Inconsiderate Parents

qetu1357

andymc29 wrote: »

I second the point about taking note from our European neighbours, I travel to Europe with work a lot and find in general that European children are much much better behaved than the English ones, it's pretty embarassing. Having said that, you can always tell which flight's heading back to the UK in the airport, it's the one with all the overweight football shirt wearing slobs.

But aren't the continental European adults better behaved than the average Brit too?

Last time I was in France I observed the average Brit not only failing to say please, thank you etc in French, they didn't even say them in English

fluffnutter

qetu1357 wrote: »

But aren't the continental European adults better behaved than the average Brit too?

Last time I was in France I observed the average Brit not only failing to say please, thank you etc in French, they didn't even say them in English

When I was in Paris a few years ago, the only other Brit couple we came across not only didn't say please or thank you, they decided to do a runner from the bar we were sitting outside. Got chased down the Champs Elysee by a waiter. I wasn't particularly proud of my nationality at that point.

qetu1357

fluffnutter wrote: »

When I was in Paris a few years ago, the only other Brit couple we came across not only didn't say please or thank you, they decided to do a runner from the bar we were sitting outside. Got chased down the Champs Elysee by a waiter. I wasn't particularly proud of my nationality at that point.

Did the waiter catch them!?

fluffnutter

qetu1357 wrote: »

Did the waiter catch them!?

Yes, he did! They came back shame-faced and were escorted inside to, one assumes, pay their bill.

Makes you wonder if it's a common occurrence. TBH, I did it once in Spain but that's only because it's more usual to pay as you go in this country and we completely forgot to settle the bill when we left.

We went in the next day though, happily asking for some drinks only to be politely told 'Of course, but can you pay last night's bill first please?'. Very embarrassing but the guy was really nice about it and said it happened a lot, particularly with Brits.

These guys in France were definitely on the make though. We heard them muttering about doing a runner before they left.

qetu1357

fluffnutter wrote: »

Yes, he did! They came back shame-faced and were escorted inside to, one assumes, pay their bill.

Makes you wonder if it's a common occurrence. TBH, I did it once in Spain but that's only because it's more usual to pay as you go in this country and we completely forgot to settle the bill when we left.

We went in the next day though, happily asking for some drinks only to be politely told 'Of course, but can you pay last night's bill first please?'. Very embarrassing but the guy was really nice about it and said it happened a lot, particularly with Brits.

These guys in France were definitely on the make though. We heard them muttering about doing a runner before they left.

I must admit we did it, by accident, in a bar in a posh hotel in India - so used to paying for drinks beforehand I suppose.

Barman found us in the restuarant of the hotel!

qetu1357

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14988762

Another example of why I would keep quite.............

unlocated

qetu1357 wrote: »

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14988762

Another example of why I would keep quite.............

How could this be the case? How this could happen?

Ok, being in a thread about bad parenting leads to an easy explanation but for god's sake, there's too much of "letting people do" mentality!
Why was he the only person telling off the guys and why was left alone? The bus driver didn't do anything, nobody alerted him/her. We're just too scared to claim for our own world that it's left to life-wasters.

JDC14

I would've told them that it's irresponsible to leave their kids running around outside because when they fall and hurt themselves, you're under no obligation to help and without being paid a babysitting fee to watch them, you're more inclined to laugh when they fall.

Then politely explain that its ruining your evening. But make sure you go over when they're deep in conversation so they half understand how it is being interrupted.

mambo69

singlestep wrote: »

My mum and I were sitting waiting for our table at a restaurant recently. The waiting area was against a railing for a raised seating area - there were three or four tables but none near to us. After a couple of minutes, a little kid poured his drink all over us (ruining our tops) and when we dared to complain to his mother, she shrugged and said 'He's only two" and resumed her conversation. ...

Perhaps you should have gone and got a chocolate milkshake and tripped and spilt it all over her

then said sorry but I suffer from "insert your choice" and then walked off

unlocated

Although it could help feeling better (who doesn't like to have his own revenge?) that would probably escalate (although a fist fight might also be desiderable).

While on holidays, I once had (in my 13) tell off a parent who left his kid bury under the sand some garbage (ridiculous!). Result: the kid took the garbage out of the sand and throw it.. somewhere else. And this was the old Continent someone was referring to earlier on. There's more social pressure but education is not a must not even there.

As for the way of dealing with these sort of situation, it is possible to resort to assertive communication (magic word of the day).
It's based on a three stage communication:

- State the problem trying to keep accusations and sticking to facts (e.g. "Madame the kid is running around aloud making lots of noise")

- Express the way this fact is affecting you, in terms of emotions (e.g. I am really disheartened/is causing distress to us/etc cause I came out with my partner to have a nice relaxing evening together and his behaviour is making it difficult to enjoy ourselves)

- Ask them to try to find out a solution: I would like to keep enjoying my evening without having to find another restaurant: what we can do about it?

It generally works, although I am not always confident that human language is understandable by all human species. If the situation falls within this last possibility, appeal to your lack of common sense.


Good luck,
unlocated