Thursday, August 12, 2010

Douchebag juniors

So today I was out with my 3 girls, my niece and my mother-in-law. Because we had no power, we went to Nordstroms at the mall to shop. All 4 girls love the little jewelry accessories that are in the kid's section of the store. But before I would buy them anything, we stopped by the ladies room, which is in the children's section. It has a large lounge area, a separate breastfeeding room and then the toilets. We walked into the ladies lounge and I stopped short when I heard a male voice. I turned and saw a teenage girl sitting on the lap of a teenage boy, in the women's restroom lounge. They were flirting in the ladies room. First of all, yuck. If you're gonna flirt, why the ladies room? Second of all, WTF? You're fooling around in the goddamn ladies room!!!

I walked over to them and said, "Excuse me, but this is the ladies room and you shouldn't be in here." I actually said this in an apologetic manner.

The girl said to me "Do you work here?"

I immediately knew where this was going. "It doesn't matter if I work here or not, he shouldn't be in here."

The girl got real nasty and said loudly, "Did I stutter? I asked if you worked here?!"

"No," I said.

"Then mind your own 'expletive' business!"

I smiled very wide and said "Why don't I get someone who does work here instead, then?"

I stepped out and yelled, "There's a teenage boy in the ladies restroom, please have someone escort him out!"

Realizing that they would be in trouble, the teenagers walked out. The girl gave me a dirty look and called me something that rhymed with plucking witch and threw some other words in there that I won't bother to rhyme at this time.

To which I replied, "Girl, do you really think I give a crap what you call me? As long as you and your little boyfriend are out of here, I don't care."

At this point the security guard had reached them and he started yelling at them.

My mother-in-law, who was with the girls, was in shock. She couldn't believe how rude and nasty this 16 or 17 year old girl had been to me. "The sad thing is," she said. "I bet that she talks to her parents that way also."

Yep, I would bet a lot of money that she does. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last that I run into such nasty behavior from the young. For some reason, this particular area I live in is filled with overprivileged, spoiled, disrespectful douchebags. They start as young as three. I still remember the shock I felt when I watched this mom let her 3 year old smear mashed potatoes and ketchup all over the mirrored walls of a Chicken Out restaurant. The mom didn't stop her, just kept talking to her friend and ignored her kid, even when the kid started screaming for ice cream. At one point the kid screamed so loud, the entire restaurant went dead silent and everyone stared. The mom still didn't do a damn thing. When she finally left, I felt terribly sorry for whoever would have to clean up the humongous Picasso like creation on the mirrors.

I actually think that there are more good kids out there than bad. But the bad ones are so incredibly bad that they stand out like a big ass mole with hairs on the tip of your nose. And the sad thing is that it isn't there fault. Parents have to take responsibility for raising spoiled children who are so self-indulged that they believe they can do anything without consequences and be rude to anybody. It's a sad situation. When I was growing up, I would have been punished severely for being disrespectful to another person. Nowadays kids regularly mouth off at anyone. These Junior douchebags will turn into full sized douchebags and fill the world with their douchebaggery.

So my question is, do we have an obligation to point out douchebag behavior to them and their parents? We have to live with them. They are part of our society. If their parents aren't going to call them out for bad behavior, should we? And what are the repurcussions of that? Can we go around calling kids douchebags? I kind of like that idea, but then are we worsening the problem? I'm not sure what the answer is. But it seems that we are seeing a generation of possibly the most spoiled children ever. What will happen when they grow up? Should we be scared? I kind of am.

14 comments:

Kimbra Kasch said...

I remember growing up in a different time. I said, "Darn it," and got slapped.

Not saying we should slap our kids but my parents were good parents and that wasn't abuse.

C.R. Evers said...

I always heard "a swift kick in the butt never hurt anyone" And I believe it.

Especially in that circumstance.

You go girl.

Christy

strugglingwriter said...

My blood pressure rose at least 30 points just reading this. Sorry you had to deal with that.

I find it laughable that the girl thought the greatest authority on the planet was an employee of the shop. "Do you work here?" Please.

My favorite part of your response was "your little boyfriend". I bet that stung more than the rest.

Paul (http://strugglingwriter.wordpress.com)

Tere Kirkland said...

Did I stutter? Geez. What kid says that to a stranger, much less an adult in a public place?

I do wish more people would point out junior douche-bag behavior when their parents ignore it, but if you start, where does it end? I mean, do you ask the jr d-bs if they're using birth-control, too? You know, the super important important type questions you know their parents AREN'T asking?

You've seen the future, and it's scary.

jjdebenedictis said...

On one hand, I want to froth with outrage.

On the other, I really do believe this girl's actions will result in her getting plenty of punishment in life. She won't understand why nothing seems to go right for her, but it won't, because no one helps out a jerk.

writtenwyrdd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
writtenwyrdd said...

I hated that when I lived in San Francisco I was actually afraid to say things to some kids misbehaving. They were gangbangers, and just asking them nicely to move out of the street (e.g. take their drug deal tothe curb) so I could drive past was enough to get you shot. But when I was not in fear for my life, I would say something.

Here in Maine, I told some kids climbing a power pole to get their butts down, and even though I had to tell them very forcefully and actually put the car in park and was going to get out and 'help' them, they did get down without doing much more than look at me like I was nuts. But they are pretty entitled even in our impoverished neck of the woods.

It's the parents for the most part.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I do hope you play in the contest!

Jennifer Ambrose said...

Good for you, Ello!!! I'm always amazed at how difficult it is for Society to speak out against behavior by a small group that is clearly unacceptable. I think it IS our responsibility to say something and I really respect you for being a mature adult and staying classy in the face of rudeness.

Caroline Tung Richmond said...

Ugh, that girl was so rude! I'm so glad that you stuck up for yourself and that you didn't back down. Ugh...

I totally hear you about the spoiled behavior in certain parts of our county. Actually, I was shopping at Montgomery Mall a few weeks ago (in Nordstrom no less!) and there were a group of boys running around the women's shoe section. I didn't see a parent in sight! The boys were all under 6 and they were completely unsupervised. Not only was this unresponsible, I was worried for the kids' safety too!

AvDB said...

"For some reason, this particular area I live in is filled with overprivileged, spoiled, disrespectful douchebags."

The exact reason I moved away from D.C. and will never, ever go back.

Their parents probably heard a liberally edited version of your intervention and started dreaming of lawsuits.

Martha Flynn said...

I think it's fine to call out behavior (like you did...you specified which behavior wasn't allowable), no matter what the age of the offender. That girl will learn, sooner than she likes, how far she *won't* get with that attitude.

laughingwolf said...

blame it on the moron they called the 'baby doctor', ben spock, things went downhill rapidly with his book... GRRRRRRRRR

permissiveness/entitlement/disrespect
continue to run rampant...

i've had four-year-olds tell me to f'off, just for walking by them on THEIR sidewalk, them on a lawn, a good 20 feet away!

you did the right thing

SzélsőFa said...

i came back only to find posts that i agree with completely. it's the parents' responsibility.
bad language and disrespect for adults and for any other person in general has been growing over here as well.

playbazaar said...

Satta king
i like this very much!!!!

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