To have reported the shouty self-appointed piano police to the actual police?

[PeppermintCrayon]

I am half-expecting to be told I'm being U for posting a thread of the "please validate this thing I already did!" variety...

Recently I was at St Pancras Station. There are several pianos for public use there. They're a bit knackered; one of them has a few keys that don't work.

Some kids were playing one of the pianos, about eight or nine maybe. They were having a fun trying to play different tunes. They were banging the keys quite hard. A man of maybe 55, 60, suddenly appeared and started yelling: "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU NEVER BANG A PIANO."

I went over and said I didn't think yelling at children was very nice and that these kids probably didn't have a piano at home and did he want to put them off music? He started huffing and puffing about how the pianos had to be tuned because of people messing about. I said perhaps he could have said: "Look, this is how you play a piano," and explained nicely instead of yelling. He then started yelling at me.

He then went back to sitting at a nearby cafe table glowering at anyone who went near the pianos, so I went and found a transport policeman and told him this man had been shouting at children for playing the piano and he went to have a word.

I don't think I was being U, but...

[PeppermintCrayon]

I mean the kids were about eight or nine years old, not that there were eight or nine of them.

[WorraLiberty]

He wasn't shouting at kids for playing the piano, he was shouting at them for banging it.

As long as he didn't get up in their faces or threaten them, I can't get fussed about it tbh.

I think most people are too scared to pull other people's kids up these days when they're doing things they shouldn't.

And ages 8 and 9 is plenty old enough to know not to be banging at something that doesn't belong to them.

So it's a 'meh' from me I'm afraid

[AnyoneForTennis]

Banging it as in damaging it?

Where were the parents?

[Peacocklady]

He's a grumpy sod but I didn't let my 8 and 10 yr olds plink plonk recently on a public piano it's extremely annoying for everyone. Those children were too old to be hammering on a piano.

[sonjadog]

I think you were way over the top in reporting him to the transport police.

[PeppermintCrayon]

No idea where the parents were. He was shouting really aggressively. He didn't need to shout...

[WorraLiberty]

I remember when I was about 8yrs old and walking home alone from school.

For some reason (and I have no idea what possessed me), I decided to crush the empty carton of Ribena I was carrying, and post it into a Royal Mail letterbox.

An old man came up behind me, tapped me on the back of my legs rather abruptly with his walking stick, and said "Stop that immediately and use a bin".

I immediately apologised, threw it in the bin and then died inside all the way home...hoping to god that he didn't know my parents

But he was quite right to do it imo and I never did it again.

Nowadays he'd probably have his mugshot on Crimewatch....

[FarFromAnyRoad]

Should he have written them a letter on a scented floral notelet?

[SaucyJack]

8 or 9 is well old enough to suffer the consequences of being an irritating little doodah in public IMO.

I hate those pianos anyway. But the thing I hate even more than kids banging on them are grown-ups sitting there tinkling out Beethoven for the adoring masses. Fuck off and get a good solid British inferiority complex like the rest of us.

[WorraLiberty]

From the OP... They're a bit knackered; one of them has a few keys that don't work.

I wonder why?

[Viviennemary]

The man was quite within his rights to tell those children off. You were totally out of order reporting him to the police. You should be charged with wasting police time. Pathetic!

[PeppermintCrayon]

Okay, it's fine to aggressively shout at small children who aren't yours. My mistake.

[SeenSheen]

these kids probably didn't have a piano at home and did he want to put them off music

Are you for real - this is a perfect example of the root cause of much of children's bad behaviour!

[WorraLiberty]

They weren't 'small children' for goodness sake.

They were old enough to know they were mistreating an expensive musical instrument.

He told them off.

The little darlings will no doubt get over it.

[londonrach]

Glad to hear there are still adults who arent frightened of being pc to tell children offfor damaging the pianos. Ive been lucky enough to see and hear a random tourist play one of these pianos. It was amazing to hear.

[AyMamita]

YANBU. Most children in the uK aren't told off nearly enough.

[CadieAgain]

Well, piano is not my forte, but that man was lucky not to be given grief bach by A sharp minor

[MissPenelopeLumawoo2]

But those pianos are knackered in the first place, they don't put the good ones out! I thought that was what they were for, the public to use. YANBU.

[trufflesnout]

YANBU. It's quite nice hearing children play those pianos since usually it's some jumped up arsewipe who thinks he's a maestro.

[AnyoneForTennis]

Think op wrote this hoping she would be praised!

[WorraLiberty]

They're there for public 'use', not public abuse.

Hopefully that'll be 2 kids who will think twice about mistreating public property.

If only there were more adults willing to tell kids things like that is not acceptable.

Ideally it would be the parents telling them but since they either weren't there or didn't bother...

[AuntyMag10]

Maybe those precious darlings needed that telling off because at 8/9 they should be behaving better than that. They haven't yet learnt to respect something that isn't there's so why shouldn't someone else rightly pull them up on it if there parents clearly left them to it.

[AuntyMag10]

Theirs and their

[NeedsAsockamnesty]

We're they using a hammer or just doing normal fairly robust playing?

[katienana]

they might not have known they were damaging the piano. he should have given em the benefit of the doubt and explained it to them no need to steam in and shout at them.