Do your kids play "guns"?

[knapplc]

Might as well tell this story since the topic has been brought up.

A couple of weeks ago I was at Kroger's (supermarket) picking up a few things. While I was checking out the chips trying to figure out what I wanted, this woman said "Madison don't do that!". She was a good 10 feet away or so and I could see she had a little girl with her, so I figured it out and just tried to ignore her. Anyway, the mom kept on with the "Madison this" and "Madison that", so I finally turned to her and said "Would you please shut up and leave me alone?"

Stark wide eyed look of terror from the mother.

So I said something along the lines of: "While I appreciate that you named your daughter after me, I don't need you repeating my name over and over and over again. It's unoriginal and unimaginative people like you that are sending the country down the toilet!".

Still the same look on her face.

So I said something like: "Do I have to spell this out for you? God America has really become dumb. MY name is Madison, so shut the hell up! Do you understand now, or do you have a lack of upbringing problem that's preventing you from being able to concentrate, and need me to repeat it again?"

The look of horror faded and I get this meek little reply of "I'm sorry.....I didn't know that was your name too.".

So I said, "Too? I was named long before your daughter in case you don't realize that fact. Doesn't matter though, just tell her whatever you're telling her and quit repeating my name like it's something special, or something you thought long and hard about and came up with on your own. It isn't. You pulled it out of a book for crying out loud self edited as it could be offensive, so shut up!".

And proceeded to leave.

Wow! That may in fact be the rudest, most unwarranted diatribe I've ever heard of.

Uh... yeah. Did you really do that, Mad? And if you did, I just have to ask, "Why?!?!?!" What possible good could that have done?

Yes, I did do that.

Does anyone think she will go around saying "Madison" every 5 seconds again? I'm going to say no. Parents who call their kid by name every 5 seconds annoy me (as stated in the original post), and I know I'm not the only one. Who is it, Chris Rock that's got the whole "Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Jeffrey" thing in one of his standup routines? It's annoying, plain and simple. Even more annoying when it's your name being used.

Good that came from what I did:

Saved everyone from having to hear her say "Madison" every 5 seconds for the rest of the kid's life when they are out in public.

Showed her that she showed a lack of consideration for those around her, and how some would react to her lack of consideration for others.

Pointed out that she wasn't being original with the name choice. She's not cool, or Ms. Awesome Mom or anything, as Madison has been a super popular name for baby girls the last few years. While her daughter is special to her, the name is not anything special, so there's no need to emphasize it constantly.

Maybe she will teach her daughter common courtesy, since she now knows what common courtesy is. Prior to this, she had no clue about being courteous to her fellow shoppers, so someone failed to teach her that. Maybe now she will pass along that learning to her daughter.


Was I rude? Absolutely. I could have been a whole lot nicer, but at the same time, I have no regrets about teaching that lady a little common courtesy for her fellow shoppers. Had someone taught her that before, this never would have been a problem. You guys act like I jumped her simply for saying my name once. She said it a whole bunch of times before I told her like it is.

It's a good thing your town has you around, then! We don't have Comportment Police in our town - people are obligated to behave as they see fit, without the benefit of someone telling them how they should behave. It's absolute freedom here.

Horrible, too.

[gablefan]

So what if someone jumped on your case for taking the Lord's name in vain in your conversation? Then what if someone jumped their case for jumping you?...It could kind of turn into a vicious cycle!

I understand your point you wanted to make, but you could have come across in a more well manored way....

[Madison]

It's a good thing your town has you around, then! We don't have Comportment Police in our town - people are obligated to behave as they see fit, without the benefit of someone telling them how they should behave. It's absolute freedom here.

Horrible, too.

Exactly. She's free to act as she pleases, and I'm free to tell her what I think of it.

So what if someone jumped on your case for taking the Lord's name in vain in your conversation? Then what if someone jumped their case for jumping you?...It could kind of turn into a vicious cycle!

I understand your point you wanted to make, but you could have come across in a more well manored way....

I have been jumped for taking the Lord's name in vain, and I apologized to the person who said something about it, told them they were correct, and still make sure to this day not to do it in front of them again .

I already admitted I could have been nicer about it.

[Omaha Red Sox]

I definitely had not seen that story before.

I think I would have given you a hard time about how rude you were, but since you already know that....