Special Snowflake Stories

[RooRoo]

Sounds like she is driving what she may end up being buried in.

What an interesting assumption!

[Gwywnnydd]

Sounds like she is driving what she may end up being buried in.

What an interesting assumption!

No more an assumption than 'He' and 'He'. English doesn't have (commonly used) gender neutral pronouns . You've got a 50% chance of being wrong...

[AngelicGamer]

Sounds like she is driving what she may end up being buried in.

What an interesting assumption!

No more an assumption than 'He' and 'He'. English doesn't have (commonly used) gender neutral pronouns . You've got a 50% chance of being wrong...

Which is why a lot of people go s/he.  I do agree that, no matter what gender, that person is going to be buried in that car.

[kherbert05]

I remember getting shushed in a movie theatre - before the previews started.  The lights were still on, and there was nothing going on on the screen, and yet my talking was evidently disturbing the woman behind me.  Anyone would think that I have a voice like Janice from Friends!

I admit to doing this once. In my defense the woman was a special snowflake. It was the first week of the movie, and I had avoided spoilers. I got there early and sat down. This woman and her friend sat down directly behind me (We were the only people in the theater at the time) and the SS starts to give a blow by blow description of the movie. The movie was a mystery. I asked her to stop that I wanted to be surprised by the movie, and was told to stop listening into their conversation. I told her you sat down behind me and I can't tune you out. (There was no way at her volume even if I moved you could hear her in every corner of the theater.) Her companion got this strange look on her face - like it never occurred to her that you could ask SS to stop. Then she did, rather timidly tell her friend she would like to see the movie without being spoiled. The SS left in a huff. Friend sat there awhile then sighed loudly and followed her friend out.

I use my phone and headphones now and get snotty comments about are you going to turn that off when the movie starts. I find the comments humourous because I go to the movies alone. (Never got the go with friends things - you can't talk during them). I told one lady that kept poking me and asking if i was going to turn off my Ipad (Lights still full up, movie not due to start for 1/2 an hour Theater is almost empty no one but her sitting near me) -Yea I really enjoy paying $10 a pop to sit in a dark theater to play on my Ipad just to annoy people.

I kind of sympathize with the woman in a rock concert playing on her phone. When we were teenagers sis wanted to go to a concert. My parents were on a "Lets make Kimberly socialize" kick. It was decided that I would go with Sis. I didn't like the band, my friends didn't like the band. I told my parents if you make me go I'm going to sneak in a book, sit in my seat, and read it the whole time. Cousin who did like the band ended up being the chaperon not me. (Dad had access to free tickets and backstage passes - so cousin, sis, and 2 or 3 friend each got to go for free)

[Mental Magpie]

Sounds like she is driving what she may end up being buried in.

What an interesting assumption!

No more an assumption than 'He' and 'He'. English doesn't have (commonly used) gender neutral pronouns . You've got a 50% chance of being wrong...

Which is why a lot of people go s/he.  I do agree that, no matter what gender, that person is going to be buried in that car.

It doesn't mean not using "s/he" is wrong.  I don't think it's productive to nitpick over who used which pronouns to describe what, either.

[RegionMom]

When I was a kid and played toy cars with my younger brother, all cars were girls and all trucks were boys. 
 
Since "a tiny orange car" is pictured in my mind as cute, it is a girl, and thus with a girl driver. 
Since no lights were on, and it was very foggy, we may never know...

Still, the driver, male or female, was a special snowflake to drive without lights and still expect others to notice it/him/her.

[BabyMama]

I drove past a white minivan at 6:45 this morning that had no lights on. I can't imagine how well they were able to see.

[PastryGoddess]

Last night the fog in my city was so bad, you couldn't see more than 5 feet ahead of you in the car with the high beams on.  So what do I see (barely)as I'm going through a light.  A big black volvo...with no lights on trying to turn onto the street.   

[ica171]

I thought I saw a flurry of SS this morning, but now I'm not so sure.

My younger son was sick this morning, so I only had to take my older son to school. That meant he was able to go for breakfast--he usually can't because by the time we drop YDS off and get him to school it's 5 minutes before start time. Anyway, we got there about 15 minutes early (the drop off lines get long fast, and if it takes ten minutes to get to the front of the line he won't have time to eat) and were parked pretty close to the front of the school. A minute or two after we got there, someone dropped off their kid and left. The school's policy is that the doors open at 8:40 and there will be no supervision before then, and students are not allowed inside before then. With the first few kids, I was thinking "how rude of those parents to just drop those kids off 15 minutes early when the rules are very clear about when the doors open." However, by the time 8:40 rolled around, there were at least three dozen kids waiting in front of the doors. So now I don't know if this is one of those "we break the rules but the person that made the rules is OK with it" things, or if it was just a SS blizzard. My son was not happy that I wouldn't let him get out until 8:40--he saw his classmates and really wanted to go play with them.

The kids actually seemed to be doing pretty well by themselves. When it was just half a dozen kids, they were all running around chasing each other. A teacher walking in to the school reprimanded them and they calmed down until she left, then played a bit more, but as more kids started to come they broke off into groups and just stood around talking. This is a school for grades 2-5, so ages 7-11/12.

So I don't know. I'm guessing this is like my younger son's school, where people park in the bus loading zone during the times when it says "don't park in the bus loading zone," but they're gone before the buses actually come so no one throws a fit about it.

[Virg]

ica171 wrote:

"The school's policy is that the doors open at 8:40 and there will be no supervision before then, and students are not allowed inside before then. With the first few kids, I was thinking "how rude of those parents to just drop those kids off 15 minutes early when the rules are very clear about when the doors open." However, by the time 8:40 rolled around, there were at least three dozen kids waiting in front of the doors. So now I don't know if this is one of those "we break the rules but the person that made the rules is OK with it" things, or if it was just a SS blizzard. My son was not happy that I wouldn't let him get out until 8:40--he saw his classmates and really wanted to go play with them."

Unless there's a specific rule that kids can't be dropped off early, I don't see this as SS behavior.  I presume that the parents who drop off kids know that the kids are going to be outside unsupervised, and so as long as they don't expect that to change the mere act of leaving them at the door for twenty minutes isn't SS at all.  Why would dropping them at the door be any worse than having them stand at a bus stop for a quarter hour, and why would you think that "the doors open at 8:40 and no sooner" translates to "nobody is allowed to stand at the door before it opens"?

Virg

[ica171]

ica171 wrote:

"The school's policy is that the doors open at 8:40 and there will be no supervision before then, and students are not allowed inside before then. With the first few kids, I was thinking "how rude of those parents to just drop those kids off 15 minutes early when the rules are very clear about when the doors open." However, by the time 8:40 rolled around, there were at least three dozen kids waiting in front of the doors. So now I don't know if this is one of those "we break the rules but the person that made the rules is OK with it" things, or if it was just a SS blizzard. My son was not happy that I wouldn't let him get out until 8:40--he saw his classmates and really wanted to go play with them."

Unless there's a specific rule that kids can't be dropped off early, I don't see this as SS behavior.  I presume that the parents who drop off kids know that the kids are going to be outside unsupervised, and so as long as they don't expect that to change the mere act of leaving them at the door for twenty minutes isn't SS at all.  Why would dropping them at the door be any worse than having them stand at a bus stop for a quarter hour, and why would you think that "the doors open at 8:40 and no sooner" translates to "nobody is allowed to stand at the door before it opens"?

Virg

Probably because no one does that at my younger son's school. It is a school for younger kids (PK-1) but I see students there walking to school through the neighborhood so I know there are parents that allow their kids to walk alone. But you never see anyone even approaching that school before 8:35, and then the parents wait with the kids.

[Isilleke]

I don't know what it is with cinema's that enrage people so much, but here goes.

The woman who was furious and demanded the police came because she was parked in with her three children who needed to get home to their bed. Our security went with her to see what could be done and discovered that she was parked illegally underneath a staircase and the others were parked where they should be. When informed that if she called the police they probably would ticket her she went ballistic.

The woman who started screaming at me because the movie was full (10 minutes before starting time the first weekend it was out) and that I was making her child cry. Then she said she wouldn't leave until I got them tickets. I told her she could stay but I couldn't get her tickets so I was going the help the people standing after her. She left after 2 minutes.
Or all the others for that matter who refuse to believe that when we say it's sold out, it's sold out! And after explaining that my boss closed the room and I therefore cannot even see what's left (because I do admit there probably are 2 or 3 seats lefts, but all very far apart - we have numbered seats) STILL continue to stand there and expect me to give them seats.

[Virg]

ica171 wrote:

"Probably because no one does that at my younger son's school. It is a school for younger kids (PK-1) but I see students there walking to school through the neighborhood so I know there are parents that allow their kids to walk alone. But you never see anyone even approaching that school before 8:35, and then the parents wait with the kids."

There's a big difference between kindergarteners and the kids you describe in your first scenario.  I wouldn't leave a first grader standing near a parking lot without a responsible adult nearby but safety isn't such a big concern with someone who's ten, and bigger kids will usually not let a second grader run out in the street even if they're not really reliable for proper supervision.  Still, I don't see waiting at the door as SS behavior unless there's a rule that specifically says not to do it or if the child or parent expects the staff to open the doors and let them in early.  As it stands I'd just call it a differing parenting style.

Virg

[ladyknight1]

My DS is now in high school, but at all of his schools, being dropped off more than 5 minutes early was not allowed unless you paid for the before school program run by the YMCA. If you participated in the before school program, you parked your car and walked your student into the room where they met. There are staff members outside beginning 30 minutes prior to school starting to keep parents from dropping off their students early.

In elementary school, parents were regularly called in to meet with the principal about dropping off their children early.

[Midnight Kitty]

We had visitors from the Mainland last week.  We took them to the North Shore to the ranch where we keep our horses.  Afterwards, we were all hungry.  We told them about a small local market that has the best fried chicken evah!  Of course, after that build up, they were sold out of chicken by the time we got there. 

Since I am a troublemaker by nature, I asked the clerk, "Don't you have some more chicken stashed away back there?"  I said it in a joking way.  He laughed and said, "No, but here's our number.  Call me first next time and there will be a plate of chicken stashed away just for you."

So I started out playing like I was a SS, but he treated me like I was Special.