I've turned into something I vowed I wouldn't.....a grumpy old woman!

[Dowser]

Had a lovely day out in a city and we went for a cup of tea in a beautiful old church that had opened up as a cafe.

It was quite full but we found an empty table . At the front was a rather small child's play area. There were four very young children . I would say the oldest might have been three and at various times all were screaming. Possibly it was the acoustics in the church but I couldn't bear it. In fact I found it very painful .

I thought it was just me ( gulping my hot tea so we could leave ASAP) but when I looked up everyone's gaze was on these children. ( I had my back to them).

Then the fight broke out! One of the customers must have been so demented as we were had gone over to the family. Things got heated and the mother nearly called the police. Someone from the cafe went to try to calm things down and she got a mouthful off the mother .

We gulped our drinks and left.

I've had kids and grandkids and am qute tolerant of little ones but this was actually painful.

Hate getting old and grumpy. Aargh!

I love your story, Elephant. Years ago (it might even have been before I had DS) I did something similar at a bus stop. A boy of about seven or eight was really winding his mother up, and she was doing her best to ignore him. After some minutes I couldn't stand it any longer and barked in my best parade ground voice "young man, you will shut up this instant, and you will treat your mother with more respect from now on!"
He looked absolutely thunderstruck and fell silent, and she smiled at me. I did think afterwards I was taking a bit of a risk though - she could have been one of those "don't talk to my kids" halfwits.

It's funny sparkling brook but if there had been a child screaming for a while you sort of get used to it but it was the intermittent high pitched squeals that got to me/ hurt my ear drums.

I didn't mean this to turn into a child bashing thread as Im a mum and grandma and I know how hard it can be to keep children entertained when you are in a social setting but this seems to be a more widespread problem.

After the fracas that ensued when the cafe manager went to have a quiet word with the mum , the mum got very threatening and abusive . Told her to leave them alone, they were having a quiet drink ( what most of us had hoped for) would put it on Facebook. I was glad we were leaving . I could see that they were prepared to dig in and stay even longer than planned.

Grumpiness of the day....why as you age do you not sleep for longer! Tired before I begin today.
Aargh!

I'm tired before I've started the day too so I am in Mega Grumpy Mood and wish to apply for the position of Under Secretary of Grumpy Old Woman group!

Plenty annoys me but I work hard at keeping a lid on it! doesn't work

Britain's Got Talent annoyed me a LOT last night and I ended up shouting at the telly a LOT! Totally warranted and nothing to do with the I was drinking

I think the combination of the shriek followed by the just as loud SSSHHHHH of the parent put me off my dinner. The pub was huge too. If we hadn't already got our food we would have moved.

why do people do that Sparkling? at an airport last week for the first flight out - airport was practically desserted but still a family with three children came and sat right next to us (hundreds of seats available all over the place), one of the kids wiped his croissant all over my sleeve as he clambered all over the seats while eating. It was 6am I had a horrendous chest infection and felt like crap, but am very proud that I when he stood on the chair next to me waving his food and drink around I didn't shove him off. I felt sorry for whoever was on their flight.
I am a grumpy old woman too - my kids were taught how to behave in public.

I have no idea desert. Its like when you park in an empty car park so you can open your doors wide etc someone always comes and parks next to you. Weird behaviour.

Part of the problem (which I suspect is the case in this old church) is many eating establishments have hard surfaces so noise is not absorbed. A place with more soft furnishings is much better. But harder to keep clean I suppose.

Reminds me of the time I was wandering around a garden centre the day after I'd had a truly nasty migraine. My head was feeling quite sensitive still!
There was a little girl making that high pitched screech noise and it was cutting right through my head! She stood right behind me, it made me jump and clutch my head.
The Dad did tell her off and pull her away but it was back to the darkened room when I got home.
I have my own little ones now and it's bloody annoying when they kick off in public. I don't know why screeching is fun! It's one of the behaviours that will get them removed from the play area/wherever if it's upsetting others.
Tbh I think I was born a grumpy old bag. There's nothing wrong with a little peace and quiet. I never get any....

My son was a screamer at that age. In fact he can still let out the occasional belter at 3.5 years old. The peak age was 18 months with it tapering off as he got to 2.5 and could talk better. It came from frustration and he is still highly strung but can just articulate his feelings better now. Nearly drove me into the madhouse at the time though. There were some times when I would actually burst out crying with the fright I would get from him screaming so loud. I still get flashbacks! And of course was a social pariah for that period of his life.

So while the mother WBU to threaten to call the police (!!) I kind of empathize too. People would make comments to me and I would just want to cry because I was so embarrassed about his screaming and felt like a crappy parent. Now people remark on how articulate he is. So it got better by itself eventually. In a situation like you describe though I would have taken him out.

Oh DS1 had his moments too, when he was 2ish. I would just carry him out under my arm abandoning everything while he screamed. The thought it was affecting anyone else was always a consideration.

I really am trying not to get grumpy but its so hard when the world is full of loud twats with no sense of personal space and other people! I swear this is a new thing and adults are worse than kids ime.

I took two Waitrose Perfectly Ripe avocados back this week, because they were not, as advertised, perfectly ripe. They were so imperfectly ripe I couldn't cut into them

The customer service assistant didn't even blink, and just said, 'Oh dear, they're not, would you like cash or a card refund?'.

I live in a hotbed of GOWs.

I've become that women!

I actually received a message the other day(FB) of a women I used to know telling me that I used to always be such a happy little thing and she didn't know what had happened to me.

For clarity I hadn't done or said anything to this women she's not even on my friends list.

I felt like messaging her No Shit Sherlock!

Bloody moron I've recently lost my Mum,my Dad has been in hospital with septicemia,just found out one of my cousins is dying of bowel cancer and the my most favorite women in the world next to my Mum(my Auntie) is dying.And I'm seriously ill and disabled.

Bluestocking fabulous

The situation were in sounds dire Op, I'd say you reacted quite well to it!

My dd can be a bit of a noisy shrieky type and I always try to nip that behaviour in the bud when we're out and about in a sort of subtle, gentle manner.

I can't decide whether I'm getting grumpier or whether people are getting ruder and more inconsiderate. I live beside a crèche and the children and teenagers of the neighbourhood seem to think it's perfectly okay to climb over the railings every evening and weekend to play loud, sweary games of football that mean I have to keep my windows closed and not sit out on my balcony if I want any peace.

I was actually told off by a father one evening when I asked his children to get out as it was private property and they were trespassing. Apparently it was okay for them to be there because he was standing on his balcony watching them! The fact that they were trespassing and annoying the neighbours didn't bother them. He actually encouraged his children to continue playing in there after being asked to leave.

That kind of crap behaviour from parents makes me very grumpy

I am joining the GOW ranks too. (My age has a zero, but still a toddler age in front of it).

I had to catch 2 trains over the weekend. Pre-booked tickets so pre-booked seats as well. Got on train (origin station) - my name over my seat (in BOTH cases!). Journey 1 - elderly gent sitting opposite me, elderly lady sitting in my seat. I asked her to move as I had reserved the seat (table, window seat, facing direction of travel) - I was intending doing some MNing and work en route. Well, tut tutting like I was a nasty piece of work for insisting!! The seat beside her DH was free, and plenty of other tables free in the carriage (early morning, not manic train). And I got a glare over breakfast yesterday from the same lady (I got soooo lucky - they stayed in the same city, and even same hotel, as me!!).

Journey 2, train is already part full from 1st 2 stops. My stop - LOTS of passengers. I get on (last in the door because it was mobbed - not intentionally!) and find my seat with a young girl in it. I ask her DGran to excuse me (aisle seat) that I was booked into the window seat. DGran (along with DMum) not impressed - but train was standing room only and I had to work through a hangover for today so needed to sit and read. I heard mutterings alongside me all the way (DMum was across aisle and 1 behind with little girl on her knee - or supervising the antics as she went up and down the carriage mostly!) about the price of the tickets and not even getting a seat for the girl herself, and more mutterings that were under her breath. This was not a table seat, I was faced the wrong way and tired, and had taken the effort to make sure I would be sitting, and working, all the way home. SO I ignored. But I was feeling more than a little GRUMPY about it all.

In both cases, I was expected to let others take my seat. Feck that, I have done the organizing in advance, so I will take what I have organized thank you very much!!

I am definitely a grumpy old woman. I can't bear the sound of children screaming or crying all the time. I know a lot of the time the parents can't do anything about it, but I still find it unbearable and will get out of wherever we are as quickly as possible.