To report the sweet lollipop lady for being too bloody nice

[Pantone363]

She stops and chats to parents and kids in the middle of the zebra crossing. She hugs the kids in the middle of the crossing. She frequently waits on the crossing for people who are twenty meters away. She seems incapable of noticing the traffic jam which is frequently a quarter of the size on the day she is not working.

AIBU and frankly a bit of a bitch (my mate tells me yes) to think that in the middle of a busy town, during school run/rush hour traffic what you need in a lollipop lady is rigid german efficiency. Parents and children ushered across at a forced march. People grouped together and not crossed under a minimum number.

I want shouting. Hand signals. Kids and parents running across the crossing. Not the nice old lady handing out hugs and good mornings.

AIBU?

Yes, but then you know that don't you? She sounds like a poppet!

Disclaimer before i get shouted at for driving, we live 6 miles from school and everywhere 1/2 mile before the crossing is double yellows

When I was little our lollipop lady was a tyrant called Mona with a wooden leg. I'd completely forgotten about her until now!! You'd have loved her!

YANBU as stopping kids in the middle of the road for a hug sounds dangerous but your OP did make me laugh!

Send her my way, I'd love a lollipop lady like that on the crossing on the way to school where bloody impatient arsehole drivers don't bother to stop even when the green man is on. A few days of tailbacks and traffic chaos would be sweet payback.

She sounds pretty annoying to me. Ours are nice and chat to everyone but understand that their role is about getting children safely to and from school and not learning to loiter and manhandle people they barely know.

She must infuriate a lot of drivers every day.

Seriously though, the OP has a point. Quite apart from any minor inconvenience caused to road users, this is not helping to teach the children sensible habits for crossing the road safley by themsekves in the future.

At xmas she has bags of presents from the kids, they love her.

DP came home the other day and started moaning about the traffic near the crossing and the bloody lollipop lady chatting. I knew which crossing it was before he even mentioned it!

She will probably be in next year's New Year's Honours... Lolly Pop ladies often are .

YANBU

We have one near us who is similar - if she sees a car approaching then she looks around to see if there are any pedestrians near enough for her to be justified in leaping out into the middle of the road. Holds the traffic even though the crossing is clear to wait for parents coming along the pavement who are leisurely sauntering back home after they've dropped their DCs off. Meanwhile large queues of traffic are forming in both directions.

It is so so annoying.

If you say a word she'll be straight to the local press with the saddest face ever, surrounded by equally sad faced children.

But YANBU

The Daily Mail is waiting....

YES, crossing adults on their own on the way back from school, lone businessman on their way to work!

With all the horrible goings on in the works right now, it feels quite sad really to complain about people who seem genuinely lovely.

The world is cold enough. Let's treasure those who make it warmer.

Wow! The retribution that will fall on you, when all her much loved pedestrians find out.

We have a lollipop lady just like this. We'd hate you forever, if you grassed up our lollipop lady.

In our case, you can't get into our school unless you live within a 1/3 of a mile, so everyone should walk. People who drive their kids to school are already under suspicion in our area. (As in, what's the deal? did they lie to get in? did they move right after getting a place and "steal" a spot from a "deserving kid in the neighbourhood?, etc.)

You might be technically right, but I am not sure anyone would listen. If you they did listen and ticked off the lollipop lady, word would spread like wild fire, ranks would close. You're already cast as the baddie in this little play because you are a driver and the walkers are on the side of the angels, etc.

She sounds lovely! YABU.
When DD was at primary we had a lollipop lady similar to this. It was a small school with just under 100 pupils but she knew the name of every single one who crossed with her and greeted them by it morning and night.

She kept a smallholding and it wasn't an unusual sight to find a donkey, goat, shetland pony or sheep tethered to the railings for the kids to pet at night. At Christmas the donkey would turn up decked in tinsel.

She was brilliant and sadly she died not long after DD went into High School, she was only early 50's. Rooner has it spot on.

Let's treasure those who make it warmer

There is a lollipop man who is exactly the same at DSs school, kids cuddling and high fiving him in the middle of the crossing, him waiting for groups of children who are miles away (done that yesterday actually, at least five cars could have got through by the time the kids reached him), he always gives me a wee 'thanks for your patience' wave, of course I plaster on a false smile and give him a wee wave back all the while seething as my nails dig into the steering wheel! I'd never report him though! My DP says I'm a miserable witch, I prefer just a little impatient!

maybe she is lonely and getting hugs from children is the best part of her day
or maybe she is a paedophile looking for her next fix

it's hard to tell. there were no Lollipop Ladies in Hungary when I grew up, only Candy Men, who were to be avoided. and flashers. we got flashed once, he had a long coat and no clothes underneath. the idiot. it was winter!

Anyway, if I was you I'd be furious too though, she is there to help traffic not hinder safety & efficiency.
and i don't like the passive-aggressive lollypop waving.

maybe YANBU

Haha we have one of these at our school. Lovely man, insists on crossing parents after the drop off.

I go the long way home now because I end up feeling a bit of knob and giving the traffic either side little thank you waves .

The holding of traffic drives me bats. Our lolly man does that. Mums kick kids off pavements at right angles so they are in the middle of the road but from sort of 15ft back but how a car hasn't had a kid yet I don't know.

The only answer is view it comically.

Zing - she might well be lonely and loving the cuddles, that's fine, but she could bestow and receive them at on the pavement once the children have crossed, therefore allowing the traffic to flow better!

She sounds like a lovely, slightly useless lollipop lady.
Her job consists of keeping pedestrians safe and allowing traffic to flow safely. Hugs and chats, although very agreeable, are not part of her role.
But I don't think there is much you can do really.