Rude child; limited/delayed parental intervention

[Anonymous]

OP, clearly you were in the right. However, don't say device next time.

Say "Your child has taken my cochlear implant. It is not a toy. I need it to hear." And if you have to, grab her phone away.

[Anonymous]

The apples seldom fall far from the tree.

[Anonymous]

Oh my gosh OP….‼️…. I am SO sorry this happened to you!

You were completely justified in feeling annoyed + angry at both the Mother as well as her child for this blatant disrespect of your boundaries!! 😡

The Mother should have told her daughter to apologize to you & should have apologized to you as well!
She sounds very immature as well as mentally unstable to think it was acceptable for her daughter to touch something on your person!!?

:0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 100% sure I'm going to get told to check my priviledge, or I'll be told that my expectation is unreasonable because what I consider rude or inappropriate is not rude or inappropriate to others, but I still need to vent about what happened to me today.

I am hard of hearing and wear bilateral devices to aid my hearing.

I was in a waiting room today when the (approximately 7 or 8 year old) child who was seated next to me reached up and grabbed the device off my right ear. I calmly said, "Excuse you, do not do that. Please give it back to me." The child then started laughing and mocking my speech. The mother just sat there, texting on her phone, oblivious to what was happening, and even after I told her that her kid had ripped my device off my ear and that I needed it back immediately. The mom just shrugged and said, "Well, I don't know what to tell you."

I repeated myself and told the child to give back my device. Again, the child just laughed and mocked my speech.

I then directly addressed the mother again, and she sighed and then said, "Give back the lady's toy." (TOY?!?)

The kid threw my device down at my feet and continued to mock my speech for several minutes. Mom said nothing, but she did chuckle a few times.

I was furious that the child was so rude, but also disgusted with the mother. Thankfully, my device seems undamaged, but that was far from the only problem with the situation.

I am very concerned about the direction we're taking, with limited consideration for others or property. It's infuriating.

This happened in a waiting room!!!
Your hearing aid?
Oh my gosh
I would have told the staff that I do not feel safe on their business premises and walked out
That is theft
Glad you finally got it back, stay away from that place

[Anonymous]

When the kid took it, why didn't you snatch it back right away? If that mom told me I don't what to say, I would have said, well I know.... your kid is a spoiled brat.

It's sad how far we have fallen as a society.

[Anonymous]

I am NOT saying this was your fault, OP, because it wasn’t, but when the mom looked up and saw something in the child’s hand and noticed that you were mildly agitated and you were calling it your “device,” she probably did not understand what had happened. She called it your toy because she had no idea what it was or what was going on. (Which does not make it ok that she was so checked out that she didn’t see her child rip a hearing aid off a stranger’s body!) If anything like this ever happens again, it’s completely ok to be much more assertive and clear with the mom about what happened. Like as soon as the child touches your head, you can yell, “No! Don’t do that.” And when you realize he has your device, you can stand up and say to the mom, with emotion, “he just grabbed the hearing aid off my head. I’m deaf and it connects to the cochlear implant in my brain. I’m going to take that back from him” (or “I need you to get that back from him” but it sounds like she was pretty useless.)

And then, of course, move away from them in the waiting room.

I’m very sorry this happened to you.

[Anonymous]

You are way too nice and calm. I would’ve reacted angrily. If somebody ripped anything off my body, let alone a medical device I would not have been nice at all.

And I wouldn’t have cared if they were 7,8 or 3 or with disabilities or without disabilities.

[Anonymous]

OP, I am going to pick up on one of the PP's suggestions: circle back to the business and let them know what happened. Tell them that you definitely felt unsafe and that you may not be able to continue to patronize them going forward. Perhaps include that you were so flustered as well as frightened in the moment that you simply left rather than raising it at that time.

They may not feel they can take action given the delay in reporting, which makes some sense, but your call does get this on their radar. I would probably ask to speak to the manager and not the front desk workers - they can see so much (BTDT, there are some terrible, entitled folks out there) and can be hard to differentiate the merit of an anonymous call.

Also, while the child may have developmental issues, I would hope that the parent has developed better coping skills, including putting the phone away the very instance this comes to their attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm 100% sure I'm going to get told to check my priviledge, or I'll be told that my expectation is unreasonable because what I consider rude or inappropriate is not rude or inappropriate to others, but I still need to vent about what happened to me today.

I am hard of hearing and wear bilateral devices to aid my hearing.

I was in a waiting room today when the (approximately 7 or 8 year old) child who was seated next to me reached up and grabbed the device off my right ear. I calmly said, "Excuse you, do not do that. Please give it back to me." The child then started laughing and mocking my speech. The mother just sat there, texting on her phone, oblivious to what was happening, and even after I told her that her kid had ripped my device off my ear and that I needed it back immediately. The mom just shrugged and said, "Well, I don't know what to tell you."

I repeated myself and told the child to give back my device. Again, the child just laughed and mocked my speech.

I then directly addressed the mother again, and she sighed and then said, "Give back the lady's toy." (TOY?!?)

The kid threw my device down at my feet and continued to mock my speech for several minutes. Mom said nothing, but she did chuckle a few times.

I was furious that the child was so rude, but also disgusted with the mother. Thankfully, my device seems undamaged, but that was far from the only problem with the situation.

I am very concerned about the direction we're taking, with limited consideration for others or property. It's infuriating.

I would have been tempted to knock this kid and his mother into a galaxy far, far away. I cannot even imagine such behavior.

[Anonymous]

I have multiple kids and no hearing aids. I would have screamed and sworn my head off at both the kid and the parent the second he ripped it out of my ear. When he refused to return it I would have smacked the kid and taken it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks you were in the wrong here.

This story is so egregious it sounds made up. If it isn’t, I’m very sorry you encountered such a badly behaved adult and child.

Think you may be onto something.

[Anonymous]

I have a cochlear implant and if a kid snatched it off my head I would lose my s!it and I would tackle anyone to get it back. There would be nothing calm about that conversation. Those things are expensive!! Not to mention your ability to hear. I wouldn’t censor a single thing out of my mouth to that mom. What waiting room was it?

[Anonymous]

these trolls are getting better at their stories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid was probably autistic and mom didn't want to set him off into a tantrum.

AUTISM IS NOT AN EXCUSE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the kid took it, why didn't you snatch it back right away? If that mom told me I don't what to say, I would have said, well I know.... your kid is a spoiled brat.

It's sad how far we have fallen as a society.

I know exactly why she didn't snatch it back, because the mom would have accused her of abusing her child.