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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

For leaning over and quietly having some very harsh words with a stupid 16/17 year old chav in covent gardens?

200 replies

bogie · 27/06/2008 10:10

We took DS 2.6 and his little friend 2.3 to London yeaterday and we sat them to watch a little street show in covent gardens. There was a group of girls sat next to ds and friend and all the way through this one girl must of thought she was being clever was shouting "your shit" "your crap" "fucking get on with it then" ect. I didn't say anything at first but then I went behind her and wispered in her ear "listen you stupid little girl, You either piss off or shut up, there are children next to you and if I hear 1 more swear word come out of your mouth I will give you somthing to fucking swear about."
I said this nice and quitley in her ear so no one else heard it and it shut her up straight away was ibu?

OP posts:
SirDigbyChickenCaesar · 27/06/2008 10:11

good on you! not unreasonable at all!

mishymoo · 27/06/2008 10:11

YANBU - well done you!

edam · 27/06/2008 10:12

No, well done you! Although your use of swear words is rather ironic.

PictureThis · 27/06/2008 10:14

YANBU. Well done.

MaloryShoppingMother · 27/06/2008 10:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

notjustmom · 27/06/2008 10:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

laundrylover · 27/06/2008 10:15

How fantastic! Love it!

Chequers · 27/06/2008 10:15

Message withdrawn

Lizzylou · 27/06/2008 10:16

Well done! I would have been too scared to anything and then annoyed that I hadn't.
Am a big cowardy custard

waffletrees · 27/06/2008 10:17

Good for you.

charliecat · 27/06/2008 10:17

Not at all. But I bet you will be suitably outraged when one of your kids comes home and tells you about a whispering woman who gave them an earful.

hertsnessex · 27/06/2008 10:17

Good for you!

Uriel · 27/06/2008 10:18

I bet she'll think twice in future before acting so prattishly.

DaDaDa · 27/06/2008 10:19

You sound terrifying.

HermanMunster · 27/06/2008 10:25

agree with the sentement but i don't think you should have sworn at them and threatened them as it only brings you down to their level.

CrushWithEyeliner · 27/06/2008 10:30

but you swore, which defeats the point...I do agree with what you did bar the swearing

VictorianSqualor · 27/06/2008 10:38

I think you should have asked them to stop swearing first, without the menacing.

Then if she'd gobbed off, you could have said what you did.

I once posted a thread about telling a couple behind me on the bus to stop with their terrible language (they were talking about hurting someone, in graphic detail, whilst I had DS1(3) sat next to me.) and a lot of posters suggested I should have moved rather than confront them, especially when you're alone with children and they are with a group of friends. Sadly grown men have been killed by teenagers.

What would you have done if she had pulled out a knife?

Doodle2U · 27/06/2008 10:42

Applauding wildly. Good for you.

VS makes a good point but the problem is, the sodding little scroates know their rights and know the advice is not to tackle them yourself.

JeremyVile · 27/06/2008 10:48

Yanbu - and I don't think it matters one bit that you swore either, I imagine you weren't going out on a limb to educate her and lead by example you just wanted her to shut the fk up for the rest of the ime you had to be near her.
And she did. So, well done you.

reethi96 · 27/06/2008 10:52

Well done. You lowered yourself to her standards. Give yourself a big pat on the back. I have also tackled teenagers swearing in front of children but I have managed to do it without resorting to swearing as I would hate for someone to overhear me and describe me as being a "chav" .

edam · 27/06/2008 11:11

The whispering in their ear technique doesn't really work if tell the whole group to shut up out loud first, though. And the girl would have had that whole group bravado thing going on and probably answered back.

Original poster
bogie · 27/06/2008 11:12

VictorianSqualor I wasn't alone DP and his friends were stood behind me so she wouldn't have got far if she had started kicking off.
It wasn't the group that was the problem they looked quite emmbarresed at times, she seemed like a real ringleader school/collage bully type.

OP posts:
wingandprayer · 27/06/2008 11:17
HonoriaGlossop · 27/06/2008 11:18

totally agree with saying something - teenagers like this just push and push and if no-one complains they get a feeling they can do what they like

Though I personally would have stopped short of "If I hear one more swearword...etc" because a) it's a threat and how could you have backed it up!! and b) why swear when you're complaining about her swearing; I know she was shouting and you weren't but I do think it takes some of the power away from your position!!!

But good on you for saying something - just shows, if you face up to people 99 times out of 100 they will back down.

MarmadukeScarlet · 27/06/2008 11:18

I think boogie tackled this well, she spoke to the girl in language she understood.

Not so sure she would have got the same response if she'd said, "I say, would you mind awfully not using such dreadful expletives in front of my offspring, there's a good chap."

If boogie had addressed the group, they would have adopted a group defense, but by singling out the girl she got her attention.

LOL @ sly pinch on the arm suggestion.

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