QUERY
You are walking through a store with a companion and come across this scene: A young mother at the checkout is leisurely emptying her cart with one hand and holding her cell phone with the other. She is smiling and having a lively conversation with someone on the phone while her toddler is hanging off the front of the shopping cart screaming his lungs out. It's not the usual kid-cry/temper tantrum, mind you, but this eardrum-piercing shriek like he is being hideously tortured — over and over. His face is crimson. Tears are streaming. The shrieking gets louder and louder. Everyone is staring. Do you:
a) Just hurry past and don't give it a second thought
b) Tell the unfazed mom that something appears to be wrong with her child and suggest that she get off the phone
c) Saunter by in disbelief and complain bitterly to your companion about how people have no sense of decency/compassion
d) Other
posted by kc @ 11:32 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Oh, man. I realize kids can go nuclear with very little warning, but yes, it's easy: A crying kid needs something, even if it's just attention, and a cell phone can only be a rival in such a scenario.
I'm unsympathetic -- and childless -- but I'm angry whenever I see a crying kid at a mall in the middle of the afternoon while his mother tries on shoes -- there is no kid under the age of 3 who shouldn't be taking a substantial nap between lunch and dinnertime. And if he's awake? Don't take him to the MALL. Arrrrgh!
I actually did option (c), with my mom being the recipient of my bitter complaints. I was REALLY tempted, though, even as we moved toward the back of the store, where the shrieking was still incredibly loud, to go up to the mom and ask her to put down her phone and handle the situation. It wasn't just a crying kid; it was a kid who was going totally berserko insane in front of a bunch of adults who all wanted to do something for him — except the ONE adult who was really in a position to comfort him. Seriously, it was the worst screaming I had ever seen in public. Even if she had just TRIED to do something, instead of continuing to gab on her phone, she would have been a much better mom and citizen. No one's asking her to fix the problem; just address it. I just had the sense that the kid goes nuts all the time and the mom's way of coping — probably some advice she picked up from Dr. Phil — is to just ignore him on the theory that "giving in" to him will make it worse.
Yikes. I probably would have hurried past, but been bothered by it the rest of the day.
I really really really don't like it when people talk on their cell phones when they should be paying attention to the task at hand (driving, paying a cashier, ordering food, comforting a crying child, talking to the person they are physically with, the list goes on and on...).
Hear hear, Sara! Yesterday, my teaching colleague, who is the most mild-mannered, easy-going guy, actually yelled at a student who was texting IN CLASS while he was lecturing. I could tell it was something that struck him as particularly disrespectful, way more so than talking to one's neighbor or doing a crossword. I agree. There's something about it that's especially galling.
I read a French short story awhile back, where these two meet for a date and they are hitting it off, and at an especially tense romantic moment in the conversation the guy answers his cell phone (or maybe he just looks at it — I don't remember). And at that point, the woman KNOWS he is not a quality guy. Hehe. Just like that.
Sara! Where did you go? What happened with the job search? Send me an e-mail sometime. (Or update us here ...)
Sorry - didn't mean to disappear. I've actually tried to post on Cinema Chatter a couple of times, but I keep forgetting that I'm not allowed! Anyway, still here, and, to answer cl's question, I've been at my job for nearly 8 months now.
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