To have told a woman to take her shivering child home to bed in Primark

[BigRedBall]

I went out today to get a few bits and bobs and ended up in a Primark. Got to the lifts and saw a woman waiting with a pushchair and on it was hanging a school bag. Looked to her side and she had a school aged child with her who was visibly ill, shivering, moaning. I assumed she'd picked him up from school and was dropping by on way home, but then realised school bag was from a school other side of town.

We went up together and the boy was whimpering now and looked really bad. The mother didn't seem to notice/care.

So I was walking around and the tanoy went off asking for a store cleaner to go to "area bla bla bla" for a clean up. Didn't really take any notice until I walked to the other side of the shop and the same woman was standing there with a now crying baby in pushchair and crying/ shivering child who had been sick all over the shop floor. There were splatters of pink sick on clothes, the mirrors, it was disgusting and she was stood there on the phone to someone and was telling the boy off.

I don't know about anyone else, but when my children get ill and shiver like that with fever, the last thing I'd do is traipse them across town. I'd give them a hug and put them in bed and hold their head if they were being sick. Goodness knows vomiting is draining even for an adult.

I felt so angry for the poor boy. So I walked up to her and said "instead of bringing him to the shops from school, you should've taken him home to bed. I'd take him straight home and give the poor thing a hug".

I think she was more shocked than anything.

DH thinks I wbu and is shocked I'd say that to someone. I don't think I am. Also, I now feel sick and think I have his germs.

A glass of 20/20 and a toast to pink barfgate

Sounds good to me! I favoured the Hawaiian Blue 20/20.
I could be the subject of a 'was I wrong to tell the woman who barfed blue vomit in the kebab shop to go home and hug the toilet' thread with any luck

Double post fail! And yes, it would be good if you offered to help and someone accepted, but don't just assume people are that nice in most circumstances! In the last few months I have:

Been repeatedly threatened/bullied by a group of teenagers for no reason until I was afraid to go out on my own.

Been told to (quote) "move your arse" when I was trying to get things down from a high shelf in the supermarket.

Had a teenage girl scream right in my face, and make me feel threatened, for politely asking if she was okay when she was arguing with someone in the street after she'd had her phone nicked.

Had someone be rather rude to me on Twitter for saying "oh no" when they mentioned that they lost a child.

Asked someone on the bus if she was okay because she looked as if she was crying, and was told "I'm fine!" in an abrupt "you're being nosey" manner.

Been told by a Jobcentre adviser that I was "arguing the toss" when I asked her to remove a GIANT spelling mistake that she'd added to my CV.

And probably a few other things I've forgotten.

I would imagine that most people on a evening in a kebab shop were only a small step away from hugging the toilet themselves

Keep it sweet people

FrauHelga, I have been there.
The constantly sick child, DH away all the time, and not speaking a word of English.

Maybe if someone had said something I would have had to face it instead of sweeping it under the carpet and trying to deal in ways that didn't help me or the DCs.

Anyway.

@HaroldLloyd

I think we could all do with a pint.

Amen to that. Make mine a pint of Shiraz .

Ok yeah well, taking that on board Otttila, not to say I agree, but if I did, don't you think it might have been useful for someone to do or say something helpful, rather than wading in with both feet, judging and doing actually fuck all useful?

I think anything would have made me think and hopefully do something about it.
Is someone had been blunt then maybe it would better than feeling sorry for yourself when someone is too nice.

Why are so many posters telling lovely heartrending tales of times when they had to take an ill child out? Unless they ignored them when they were upset , then shouted at them when they vomited, it's not the same confused

Because a lot of posters said that the woman and her child shouldn't have been there in the first place.

To those telling OP she should have offered wipes etc, how could she when said mum was on the phone talking whilst simultaneously shouting at the poor child?

Why shouldn't she have spoken up? Haven't there been hundreds of people on the Stately Homes thread on here who probably suffered similar when they were children? Maybe, just maybe, this stranger speaking up could have given this mother the wake-up call she needed.

I'm not talking about it anymore.

Let's all sing a song.

Mum, I would have still approached mum and tried to engage even though she was on the phone. Or I may have just headed straight to the child and seen if he/she was ok.

Hard to say what you would do without actually being there and knowing all the facts. Which the OP doesn't.

Good luck getting us to agree which one.

If the woman was a genuinely poor and neglectful parent, a stern 'telling off' from a stranger is a drop in the ocean in terms of support needed.

Ottilla.

YWNBU. Poor little boy

Pinot? Can we agree on that? Everyone loves Pinot? Or Merlot?

Finally.
I've been sitting here with the for ages.

I'm trying to compose a suitably clean but sounds filthy response to an email. I've been trying to do it since teatime. I'm failing. I need

Um, I've been deleted?! After all the ranting, raving, effing and jeffing on this thread, my comment actually answering whether it was unreasonable IMO, and the reason why, has been deleted?!

FGS