When the ticket machine on the tram was taking peoples’ money without giving them a ticket this morning, the people seated near the machine - myself included - warned passengers of the problem before they put their money in the machine. One guy thanked everyone for their warning then put a $1 coin in the coin slot anyway only to have it jam in the coin slot entrance. Fortunately for him, he was able to retrieve the coin by using a key to drag it back out of the coin slot.

At that point I used a sheet of paper to cover up the coin slot with the notice “MACHINE NOT WORKING” written in 2″-tall letters. A new female passenger entered the tram and sat down opposite me whilst she rummaged for change in her purse. I could see that she’d not noticed the sign yet (it was still quite easy to miss unless you were looking at the machine ready to buy a ticket) so I leaned over and mentioned the machine was not working and so not to bother finding the coins.

She looked a bit surprised but, since she had just found the correct coinage anyway, stood up and went to the machine. Two people sitting beside it quickly spoke up and said the machine was not working. She then saw the note which covered not only the coin slot but one of the buttons she needed to press. Looking around at the two people who had just advised her that the machine would take her money without giving her a ticket, she then lifted the piece of paper out of the road … and dropped in a $2 coin which, being smaller than a $1 coin, was not able to be retrieved. She was very miffed at this turn of events and angrily slapped the machine before sitting down in a huff, complaining to those who would listen that the machine had stolen her money. No, dear SPOTD, with three verbal warnings and a written notice, you can’t consider that theft…

Categories: SPOTD
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Most people know of the strong views Di and I hold on the issue of irresponsible parenting, and how we typically detest the stupidity and thoughtlessness of those parents who have raised unholy little monsters rather than having issue with the tykes themselves. Tonight we saw such parents in action.

Tonight, whilst in a restaurant, we were subjected to two small children running amok and their mothers doing little about it. The small girl, in particular, was either (1) running through the restaurant at high speed, (2) screaming to her mother from the far side of the room, or (3) hurling herself on the ground and having a tantrum whenever something did not go her way. We were not quite sure what the criteria were for the last one - it seemed to be relatively random but very regular. Everyone did their best to ignore the kids at first but eventually many people in the restaurant were giving the mothers greasy looks for not controlling their kids better. When the younger child finally managed to knock over a queueing area rail, the mothers decided it was time to finally control their kids.

So, what do you give two small children in a restaurant with many patrons already irritated by their noise levels? Melody Pops, of course…

For those who don’t know what these are, they’re a type of lollipop in the shape of a small flute which can make a piercing whistle initially until it is sucked long enough that its musical (and I use the term loosely) properties are destroyed. See http://www.partysparkle.co.uk/ekmps/shops/partysparkle/images/melopy_pop.gif for a label - it does not show the sweet but it does show the concept.

Now the restaurant was filled with the ever-delightful shrills of two small children armed with whistles. Other patrons REALLY start to give the mothers looks that could kill and after several minutes the mothers realised that perhaps the sweets were not the best idea. To combat the noise, they then took the sweets off the children in order to stop the whistling. Whereupon the screaming began in earnest because the kids, rightly, were angry they were given sweets which were then taken off them minutes later. Any kid would be upset in that situation and these little darlings had great lungs for bawling and tantrum-throwing.

Having finished our meals and deciding we would not bother remaining there, we decided to go. As we were going out the door, one of the mothers was trying to calm the child down by offering to take her to the supermarket later to get another Melody Pop. The child immediately began crying more and yelling at her mother to immediately go to the supermarket and get the sweets. With zero control over their children, both mothers certainly seem on track to release noisy brats into the world in a couple of years. It was clear the kids knew screaming at their mothers was going to get them the results they wanted, and so long as there are people out there who parent in that style (i.e. reward poor behaviour with a treat), we’re going to continue to see reasons why SPOTDs should not necessarily breed just because they can.

Categories: SPOTD
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