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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 21 22

Original poster

Would a little common decency have hurt?

549 replies

Weezapleeza · 22/02/2021 17:10

My nephew lost control of his R/C car and it went into the road. A few seconds later a woman in a Discovery ran right over it but apparently without batting an eyelid. She didn't slow down or stop either before or after. It was like she'd just flattened it in passing. Then the acknowledgement came. A couple of minutes later she pulled up outside the drive, wound down her window, and asked him the most incredible question. "Did you enjoy that?" She was furious, and rude, and he was in tears. That seemed to give her an answer but all she did then was drive off again. No apology, nothing. AIBU to expect better?

OP posts:

PurplePansy05 · 22/02/2021 17:32

OP, you really are naive as your last post shows, sorry. You're wrong on this one.

Smartiepants79 · 22/02/2021 17:32

My response would depend a bit on age of child.
5 yrs old - clearly an accident and I’d have probably just driven on, might have stopped to say sorry.
11+years old - would have suspected that possibility that it was done on purpose and would have been shaken and pissed off. It’s in the same realm as throwing stones at passing cars or doing stupid things on bikes in the opposite direction to traffic.
Running anything over, especially if you don’t really know what you’ve hit is stressful.
A lesson learned not to play with toys by the road.

Brownteddybear · 22/02/2021 17:32

Common decency? She was probably shaken by this. Your nephew needs to be taught not to do this!

Hugely irresponsible and exceptionally stupid of the adult to let your nephew loose with a remote control car near a main road.

It only takes a second for an accident to happen. I've seen someone run out in front of a poor motorcyclist to grab an orange they'd dropped into the road by mistake which nearly caused a crash.

2typesofjungle · 22/02/2021 17:32

So many questions, not many answers

How old is your nephew?
Who was watching him at the time?
Did you immediately apologise to the driver when she came back?

CherryRoulade · 22/02/2021 17:32

@UrAWizHarry

A plastic r/c car is not going to damage an actual real car.

Yes, letting it go in the road is not idea but any adult reducing a kid to tears in that way is a prize cunt.

Unless the driver, concentrating on the road just glimpses something moving out of the corner of their eye and thinks it's a dog then swerves to avoid it thus crashing the car. The driver wasn't responsible for the tear, the supervising/abdicaating adult was.

nimbuscloud · 22/02/2021 17:32

How old is your nephew?

UrAWizHarry · 22/02/2021 17:33

@PurplePansy05

Interesting you think "common decency" applies to the driver. Did you apologise to her for your failure of supervision? That would be common decency on your part.

Well, yes, it still does. There are ways to deal with issues like this, making a kid cry is not one of them.

MargaretThursday · 22/02/2021 17:33

The apology should have come from your nephew and whoever was supervising him. If he couldn't control it to keep it on the driveway he shouldn't have been doing it near a road, it could easily have caused an accident.

luxxlisbon · 22/02/2021 17:33

"But it was stationery for a good few seconds before she completely squashed it so it all looked a bit casual."

What exactly were you expecting, someone to swerve off the road or slam on the breaks with no regard for themselves or any other cars following behind them because there was a toy car in the road?

The fact that you were there watching him play with the car on the road the whole time is even worse!

PurplePansy05 · 22/02/2021 17:33

The kid was crying because the toy got destroyed if I read it correctly?

Bluntness100 · 22/02/2021 17:34

What? Who was allowing him to play with a remote control car near the road. That’s so dangerous. How old is he?

Seriously that could have caused an accident and got someone else or him hurt badly.

There needs to be a responsible adult around to prevent him playing with it near a road if it’s replaced. There was no need foe the woman to apologise, but there was for him or his responsible adult.

TheChip · 22/02/2021 17:35

Why were you upset?

ridingonaroomba · 22/02/2021 17:35

YABU and very much in the wrong. The road isn’t for playing on. Are you a driver?

NewScone · 22/02/2021 17:35

Your nephew has learnt a lesson that could potentially save his and other's lives. Roads are dangerous. He is fortunate to have learnt it this way and not in a serious accident.

Bluntness100 · 22/02/2021 17:36

I would have apologised to her about that if I'd been given half the chance even though I was pretty upset

Why were you upset? And you were supervising?

SunshineCake · 22/02/2021 17:38

@Cassilis

Ah, I read R/C as Rental Car!

I don't know much about Discovery's but you imagined it driving over the top of an actual car ?

NoCherryNoDeal · 22/02/2021 17:38

@JackieWeaverIsTheAuthority

What??? Why????

To replace the one I’d run over?

This is a very un-Jackie Weaver like sentiment.

Original poster

Weezapleeza · 22/02/2021 17:38

@TestingTestingWonTooFree

What a cow.

That was what I thought. I totally see her issue but she could have just been polite at least. He'd just seen her go right over his car and he needed to be told how it would have been from her point of view. I would have told him, or she could have. In a way that he could have understood.

OP posts:

sst1234 · 22/02/2021 17:38

This could have caused an accident. She was right to be pissed off, should not have tried to serve the toy as that is more hazardous and should absolutely not need to apologize. Didn’t need to drive back to speak to the boy thought.

Terfy · 22/02/2021 17:39

Will we find out the kids age??

JackieWeaverIsTheAuthority · 22/02/2021 17:39

This is a very un-Jackie Weaver like sentiment.

As if you would know!

Cassilis · 22/02/2021 17:39

I don't know much about Discovery's but you imagined it driving over the top of an actual car ?shockhmm.

She didn't say she drove ON TOP of it

I skim read it, sue me.

NoCherryNoDeal · 22/02/2021 17:41

I love Jackie Weaver, no way would I replace a random child's r/c car because they let it out on the road.

EarringsandLipstick · 22/02/2021 17:41

Some of you just aren't reading the OP's posts.

My nephew lost control of his R/C car and it went into the road.

He didn't deliberately send it out onto the road. It sounds like he was playing with it eg on the path & it went on the road accidentally.

She didn't slow down or stop either before or after.

If it was in a residential area, she presumably would have been going slowly to begin with. Maybe she couldn't have stopped / slowed down in advance, but she could have afterwards.

"Did you enjoy that?"
I'm not saying she shouldn't have been a bit cross but being nasty to a child isn't on. Why couldn't she have said 'look, that was dangerous / gave me a fright / in future please do x or y'?

Yes OP and / or child should apologise. No the driver shouldn't have been needlessly rude & made a child cry.

JackieWeaverIsTheAuthority · 22/02/2021 17:42

@NoCherryNoDeal

I love Jackie Weaver, no way would I replace a random child's r/c car because they let it out on the road.

Good for you?

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