Seriously oblivious parents

[Liberal_in_LA]

Seriously oblivious parents

This coffee shop is small and often busy. It’s not unusual for patrons to share tables. It’s fun and friendly and part of the good karma and inviting ambiance of the place. The thing was, that of all the tables to approach, this guy – oblivious parent guy – chose my table: the only one occupied by a person who was a) obviously working and b) working on a piece of expensive hardware. As he and hid kids moved in, settling their snacks, drinks, books, and toys on the table in extremely close proximity to expensive hardware, I started to twitch just a little. Two close calls with milk spills later, I moved my laptop off the table and onto my lap – turning my chair sideways so I could prop my legs up on another chair in order to better balance the computer. No reaction from oblivious parent who now had his nose buried in a notebook while his kids tussled over a toy, nearly upsetting his coffee.

A few minutes later, I caught the little boy’s milk just as it was about to topple over into my purse, which was sitting on the chair next to him. In my best Julie Andrews voice (and with the sincerest smile I could muster), I said, “Oops! Watch out. You nearly lost your milk!” Oblivious parent didn’t even look up. He apparently mistook me for either his wife or babysitter and thought it perfectly normal that – now we were all seated together – he should unburden himself from the task of watching his children.

He suddenly seemed to become aware of where he was and said, conversationally, “I hope we’re not bothering you too much.”

Trying not to sound like someone in a sitcom, I said, “Oh no. No worries at all. It’s just that I recently had someone nearly dump a cup of coffee on my laptop, so I’m a little jumpy around open beverages.” (All true, by the way.)

“Ah, well,” he said, “Spills will happen.”

Speechless moment number one.


http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/seriously-oblivious-parents/