Hey, asshole, I'm talking to you. I've never met you, but you must be an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really, none of you ever talk on your cell phone and walk/drive/shop/whatever at the same time? REALLY? Because I sure do, and so does everyone that I know. I try to be quiet, but there are not enough hours in the day for me to sit in a quiet place and listen to my mom drone on about her problems and still finish all the tasks I have to do.

You are dangerous. You will not understand the full impact of driving and talking on phone or talking on phone and absently walkng into an intersection thereby causing an accident. Unfortunatley you will probably walk away unscathed but cause serious bodily injury or death to another. Why, because you are too selfish to sit in a quiet space and chat with your mother.

[Anonymous]

It wasn't that she was walking down the sidewalk and on the phone, it was because she was on the phone, she misinterpreted an officer directing traffic. She stepped off the curb and was told by the same officer not to go, as he was telling cars behind her to turn. The woman who scolded her did so because the OP wasn't really paying attention and walked into the street.
The whole thing kind of reminds me of the girl who was texting while walking, and fell into a manhole. http://wcbstv.com/local/texting.manhole.raw.2.1081403.html

I can understand that OP doesn't use her phone, and doesn't like to use it. She also has to understand that this situation really isn't about her. She could have been hit by a car, something that the scolding woman would have witnessed. If she kept going she could have been killed, something I am sure her husband and child would be dramatically effected by. I have to admit I might of said something too. Probably not in a bitchy way, but I am sure in that type of situation, even the nicest tone would be taken as bitchy.

I have had enough of people on their phones. I have been shushed by a guy at the Olive Garden because I was laughing while he was on the phone. It struck me in such a way that I couldn't help but keep laughing, even as I was trying to tell the kids to settle down because that man was on the phone. Really! Then there was the postal woman yesterday who parked her mail truck in the intersection and just sat there and chatted away. I made the hang up gesture to her and she gave me the stink eye.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe that OP wrote such a long tirade about such a stupid incident. And yes, I agree with PP that she's luck that she didn't fall into a manhole!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things are not always what they seem. Some ass in the whole foods made a similar comment to me when I had a phone to me ear and was getting a cart. I was listening to a voice mail and the hold up was the buckle had been smashed and I had a hard time getting the toddler buckled in. I had to pry apart the part that holds the insert to get it in. When I was walking away, he said something about me being too busy on the phone to get a cart. I yelled out "fuck you!" and kept walking. He could not see what I was bent over doing and just assumed I was standing there because I was on the phone. He didn't need to say anything, it was done and over and he just wanted to be a dick. Even if I was taking too long for him, there was another row of carts for him to choose from.

In front of your TODDLER???? Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Then there was the postal woman yesterday who parked her mail truck in the intersection and just sat there and chatted away. I made the hang up gesture to her and she gave me the stink eye.

Call USPS. I'm sure they'd like to know about one of their employees driving negligently while on company time.

[Anonymous]

Haven't read other comments but just wanted to say that OP's story is a good reminder that I don't always know what is going on with the other person and should try not to prejudge. thanks, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
In front of your TODDLER???? Wow.

I guess I could teach her to take a bunch of crap off of strangers, that would be preferable. I'll be sure to get out any asshole's way from now on so I don't inadvertently irritate them. If someone is rude from now on, I'll be sure go cry about it all by myself instead of telling that person how I really feel. That sounds so much more healthy.

[Anonymous]

Yes, because the only two options available to any of us are fishwife-style vulgarity, and sobbing in a corner over how cruel the world is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
In front of your TODDLER???? Wow.

I guess I could teach her to take a bunch of crap off of strangers, that would be preferable. I'll be sure to get out any asshole's way from now on so I don't inadvertently irritate them. If someone is rude from now on, I'll be sure go cry about it all by myself instead of telling that person how I really feel. That sounds so much more healthy.

Not the poster you are responding to, but the problem with shouting at the person who was rude is that it sort of validates their rudeness. Taking the high road is hard, I totally get it, but then you have two shaken up people and the first rude person feels like you are an ass. If you just let it roll off your shoulders, you ARE taking the high road and then leaving that person embarrassed and trying to justify what they said to themselves. Because to most people, acting rude does not feel good. They act out in the heat of the moment, and sometimes they are embarrassed after. By shouting at them, you don't let them feel embarrassed, just justified.

However, sometimes it does feel good to not let someone else push you around, so I understand your reaction, but in the end, I think it's better just to let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
In front of your TODDLER???? Wow.

I guess I could teach her to take a bunch of crap off of strangers, that would be preferable. I'll be sure to get out any asshole's way from now on so I don't inadvertently irritate them. If someone is rude from now on, I'll be sure go cry about it all by myself instead of telling that person how I really feel. That sounds so much more healthy.

Not the poster you are responding to, but the problem with shouting at the person who was rude is that it sort of validates their rudeness. Taking the high road is hard, I totally get it, but then you have two shaken up people and the first rude person feels like you are an ass. If you just let it roll off your shoulders, you ARE taking the high road and then leaving that person embarrassed and trying to justify what they said to themselves. Because to most people, acting rude does not feel good. They act out in the heat of the moment, and sometimes they are embarrassed after. By shouting at them, you don't let them feel embarrassed, just justified.

However, sometimes it does feel good to not let someone else push you around, so I understand your reaction, but in the end, I think it's better just to let it go.

Some people just don't care about being rude. And they keep on with their behavior because nobody says anything and make them suffer the consequence. Maybe other people realize their mistakes but these people need a big foot up the butt before they even consider they might have done anything wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Not the poster you are responding to, but the problem with shouting at the person who was rude is that it sort of validates their rudeness. Taking the high road is hard, I totally get it, but then you have two shaken up people and the first rude person feels like you are an ass. If you just let it roll off your shoulders, you ARE taking the high road and then leaving that person embarrassed and trying to justify what they said to themselves. Because to most people, acting rude does not feel good. They act out in the heat of the moment, and sometimes they are embarrassed after. By shouting at them, you don't let them feel embarrassed, just justified.

However, sometimes it does feel good to not let someone else push you around, so I understand your reaction, but in the end, I think it's better just to let it go.

I didn't chuck fruit at him, I felt like I was taking a high road (that was a joke). I could have ignored his bad behavior, but that is not what I wanted to do. I wanted him to understand that I thought he was being a dick. I don't feel bad about giving him attitude. I would have been annoyed with myself if I just kept quiet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not the poster you are responding to, but the problem with shouting at the person who was rude is that it sort of validates their rudeness. Taking the high road is hard, I totally get it, but then you have two shaken up people and the first rude person feels like you are an ass. If you just let it roll off your shoulders, you ARE taking the high road and then leaving that person embarrassed and trying to justify what they said to themselves. Because to most people, acting rude does not feel good. They act out in the heat of the moment, and sometimes they are embarrassed after. By shouting at them, you don't let them feel embarrassed, just justified.

However, sometimes it does feel good to not let someone else push you around, so I understand your reaction, but in the end, I think it's better just to let it go.

I didn't chuck fruit at him, I felt like I was taking a high road (that was a joke). I could have ignored his bad behavior, but that is not what I wanted to do. I wanted him to understand that I thought he was being a dick. I don't feel bad about giving him attitude. I would have been annoyed with myself if I just kept quiet.

And congratulations. That's EXACTLY what YOU ended up being.

[Anonymous]

wouldn't it have been more appropriate to say something like "then next time maybe you can help me unhook the stuck seatbelt?" It would have informed he was wrong in his assumptions and made him look like a jerk. Hmmm.

[Anonymous]

I guess I could teach her to take a bunch of crap off of strangers, that would be preferable. I'll be sure to get out any asshole's way from now on so I don't inadvertently irritate them. If someone is rude from now on, I'll be sure go cry about it all by myself instead of telling that person how I really feel. That sounds so much more healthy.

Right - what you did sounds very healthy. And you sound like an emotionally-balanced individual.

Good thinking to get your toddler started on learning the F word now, so she doesn't think it's ok to "take a bunch of crap off of strangers!"

Ignoring someone's rude comment instead of lashing out like a crazy person (honestly, who screams "F-- you!" in front of the grocery store, and with a child in tow?!) does not make you a doormat. It makes you someone with the judgment to realize a trivial situation is not worth escalating. It takes more sense and self-possession to walk away. Shouting profanity makes you look much worse than the person who offended you.

The fact that you seem so proud of what you did is the most disturbing part of your whole story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I guess I could teach her to take a bunch of crap off of strangers, that would be preferable. I'll be sure to get out any asshole's way from now on so I don't inadvertently irritate them. If someone is rude from now on, I'll be sure go cry about it all by myself instead of telling that person how I really feel. That sounds so much more healthy.

Right - what you did sounds very healthy. And you sound like an emotionally-balanced individual.

Good thinking to get your toddler started on learning the F word now, so she doesn't think it's ok to "take a bunch of crap off of strangers!"

Ignoring someone's rude comment instead of lashing out like a crazy person (honestly, who screams "F-- you!" in front of the grocery store, and with a child in tow?!) does not make you a doormat. It makes you someone with the judgment to realize a trivial situation is not worth escalating. It takes more sense and self-possession to walk away. Shouting profanity makes you look much worse than the person who offended you.

The fact that you seem so proud of what you did is the most disturbing part of your whole story.

Agree. I absolutely can't believe a mother is proud of shouting "Fuck you" at a stranger in front of her toddler.