "tomorrow", instead of punishing him in front of the friends etc.

so i guess that's not a bad idea... instead of punishing them by taking away the birthday, why not use a different punishment?

[tropicsgoddess]

The last thing I remember being grounded for a long time was for a bad interim report. Those are the precursor to report cards and the grades can go either up or down before you get the report cards. Even though I tried to plead my case with my mom about it, she wasn't having it and still grounded me until my grades improved on my report card. I think that was around my freshman or sophomore year of high school.

Quoth Mongo Skruddgemire
That little bastard of ours

Yeah, nice way to describe the kid. I can understand the parents were upset, but sheesh.

[Nashida]

Am I one of the few that's never been grounded before? Because I've been punished for numerous things, but never grounded.

My 15- year old brother has been grounded several time for poor grades, and for many things, from having no birthday party to quitting band to not even using the computer/video games. He actually was banned from going on the band's summer trip.

[ArcticChicken]

Am I one of the few that's never been grounded before?

Nope. Of course, I never left the house anyway, so grounding me wouldn't've been punishment.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Either the kid fucked up something terrible, or his parents are just cruel assholes.

And somehow I suspect the latter is quite likely if they are going off on the party place employees for not reading their minds and leaving all the decorations up as they would be for any other party.

As for myself, I didn't get grounded when I was a bad widdle Irv. I got privileges taken away from me, like TV, video games, soda, etc. or got an early bedtime for a while. Or I got spanked. Yeah, my parents beat me and I turned out fine.

[Evil Queen]

Of course, I never left the house anyway, so grounding me wouldn't've been punishment.

That's the way my middle and highschool years were.