Woman with kids demanded park bench?

[Crystalnightsky]

Something weird happened.

mum, 73 and I are sitting on park bench. its more like tiny small open green area with one bench.

We are talking and suddenly we feel someone staring at us. We look up and see a woman with a stroller (kid maybe 1 years old) and a kid maybe 6 years old.

For a moment I’m confused and even think I might have said something offensive because she just stands there and stares not saying a word and the child seemed angry, giving us this like very angry look. I ask how can I help you. She continues staring. He then starts waving his hand like move. And says SHOO

I then realise she wants the bench. I say oh you want to sit down? Mum and I move and she sits down.

the whole time while kid playing she keeps staring at us.

she then starts putting her kids toys like right near/next to out feet even though there is plenty of space.

for a good 20 minutes literally she just keeps staring at us as we talk. Head turned towards us. It was making me very uncomfortable and I thought after leaving but my mum says no. I am not leaving. We are staying.

I smiled and said hi. She continues staring at us not saying anything. My mum asks if we can help her she continues staring. Not saying a word.

she then sits there staring at us for another 10 minutes then leaves, leaving rubbish behind.

what was that? Was she expecting us to give up the bench and leave?

the tiny green area has no gates or anything and you can see who is sitting on bench from very far away on the road even before entering. So she saw bench was busy before even entering.

I have NO problem with dealing with other people's rude children. A 6 yo telling me to !shoo' would get told not to be so rude.

Ill happily give other people my dear/bench further look like their need us greater & if they're polite. Thus rude bitch wouldn't have been offered a seat. I'd have asked why she was staring & being so rude.

Did the woman & her son speak to each other??

Nutjob

Sounds like a nutter.

I'm reminded of an occasion when I sat on a bench watching my daughter swim and another mother cane abd sat next to me. She was joined by a friend , then another, then another and kept scooching along til I was hanging off.

Sarcastically I said 'don't mind me, I'll just stand'. To which she replied 'thank you' without even looking at me. And I did stand! I'm still pissed off with myself for being such a wimp so well done for not giving in :)

wow omg!!

Well done for not giving in, I can’t believe how awkward that sounds 😂 nice to know she’s raising her child to be as bloody strange and entitled as she is 😬

She sounds mentally unwell. Poor woman.

She could just be rude.

The Woman sounded quite unwell, from what the Op has said. I am not sure what 'clearly British by birth' means though.

Entitled much! Fairplay to u for staying seated!

We were in a cafe in EuroDisney last October and there was a couple of seats on the end of a table, occupied by a few French people. We smiled and gestured if we could possibly share the end of the table, as it was the only one with space available.

Cue a huge outburst and scowling from the man in the group. They were obviously rather rudely telling us no, we couldn't sit there.😳😅

Sometimes it's best to just politely avoid these types of people. It's best to remain neutral.

The woman definitely sounded like she was either having a bad day, or a bit unwell.

You were NOT being unreasonable.

I would have missed a doctor’s appointment to have avoided giving up that bench! 🤣

I've got a fat arse, I could sit there for hours, she have no chance shifting me with her stares.

Good for you not budging and asking what she wanted etc.

How rude of her.

She sounds weird. We’ll do for standing (or sitting) your ground. Don’t give it another thought. You did nothing wrong.

Yep there are just a lot of weirdos out there.

On a full London bus a few years ago, a young mother got on with 2 kids, around 10, 11, that sort of age. She immediately absolutely bellowed at all of us who were sitting down because we didn't jump up for her kids. I mean, properly screaming. About how her kids deserve the seats, how we're all a bunch of mugs. Then phoned a friend and said the same to them. The poor kids looked so embarrassed.

Some people got up just to shut her up. I didn't move. I'd had a small asthma attack that morning and I'm not getting up for two healthy looking kids. If they were both ill (unlikely) then she should have politely asked someone if they might mind giving their seat up.

Another time in London I was at a bus shelter in Earls Court. TONS of space. But a young guy came up to me and demanded I stand up as he wanted the exact spot I was sitting in. There was another girl there, thank God, and she looked at me and we both burst into laughter. Lucky she was there or it might have turned nasty.

You have to sadly accept that there are a lot of nutjobs out there. Don't let it get to you, you handled it really well.

I had similar on a train once! Woman absolutely affronted that I sat next to her. She kept raising her elbows - I thought she had a movement disorder - and when I eventually looked at her, she was glaring at me with abject anger. There are some REALLY weird people around!

Who cares if it's allowed - if the cap fits...

Was she foreign? I am reminded of that every time I fly anything but BA - the rudeness of AirFrance, Lufthansa (passengers), etc. etc. remind me that only the British have manners.

That's true, but the vast majority don't act aggressively towards strangers. Once you start doing that, you're in nutjob territory imo.

I'd have stayed put and asked her what her problem was. I'm glad your Mum refused to move.

What about KLM? The Dutch are famously rude. My worst experiences have been on KLM and at security at Schiphol.

"D'you want a photo or an autograph"? if someone stares .

Why didn't you say something to her such as asking why she was staring? I'd also have taken her rubbish to her, passed it to her and told her to clean up after herself. Was she native to the country you're in?

Spot on! Sorry, forgot about them! (I lovingly call that airport Shithole).

This is one of those moments when smokers & vapers have an advantage.