re: What would you do? Kid at the zoo wanted me to pay for his snacks.

quote:

---

You brought peppers as a snack for a children’s field trip. WTF is wrong with you?

---

My kids snack on veggies all the time. And i always get weird looks from parents shoving the 4th fried food item down their kids throat and making sure they wash it down with a gallon of corn syrup.

That said, yeah Fr33 you're a dick. Just buy the poor kid a snack while you buy one for your kids.

You're on a school field trip and looking after a 10 year old kid who didnt have parents there and was probably sad about that and also didnt have enough money to do what he wanted and you chose to stick it to him.

Now instead of always remembering that field trip where the cool dad took him under his wing when his own parents couldn't be there, he'll remember that shite zoo trip when his parents abandoned him and the a-hole he got stuck with wouldn't even help him out. Poor kid was probably alone and confused and scared and turned to you because he wanted to fit in and you crushed him. Just absolutely destroyed a sad little 10 year old's spirit to prove some point to yourself.

Put yourself in his shoes. You're a nervous 10 year old on a field trip without your parents. You're sad and jealous and hurt watching all these other kids have fun with their parents. Your parents gave you $20 and your little sister at home with tears in her eyes asked if you could bring home a "stuffy" for her. Your parents are working 2 jobs each just to make ends meet, but they give you a few dollars to bring something home to your sister. Something they hope will put a smile on her face. It's been so long since they smiled and they cant spare time to make memories with her much less make it to your field trip. But you're the older sibling. You understand.

You have a single purpose and it's to get a toy for your little sister who is at home dying of cancer. You think about the fights you've watched your parents have late at night and how you've tried to keep your sister distracted and smiling through it all. The treatments and late nights and the family drama which, though you know it isnt her fault, she internalizes and it breaks you to know that. So you just want to keep enough money to get her a stuffed animal.

And the guy you get stuck with that you dont know buys his kids snacks, and in that moment you see everything you have missed with your own parents, and you slowly gather the courage to swallow your pride and ask that guy if you too can have a snack like you just watched him buy his kids and he makes you feel like a poor worthless piece of shite for even asking so you just bury down that hurt in a deep place in your soul and smile and talk about how much you want to look in the gift shop. Afterall, the thought of being a hero to your sister keeps you from crying. And that gift shop is where you become a hero.

And then as if some kind of sick joke, that guy, while handing his kids chocolate covered frozen bananas, offers you a few unseeded peppers to chew on with a shite eating grin on his face. But it's ok. You've been strong for your family for the 13 months since your sister's diagnosis. You can be strong now.

Later, a mom is buying her kids some food and offers to buy you some as well. A glimmer of hope. A beam of light on a dark day. You smile and graciously accept her offer. What an angel. As you sit happily reflecting and smiling and letting yourself forget the horrors waiting for you at home, Mr. uncooked peppers shows back up demanding you repay that mom. Sheer panic and terror sets in knowing that if you repay her you might not have enough money to get your sister her stuffy. She'll probably cry. And you'll have to explain to Dad why you didnt get it. And he'll get angry. And you know what happens when he gets angry. You can take it. And you know there is no use arguing with this lunatic. So you hand the money over to the mom and die a little more inside.

It's ok though. Later you hear that man bragging about teaching you a lesson because you're a greedy little shite. Is it greedy to beg the Lord not to take your sister? You suppose it is. You dont deserve to have your prayers answered anyway. Thats a tough lesson for a 10 year old to learn. And one he will be reminded of every time he sees a pepper.

TL;DR: you should have bought the kid a snack.

The only a-hole behavior IMO is butting in to make the kid pay the other mom back. None of your business if she chose to buy him whatever.

quote:

---

You go on the trip you hook the other kids all up. Do unto others.

---

I brought a ton of snacks enjoyed by lots of kids. No one complained

quote:

---

I will be the first to admit I am sure I forgot to send money with my kids before.

---

And if the kid didn't have money and would have nicely asked I'd have Gladly gotten him a banana.

It didn't work out like that though

quote:

---

You’re a dick.

---

I am a dick. This is true

quote:

---

A lot of kids eat veggies but the zoo is more a trail mix, cliff bars, beef jerky, and satsumas (or bananas) situation. Maybe if you had brought a bunch of bananas we would not have had to have this discussion.

---

Biltong is way up right now, but that would have been a good option. Should have gone to see my guy. Will do that soon.

Trail mix, I was worried about how crazy people get about nut allergies. I let my kids pick out the snacks. Here I thought they did a good job. They did get a small pack of the Nutella bars but that was just for them. The rest was to share. And they did.

quote:

---

fr33manator

---

I'm coming at this from things that shaped my life growing up, so understand that's where this post is coming from.

I grew up poor as hell, and would have been lucky to have had a dollar, much less twenty. So now that I have money, if I even sense that a kid is having a tough time choosing between a frozen banana and the gift shop, I'm buying him and likely every kid there, any snack that they want.

Zoos charge way too much for snacks, and him having a whopping $7 for the gift shop wouldn't fly with me.

I'm not saying you're an a-hole, but I personally would have bought him the banana and whatever else he wanted, under certain conditions.

1. He was respectful with a "yes sir", or at least thankful and polite.

2. If he just walked up and demanded a banana, I'd buy it for him on the condition that he ask politely, and again be thankful. That is where I'd use a teaching moment, not trying to get him to reimburse me or someone else.

Again though, not judging, I just grew up poor so I tend to spend my money on stuff like this without much thought, as long as it's not some snotty entitlement that comes with the request.

White kid, If it matters.

quote:

---

What is wrong with liking fruits and vegetables?

---

Gay folks and Slow folks?

I think they are trendy now

quote:

---

I love when your kidless arse gives advice like this.

---

I'm not giving advice; I was answering whether he was being an a-hole. I can answer that as a fellow human, irrespective of whether I've spawned children, you fricking count

I would have bought the kid some snacks because I don’t know what’s going on at home and it may just make his day.