Discussions

Yesterday I accompanied my daughters ages 9 & 12 to the fair.  
 
We spent the majority of the day on the Midway - they rode ride after ride after ride, while I carried thier "Stuff" and took loose items while they rode the Zipper, Banzai, and so on ...  
 
All in all it was a great day ... until the sun went down ...  
 
Then it turned into the night night of the freaky ...  
 
My twelve year old met up with a fairly large group of her friend - all 12 or 13 years old ... At one point while they were standing in line waiting for a ride some drunken IDIOT came over and draped himself overone of the TWELVE year old girls ... the girls looked terrified ...  
 
By the time I got there and asked - "did you know him?" he had staggered off and the girls answered "NO" with looks of sheer horror ...  
 
I followed the young man and said - "What the hell were you doing?"  
 
He looked at his friends and said, "Nothin' just being friendly ..."  
 
"She's twelve years old you moron ..." and then I suggested that he taken his drunken ass home and stop draping himself over young women he doesn't know ... when he tried to say - "Man, I didn't know she was 12 ..." I replied that whether the young woman is 12 or 22 is irrelevant - HIS Behaviour was WRONG and could be regarded as a form of assault ...  
 
He apologized after I STRONGLY suggested to his friends with language less clean and calm then I am using here - that he and his buddies go home. His defense was - "I was drinking in the beer garden, SO I can't be too drunk ..."  
 
A few minutes later when the girls finished their ride and started heading to another I was following them and was shocked to hear the drunken idiot yelling at me - "yeah, you better walk away ... you think you own this place ..."  
 
I chose to ignore him and his friends ...  
 
A couple of rides later I'm standing while my daughter and her friends got on the Alpine Bob - buddy shows up and stands about 18 inches away from me and says - "Hey, don't punch me or anything ..."  
 
OH THE THOUGHT WAS FRONT AND CENTRE IN THAT MOMENT ...  
 
he then offered another apology - based on "being drunk and stupid" ... I thanked him and said (among other things) - "get out of my face, and I would suggest you go home before you get yourself into any more trouble ..."  
 
His buddy then showed up and asked me - "What's your problem with --?"  
 
I suggested that he get out of my face and consider that his buddy's behaviour is a problem given that the young women in question were 12 ...  
 
"oh he didn't know that ... he's drunk ..." came the reply.  
 
I pointed out that drunkeness is not an excuse and that he and his friends had best get out of my face before I call security and have them removed for assualting a 12 year old girl ...  
 
He had the nerve to say "Yeah, but I'm OBO ..."  
 
"Then you should have known better than to let your friend get THAT drunk, and to accost young women he doesn't know ..." I then suggested that he and his buddy get the hell out of my face before things get REALLY REALLY ugly ...  
 
I had a group of 12 year old girls who couldn't believe that somebody would be as stupid as this young man not just once but repeatedly ... it was a good teaching moment for them ... They saw the danger of drinking and the risk that drunken idiots driven by bravado and horomones can pose to young women ... they were very appreciative that I was there to keep them relatively safe ...  
 
I am left feeling great dismay that such behaviour as embodied by this young man is condoned in any way shape or form ...  
 
And don't even get me started on the whole issue of the b-st-ds who cut in lines when there is a 45 to 90 minute wait !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just cause your buddy is up near the front doesn't give you the right to delay the wait even further for the OTHER 150 people who are standing behind you ...  
 
I'm glad I went - I had a good time - and I won't let some moronic behaviour ruin the day for us - but I also refuse to stay silent and pretend such loutishness is at all okay ... it's about respect and simple MANNERS - something that is lacking amongst many in our community, and that is just sad ...  
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