Well, you started it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You were brusque and provoked her. Who on earth answers like this?

Not OP but surely you’ve had a time in life where you were late, stressed etc and answered bluntly, no?

Once, to a weird man, when he wanted to have a long conversation about my dog and I was late. I would never have responded rudely to a mother with kids needing my help!

Since I’ve had kids, I’ve learned this some people (fortunately a small minority) are ruder to you when you’re with kids than without. Some people just don’t like kids/think they’re gross/annoying etc and feel it’s more ok to be rude to them/in front of them because what can you do? I imagine some of those people also look down on mothers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You were brusque and provoked her. Who on earth answers like this?

Not OP but surely you’ve had a time in life where you were late, stressed etc and answered bluntly, no?

Once, to a weird man, when he wanted to have a long conversation about my dog and I was late. I would never have responded rudely to a mother with kids needing my help!

Were you just turned off at the sight of a mother and child “in your space” that’s normally occupied by DINKs, singles etc and you purposefully came off blunt? Because had it been a bunch of law students looking for their friends or a corporate type in a suit, I have a feeling you would’ve been nicer even if you didn’t know the answer. I have definitely seen people act that way when they see a kid beyond baby age in a place where kids are rare.

Anonymous wrote:
You were brusque and provoked her. Who on earth answers like this?

Not OP but surely you’ve had a time in life where you were late, stressed etc and answered bluntly, no?

Anonymous wrote:Is this how the interaction went?

-- Does the Jones family live down at the end of this hall?
— No idea, don’t know who lives there.

No "Excuse me"? No "Sorry, I don't know"?

If that's verbatim, the whole interaction does feel very brusque to me.

It does sound brusque — my first thought was OP is from NYC. Everywhere else you’d hear— sorry IDK. In NYC it’s more — don’t know, don’t care kind of attitude.

You were brusque and provoked her. Who on earth answers like this?

Nothing to do with being a parent, but I generally expect that most people I encounter will be polite. People like you keep disappointing me though.

She sounds stressed.

Is this how the interaction went?

-- Does the Jones family live down at the end of this hall?
— No idea, don’t know who lives there.

No "Excuse me"? No "Sorry, I don't know"?

If that's verbatim, the whole interaction does feel very brusque to me.

Anonymous wrote:The rudest person in this scenario is you, who had a negative experience with an individual, and blows it up to presume that pretty much all parents act/behave/have these expectations.

OK, you had a rude encounter. That's life. Move on. Do you really need the attention of this thread?

Hey look it’s play date mom!

The rudest person in this scenario is you, who had a negative experience with an individual, and blows it up to presume that pretty much all parents act/behave/have these expectations.

OK, you had a rude encounter. That's life. Move on. Do you really need the attention of this thread?

I’m pretty sure neither of you are modeling great behavior for a kid. But...the kid spends more time with the mom than you, so she’s the bigger sh*theel.

She was ridiculous. If I asked someone if a certain person lived there, and the person responded they didn't know, I'd thank them for their information and be done.

She's projecting.

Running off to work and as I’m locking my door I see a mom and kid (4-6 yrs old) in the hallway of my condo building; it’s one of those tall apartment towers with mostly grad students and young professionals though there are some families - maybe 5-10% of the tenants. She was clearly there for a play date or something, couldn’t find the friends apartment and was calling them but no response. So as I’m running out the door she goes — does the Jones family live down at the end of this hall? My response — no idea, don’t know who lives there. She then goes — well I’d expect you’d know your neighbors. My response - well I don’t - as I go past her and her kid. She then starts commenting on modeling politeness in front of a young child, as I rolled my eyes and left.

Do you now expect all adults to be polite and helpful bc CHILD?? Or was this woman being ridiculous? I mean I easily could’ve said eff off at any point in this conversation. How would she have explained that to her sweetie?