Who's in the right?

[Freebasser]

I was paying for some cans of a certain carbonated beverage (which I won't mention because I'm not one for product placement) the other day and in front of me was a really seedy family. I mean really seedy. A mother with two daughters aged about 10 or 11 I'd say, all of them dressed like Vicky Pollard and talking like sailors.

Anyway, they pay for their stuff and start to walk away from the till before stopping about a metre or two away and proceeding to have a natter. The woman behind the till puts the first can of drink through and turns to collect the other four (5 cans for the price of four, folks!) from the conveyor belt and suddenly one of the girls turns and walks towards the till, and takes the first can that's been swiped through and walks off with it at a quick pace. She was only bloody shoplifting the thing from under my nose! Not quite able to believe my eyes, I blurted out "hey, where do you think you're going with that?!" she turned around and went "sorry, I didn't mean to honest" in that way that people who've been caught red-handed do, and I looked at them and sighed forcefully through my teeth before saying "fucking hell, some people" whereupon I turned to the woman behind the till who's standing there with a gobsmacked expression on her face.

She says "There was no need for that" to which I assume she means the blatant attempt at shoplifting. "Tell me about it", I jest. "Uh, NO" she blurts out "Swearing in front of children - you should be ashamed of yourself". Um... WhatthehellTM??! Somebody just stole stuff I paid for from right under my nose, and you're getting at me for losing my rag and swearing?

So come on then, was I really that out of order? It's not like I called them a pair of theiving cunting shitstains or anything :/ I figure if they're shoplifting at that age, then they probably know all the four-letter words under the sun anyway.

[milleson]

Who's Vicky Pollard, and what's a natter?

[Freebasser]

A Vicky Pollard is one of these (http://gfx.filmweb.pl/blog/941090/415729.1.jpg) and a natter is a young natterjack toad.

[milleson]

In that case, you were so in the right, then.

[Freebasser]

Damn straight. Uh, I mean... righto.

:/

[Bob]

the cashier was in on the heist, she was going to get a cut of the loot (some of your soda)

[ms.peachy]

I may be going against the grain here, but I am inclined to side with the cashier. The fact that you swore does lessen your moral advantage.

[Randetica]

none of my business.. live and let live i say

when im stealing something i dont want anyone to disturb me either
it's also people like you who give cops a job so DIE!

[milleson]

What if the little twat was trying to gank his forty? Then she definitely deserved to be called out and subjected to foul language.

[Videodrome]

you were absolutely in the right.

as far as cussing kids out, it really just depends on age. a 4 or 5 year old is probably not intentionally trying to jack you for your goods. i would suggest giving them a pass. a 10 or 11 year old should know better and should be treated as someone who knows better. so if you steal from ME i'll call you a FUCKING thief whether you're 10 or 50 years old.

[Bob]

I may be going against the grain here, but I am inclined to side with the cashier. The fact that you swore does lessen your moral advantage.

he's hardly morally corrupting the kids or teaching them anything new, is he?

[mate_spawn_die]

i would've called them "a pair of theiving cunting shitstains"

that's fucking awesome hahahaha

[abcdefz]

I may be going against the grain here, but I am inclined to side with the cashier. The fact that you swore does lessen your moral advantage.



Basically.

It's not an either/or thing. You both did something wrong.

[paul jones]

I saw a fat Vicky Pollard and her 2 fat daughters in Blockbuster last month.The chins were like mini hovercrafts

[ms.peachy]

he's hardly morally corrupting the kids or teaching them anything new, is he?

That's not really the point though. If you're calling someone out for socially inappropriate behavior, and in the course of doing to you yourself behave in a way that is socially inappropriate, then you lose your credibility, basically. You've rendered your own contribution void.

[Bob]

That's not really the point though. If you're calling someone out for socially inappropriate behavior, and in the course of doing to you yourself behave in a way that is socially inappropriate, then you lose your credibility, basically. You've rendered your own contribution void.

i'm not sure that he was calling anyone out for "socially inappropriate behavior" he was calling them out for being a thieving bastard (who had just recently tried to thieve from him and treat him like a chump). i'm not even sure that swearing because you're suddenly angry that someone tried to play you like a fool and steal from you even is socially inappropriate behavior, i think it's a pretty normal reaction. at least he didn't behead anyone.

[Planetary]

Yeah you did what i would have done. Mine would have gone more like this...

*Kid tries to rob can*
Me: Oi what the hell?! *alert parent*
*receive stolen can*
Me to parent: Keep control of your kids would ya? Fuckin' hell, some people...
Cashier to me: hey don't swear in front of kids!
Me to the cashier: Shut up it stole off me, now sell me my stella's and stop sticking your nose in!
*Walk out looking a bit pissed off uttering things under my breath like harry from home alone*

[roosta]

if a child is old enough to steal, they are old enough to hear the word "fuck"

[ms.peachy]

i'm not sure that he was calling anyone out for "socially inappropriate behavior" he was calling them out for being a thieving bastard

Well pal I don't know what it's like where you are, but I'm pretty sure most people I know consider stealing to be rather socially inappropriate. As I imagine most criminal behaviours are.

I'm not saying what he did was the worst thing in the world; all I'm saying is that he rather undermined the value of his own position by using the language he did. If you're going to point out that someone else is acting like a bit of a low-life, it doesn't really help your case if in doing so you come of looking like a bit of a low-life yourself. Regardless of what this kid may have already been exposed to, it's not appropriate to use language like that around children, and especially not in reference to them, in their presence, full stop; so in doing so, he lost the moral high ground.

[Bob]

Regardless of what this kid may have already been exposed to, it's not appropriate to use language like that around children*, and especially not in reference to them, in their presence, full stop; so in doing so, he lost the moral high ground.

*thieving children

why is it in appropriate to swear around children (i'm not asking this because i don't think it is, i'm going somewhere with it, bear with me)? isn't it generally because children are young, relatively innocent impressionable things that can be corrupted by witnessing certain kinds of behavior? are children who steal from people right under their noses really at any risk of being further corrupted by hearing the word "fuck"?

i may just be repeating myself but i think that catching someone stealing from you goes considerably above the catchall "socially inappropriate" label and again, i really don't think that what freebasser did was that inappropriate. it's not like he contemplated his options carefully and thought to himself "you know how i'm going to respond to this situation? i'm going to say 'fuck'. yeah, that'll do. hey cashier! 'fucking hell, some people!' yes, good one freebasser, a plan well executed", no, it seemed to me like a twitch response to a shocking situation. he just witnessed a child trying to steal from him, in the presence of her mother even. with the combination of the sense of personal violation that goes on whenever anyone tries to steal from you (i get that it was just a can of soda but it's still insulting, it's not really about the object) and the surprise of seeing a child try to do it, how on earth do you not say "fuck" to that? it's like stubbing your toe, you just say it, it's a thing people do

[ms.peachy]

Here's the thing: I don't draw a line between 'thieving children' and children, because I don't think it's appropriate to write off one group of children as being less deserving than others of basic respect. Yes, even if they were stealing something. I think it's fair to say that if this kid was stealing right under her mother's nose, it's not a stretch to imagine that this is a kid who already lacks decent adult role models in her life, and so I am not sure why still another adult in a shop setting a poor example should be considered acceptable. If you (rhetorical you, not you personally Bob you) feel, as some people do, that there isn't anything wrong with swearing in front of kids then clearly you wouldn't feel the same, but I personally believe that swearing, along with drinking, smoking, drug taking and, erm, fucking, are privileges of adulthood (or, at least, sneaky teenagerdom).

And sorry but no, I am not buying this 'reflexive swearing' argument. It may be a very ingrained habit, but no, not a reflex, and I think the stubbed toe example is faulty. By Freeb's own account, he stopped and took stock of the situation before making the comment in question ('I looked at them and sighed forcefully through my teeth before saying "fucking hell, some people") which is a very different scenario from sharp and immediate pain.

Like I said, I don't think it's actually THAT big a deal and hardly even worth the time I've actually spent now typing this LOL but at the end of the day, I feel that he could have made the same point without swearing and the fact that he did rather diminished his own effort. I've explained why I feel this way and you are of course free to disagree.

[venusvenus123]

if a child is old enough to steal, they are old enough to hear the word "fuck"

especially if they're old enough to steal lager. (y)

what a ridiculous situation. i don't think the fact that you said fuck in front of a kid diminishes your moral standing.

it would obviously have been better had you said "jiminy cricket, kids these days", but highly unlikely, unless you have kids yourself.

[Pres Zount]

Ok, well, if we have established that it would have been better NOT to have sworn, I still think that the act doesn't totally lessen his role as victim.

You don't want to assume anything about someone, especially a child, but that little guttersnipe would have totally been swearing at you under her breath after you caught her. You should have followed them out into the carpark and smashed the can/bottle of whatever over her head.

"You want it THIS bad, you horrid little beast?!"

[AceFace]

i thought the english had no problem with cursing anywhere to anyone. that might be the movies corrupting me.

to me, cursing is not even on the same plane as thievery... children or not.

i grew up with a daddy that didn't think twice before he let a string of cuss words fly out of his mouth. it didn't mess me up whatsoever.

ACTIONS speak louder than words.

[TurdBerglar]

you should have backhanded the shit out of the kid. knuckled the little shit across the back of the head.


and why are some of you pussies so concerned of some simple words. jesus christ. grows some balls. if your kid hears some words that you don't want him or her to repeat and they still repeat them do some parenting and stop them from repeating those words. stop expecting others to create this idea of your perfect utopia for your/other's children.

[camo]

My parents swore around me when I was younger, not a lot, but enough for me to remember the words. The thing is...they told me why they swore and never really made it too much of a taboo so I grew up knowing how to swear but also knowing when I could swear.

[ms.peachy]

Of for fuck's sake, it wasn't about the 'words' per se, it was about the fact that wrong + wrong still does not, as far as I am aware, = right. Stop being dense.

[NoFenders]

Nothing wrong with swearing as long as you're not in a church and you use it in the right context.

I'd say there's nothing wrong with what you did. You should have been more harsh actually, and even yelled a bit. Maybe that would embarass them enough to not try it again.

The lady behind the counter sounds like a real hero. :rolleyes:

:cool:

[checkyourprez]

Of for fuck's sake, it wasn't about the 'words' per se, it was about the fact that wrong + wrong still does not, as far as I am aware, = right. Stop being dense.

Yea who's really to say swearing is wrong? Like honestly, whats the big deal? Its only words.


But on the other hand I don't think there is one person in here that would argue that some hellion stealing right in plain view of her mother and probably 10 other people is no doubt just plain wrong (not to mention against the law). In this case you cant really say "its only stealing".

[Myu-to]

Talking like sailors here mans cussing a whole lot. Is it the same there? If that's the case, no. I wasn't there to see if it was an intentional nick or not, however, having a son that is pretty forgetful, I could see a misunderstanding happening, and I would be pretty pissed if someone cussed at him. Yeah cussing at my son might catch someone a beatdown. Of course he is an honest kid, and if he was doing something dishonest, I would address that issue better then somebody else's cuss words. That's for damn sure. I think most parents are that way, and are defensive of kids, probably to a fault. Being that it was through gritted teeth, and not directly at them, then I think it was a normal reaction to what happen, should've gone unnoticed.

I'm voting for what was the beverage?

[Bob]

yeah i've actually moved on to wanting to know what the beverage is now...i wish i could change my vote

[paul jones]

I want to know what tracksuits they were wearing

[wanton wench]

i want to know what the mothers reaction was?? if she even heard you??

and

did the kid open it and drink some?

and

turd i agree with you.
i dont expect anyone to act/talk more appropriate just cause my kid is around. (i dont mind explaining things to her) the world is full of shitty people i'd rather my daughter know that now so she is prepered and can deal with it. (i'm not saying i'm going to take her to a seedy bar so she can see the low lifes but i have found most people in the world are oblivious to the other people in the world)

and for the record my daughter learned all her swear words on the playground.

[Loppfessor]

Who's Vicky Pollard, and what's a natter?

Wow those were my first two thoughts as well..

[Loppfessor]

Ok, well, if we have established that it would have been better NOT to have sworn, I still think that the act doesn't totally lessen his role as victim.



Bingo...You can't act like one act negates the other.

[abcdefz]

The thing is: swearing is a sort of violence. That's part of the point of swearing. It's a cutting method
of punctuation. That's why I try not to do it around people I don't know. In certain contexts, swearing
is greatly cushioned and can be a convivial or even literary thing, but rarely in a non-performance public
setting.

I know that a lot of younger people probably don't see it that way, same as they don't see ilegal
downloading as stealing ("Who got hurt?"), but that's what I think, and that's how a good portion of
society -- this repremanding woman, for instance -- still believes.