Crazy or Not...You Decide!

This past weekend, my daughter and I were at a local Lehigh Valley pool for swimming lessons.  At this particular site, there are public dressing rooms that are for just that…public use.  Anyone can use them and there are signs on the door that state “Do not leave your personal belongings in the dressing rooms."

My daughter finishes her lesson and I grab her clothes, which I keep with me, and we head towards a room so that she can get changed out of her swim suit.  I happen to pick a room that has someone’s belongings in it.  You might say “why didn’t you pick another room?” 

Well, this particular room has a seat in it, which makes getting a 7-year old changed a little easier with pants, shoes etc.  We go in, shut the door and not more than a second goes by and someone is tugging, banging on the door to get in.  I politely say “We are in here and will be out momentarily."  The voice on the other end starts to banter: “You are in my room, can’t you see my stuff is in there?”  I reply on my side of the door with: “My daughter is getting changed and we will be out in a second.” 

With a logical person, it most likely would end there, but not with this parent.  He started calling me “crazy” to his kids, in an elevated voice so that we could hear as well.  At that point, he began to demand that we open the door so that he could get “his stuff."  And now his kids are calling me crazy too.

 They begin to say “crazy lady, give us our stuff." Again, I politely explain that my daughter is in the midst of changing and we would be out in a moment.  Please keep in mind, getting a little one changed can sometimes be a task.  However, it is usually one that lasts less than 2-3 minutes.

I finally open the door to hear him call me “unbelievable” and “crazy” yet again.  Locating the sign on the door, I point to it and say “Do not leave your personal belongings in the dressing rooms."  He replies back to me with “Now you are assuming that I can read!”

Wow.  Am I the only one out there who is stunned at such behavior?  Have we morphed into a society where we teach our children that being polite and waiting our turn is something that we are above?  As I was completely aghast at this situation, I tried to “spin it” on the car ride home to my daughter.  Explaining to her that “maybe he was having a bad day," and “we should feel sorry for him."  But let me tell you how hard that is to do, when your heart is racing and your hands are shaking too.

I will end this unbelievable story by saying that parents -- your children mirror your behavior and mannerisms.   I truly feel sorry that his young kids had to see him acting this way.  I hope that he has since realized how truly silly he was and has learned from it.  Let me tell you…I sure have.