A dearth of half-and-half in my refrigerator this morning led to a unfortunate encounter with a member of our youthful entitled generation.
I usually make my own coffee in the morning, but I cannot drink coffee black... yuk! We were out of half-and-half, so I just stopped at a neighborhood donut place that is about a one-minute drive from my house so I could buy a cup of coffee. The place is owned by this incredibly nice Vietnamese family. The donut place (and my house) are just up the street from a middle to upper-middle class high school, and many of those students frequent the donut place before school. When I walked in the place to get my coffee, I noticed a group of boys all sitting at a table. They were straight out of 1976: they were white, pimply, and had long, stringy, unkempt skater hair. They were also being loud and obnoxious. These punks weren't the only ones in the donut shop, as there were also the bevy of regulars reading their newspapers and drinking their coffee; most of them alone, most of them elderly.
I got my coffee and walked over to the table that hosts the cream and stir sticks. I had just finished pouring my cream and putting on the lid when one of the punks got up and began walking toward the cash register; presumably to buy something else. He was walking backwards toward the cash register as he continued to converse with his friends, and that is when he - in jest - blurted out to his compadres, "Ah, fuck you man, I ain't doing that!" He said it loud and proud, as if everyone else in the donut shop would be so impressed with his daring utterance.
Mr. Chanman the parent, and Mr. Chanman the teacher erupted to the surface in one fell swoop! I was on my way to the door by the time Punk-Boy dropped his F-bomb, but I didn't care. I stopped in my tracks, did a 180, and said the following:
"Hey, watch your mouth! This is a public place; have some respect for yourself!"
I didn't yell, I didn't wave my arms around. I said it in a calm but matter-of-fact tone. I fully expected Punk-Boy and his friends to let me have it. Instead, Punk-Boy just stared at me with the strangest look on his face. It could best be described as one part shock, and one part perplexity. His peanut gallery didn't have anything to say either. I turned back around and walked out the door with my coffee.
In this case, I will agree with *CRINGE* Hillary Clinton. It does take a village in circumstances like this. Once upon a time, when young people got out of line, an adult - any adult - would call them on it and tell them to knock it off. Nowadays, adults often sit there, afraid to say anything.
I remember posting an article one time where the author described being on a train near New York City when some rowdy teenagers boarded the train and proceeded to be loud, obnoxious, and profane, yet none of the adults, including the author, said anything to these wayward youth. The author said something that has really stuck with me that I will paraphrase. He said that he and the other adults were acting like passengers on a Polish train circa 1942 while some Nazi soldiers were whooping it up in the same rail car.
Civility is a dying art, and is one that should be studied and encouraged again, even if you have to shock them into compliance like I did today.
Good Day to You, Sir
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was, and never will be." --Thomas Jefferson
4 comments:
"Nowadays, adults often sit there, afraid to say anything."
There is a reason for this. Some parents these days are completely psycho when it comes to other people telling their kids what to do.
I happen to be the type who always thinks that my kids must have done it when someone tells me that they did something, but there are others who always think their kids are perfect.
I had one woman in my neighborhood, who never watches her children, scream and swear at me because I had the nerve to tell her little angels what to do.
There was one guy in my neighborhood who tried to stop some kids from vandalizing the dumpster and he was maced by the parents. (Okay, I don't know what happened in between him yelling at the kids and him getting maced because I was leaving/returning from a walk.)
Actually, there is another reason, too. Kids these days are mouthy and even violent.
I once told a kid to stop playing ball next to my van and he told me to mind my own business! I told him that muddy ball prints all over my van are my business and he told me he can do whatever he wants!
I agree with you that adults need to speak up, though. When did we decide to become a society run by their kids? And the better question is why?
Good on you!
I completely agree with you! I would like to thank you as if it were my kid, and i would like to thank you again for his mother she and myself not knowing how are child ack when they are away from us and with their friends is a whole different story. But THANK YOU! I'am the same way if we are out and about and we see kids hurting another by words or physical either way I try to let them know I'am there and if it gets out of hand I open my big mouth forsure and tell them to knock it off.
Exactly,
we as adults need to stand up and say enough.
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