Rude People

[s&k'smom]

Just read all the threads, holy moly. I like the cattle prod that can catapult. It's amazing I really don't think most people have a clue how rude they really are. Too bad we could'nt video tape, how embaressed would they be to see how they are acting. It's like someone committing a crime and they are not sorry until they are caught. Sorry about the bad experiences, have had a few of my own with my PDD son. People have given us the look, or whispered like we can't tell what they are saying. It's nice we have a place to go on this board to vent, thanks for sharing everyone, I feel better knowing I'm not alone.

 

[momejay]

How about a towel to pop 'em in the can?
Better yet a squirt gun that shoots ice water (Buzz Lightyear style) on the front of the ECV?

My mom had some kid try to hurdle her in a ECV.
I have had people try to sit on or lean on my son's specialized stroller.
People have accidentally sat in his lap, (while waiting in line) & then yelled at us for having the stroller in the line. I didn't even have time to say anything & they were looking for a CM to throw me out of line.

 

[Michigan]

On our last trip a man fell over and landed in my Megan's lap stood himself up and started walking off. I grabbed his arm and made him stop then I told him the least he could do was tell her he was sorry for landing in her lap and ask if she was ok. He did and then a woman that had seen the fall started walking behind him telling him he was the rudest person she had ever seen. It was pretty funny.

 

[TIGGERSMOM]

I love the suggestions!!

We are a family that had a child with a disabiliy that was not apparent. He had to use the HP stall for the space. The remarks he got when he would come out were unbelievable. I hate to say some where from people with disabilities themselves. He was very good about it and just say that sometimes thngs aren't what they seem and problems aren't always obvious.
We were lucky his problem was surgically correctable when he reached puberty.

And it is not only the guests, the CM's should realize just because you are in a wheelchair/ECV your brain is not atrophied. It got to be a standing joke how many times my DF would ask a question and the CM would direct the answer to me or my DM. We are thinking about a sign for the convention:

My lungs don't work - the rest is fine!!

I have forgotten how great this board is.

 

[LindaDVC]

When we are in restaurants I often am asked what DH wants to eat?

I smile and say I have no idea.
When this happens DH takes over the ordering and I become mute. He orders my meal including things like she would like extra sweet and low for her coffee, etc etc

They usually get the point and give him the bill at the end of the meal! The tip reflects whether how the service ends up!!

Linda

 

[itscc2u]

I've been MIA for a bit due to my health and just had to share an experience I had last week in a grocery store.

I suffer from Lupus,Fibromyalgia, asthma, kindey problems , IBS just to name a few. I have good days, so-so days, bad days and horribly bad days.

Well this was a horribly bad day. First off I cant find a handicapped parking space and I notice that in one of them is a car with no plates or placard indicating handicapped. I write down the plate and as I circle around one more time a spot opens up. I hobble or as my DH likes to call it I do the "old lady shuffle"( my lupus/fibro tend to affect my legs the worst)

So I shuffle in go to customer service give them the tag # and ask them to please page the person to remove their vehicle from handicapped parking because they have no tag. I then get the key to one of the ECV's they have and start rolling through the store to get the few things I need.

The aisles are wide and you can easily get 2 carts down the aisles with lots of room to spare. Well I get to the cereal aisle and I cant get through because this lady has her cart parked in the middle of the aisle and I asked her politely if she could move her cart so I get around. I cannot type what she said but the obscenities that came out of this womens mouth were horrid and she ranted and raved about how handicapped people think they are special and own the world and deserve special priveleges.

Ladies and gents I am not usually a confrontational person but i lost it right then and there. I told her off cant remember exactly what I said to her, but it didnt exactly make things better.I know I said to her if it were you who had to suffer with the pain i have everyday you would think differently and appreciate the little things the world offers to people who have disabilities and such. She never did move out of my way, she stood her ground and sweared at me more and I just backed the ECV up and turned around and came up the next aisle and back down the cereal one she was still there.

Well they announced the third time the tag# of the car to move and I was shocked although I really shouldnt have been when the lady I had the confrontation with said outloud to herself. "I am not going to move my car" and i cleaned up what she said. Then the devil got into me and I positioned the ECV so that it blocked the whole aisle and as she was coming up I started examining the ECV closely and acting like it had broken down. She asked me to move not politely either and I with the sweetest voice said "I would be more than happy to move if the battery on this thing hadnt just ran out" all alie but none the less I got my point across and got IMHO not only revenge, but a victory she had to turn around go back down the aisle to get where she was going.

I see people look at me strangely when I am in the ECV, I only use it when I need it not as a crutch and ahve had some comments made by people who see me on good days and then on a bad day and they arent nice or sympathetic. I was brought up to respect everyone and I find it said that people now have no respect for anyone.

Well my story told I will sign off...

 

[olena]

That's right, Christine! Make her walk! She deserves more than that, but you managed it very well. The perfect ending to this story would've been a big, fat parking ticket. There's just no getting through to some people and I think she was one of them. So sorry for what she put you through though.

 

[SueM in MN]

very sorry about your horrible, bad day, itscc2u.
It's too bad people can't just all get along.
The world would be a much nicer place if everyone could see thru the eyes of other people sometimes and realize that a little give and take benefits everyone in the long run.

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Originally posted by itscc2u

Similar thing happened to me a few years back.

However I had my wife get out of my car to check the entire row of handicap spaces and find me two cars without stickers parked next to each other. I then parked in the isle hard up to their fenders so that neither could get out.

I then went shopping, and sure enough my own tag # came upp on the PA. I told the manager I would move as soon as I had finished shopping.

Over the next hour (I had a lot of shopping to do), I was paged on the PA another three times!!!

Silly thing was, I reckon I could have manouvered the other car out, without moving my own!!

Andrew

 

[TIGGERSMOM]

Good for you guys!! I never really appreciated HP parking until my DF got sick. In the humidity even walking 20 feet is a chore.

I must say the police around here are very good, they will ticket any car in a HP spot in a heartbeat. Don't know about where you guys are but here it is a $100.00 dollar hit and points on your insurance.

 

[Wheelsie]

well obviously the cops in my town don't know how to ticket LOL Everywhere I go (even at Wal-Mart w their hundred and 1 handi spaces) it takes FOREVER to find a space...

I won't even go into telling you what Ive know some people to do to cars (esp if their are newer cars) that are in handi spots that DONT have a sticker or plate

but lets just say.....umm.. UH OH BETTER GET MAACO!!

LOL

OH and DH reminded me of a story that happened to us! (your gonna laff)

In an apt building where we used to live they had put up a handi sign because we lived there...not necessarily for us...but...

Anyhoo...when we came home one night there was a car in the handi spot..

We thought not much of it and parked up the hill a ways as we sometimes had to do...Well the next morning (DH B day) He goes out to move the car because a closer (not the handi) spot had opened up...

So he brings down the car...I walk out...and we look (in disgust) at the car still parked in the handi spot (no way to know it was handi)

We notice that the driver window (in daylight now) the lock was torn out of the door and the ignition was torn out. So we realize ITS A STOLEN CAR!!!

We immediately call 911...they send out a squad car...and when the cop arrives...we are asked "did you call me down here just because the car was in a handi spot???" As if to she the officer was peeved that we would call....not LIKE ITS A CRIME TO PARK IN A HANDI SPOT W/O SOME PROOF YOU ARE HANDI!!! ITS NOT LIKE ITS SOMETHING YOU'D GET A FINE FOR DOING!!!


Well anyhoo...We said NO! this car has been stolen (as if it wasn't COMPLETELY obvious!!!) We called so the car could be retrieved to its rightful owner...

Cop's like "OH! well then...." SHEESH!!!

So cop calls to find out that it was stolen from WAY on the other side of town...and wasn't even a car from this state (family from out of town)

I said all that to say this... We couldn't BELIEVE a cop would practically get angry that way may be calling for a HANDI OFFENSE!!!

God forbid we would do something so heinous!

 

[LindaDVC]

I don't mind parking a good distance away since DH has a power chair just get very tired of moving the van when either the space is not wide enough for the lift or too wide and an ambulatory handicapped sticker holder decides to "share" the space!!!

Linda

 

[D L and K's Mom]

After a particular bad day of people staring and cutting off DS's wheelchair/stroller at a parade I let out a nice string of curse words along with a wish that people would just watch where they were walking etc. My DD who was 9 at the time asked to "Take over" pushing the stroller, I let her and the next time someone walked into the chair and was bumped she politley and in a sweet voice with a sweet smile on her face said, "Excuse me, but when I walk into someone my Mom makes me say excuse me". The man who had just cut in front of the chair and was bumped in the ankles also smiled and said, "Now little lady that is very polite of you" and he sort of waited for her to say she was sorry and then she said, "Well, didn't your mother teach you the same thing?.. We're waiting." The man was very taken aback and he mumbled "Excuse me? "(I don;'t think he really believed what he was hearing) and DD said, "Thank you we'll take that as an apology , We except" and pushed on. I stood there with my mouth wide open and couldn't move. On one hand I was sort of surprised at the sarcasim I heard coming out of her mouth and I was a little angry at her because that is not how she is supposed to talk to adults but then as I stood there I felt this overwelming sense of pride come over me. I, a grown woman was not saying anything to these rude people and she a little child had the nerve and the wits about her to do it for her brother. When I caught up to her she was grinning ear to ear and said "No one messes with David" I just loved that. To this day she is very protective of her brother and his chair. When we go to Disney this week she will be the designated driver!!!

 

[lisapooh]

Give your daughter a big hug from me. She is terrific.
I hate it when someone uses the space between handicapped spots as a parking place. While I have a rear lift, I sometimes do need to bring the wheelchair to the side of my car to place purchases in the car. Without that space there is no way I can do this. If I have family with me no problem, but if I am out on my own, big problem.
I can't imagine how angry I'd feel if I had a side lift and had to wait for a person to remove his car so I could leave.
At school I rarely use the handicapped spot in the teacher's lot as it is blocked by the buses at the end of the day, but when I do the drivers try to leave space for me to load my chair and then will make a break for me to leave. They are the best but then they deal with handicapped kids everyday.

 

[MrKlixx]

I sometimes wish we had a van with a lift on it. Because I would have absolutely no problem whatsoever with lowering the lift on top of a car parked in the striped zone. And when they came out and started freaking out that I had mutilated their car, I would say "why don't you go ahead and call the police and when they get here we can have a discussion about why you were illegally parked in the first place."

MrKlixx


(mutilated car in a handi parking spot clipart)

 

[SueM in MN]

I love what your DD said, D and L's mom. That was just right. Very polite and put him in his place!
Mr Klixx, to really mutilate a car well, I'd suggest a ramp van, rather than a lift. The door glides open along the side of the van and the ramp lowers, bopping the car next to you. The you can put the ramp back up and drive away.
Not that I would ever do it, but it certainly is satisfying to think about it sometimes.........

 

[Andrew Bichard]

Tiggersmom,

I am from the United Kingdom, and parking rules are in some respects different, the main one being that the police/parking wardens can only ticket on the highway or certain city owned parking lots.

Parking lots at malls and supermarkets are private property, and normal traffic laws do not apply. 'disabled' spaces are usually provided, but it is a civil, not a criminal offence to abuse them. Mall and Supermarket owners rarely 'police' these spaces, so abuse is common. (that is why I couldn't get a ticket for parking in the isle).

Even on the public highway, you are unlikely to get a ticket if you don't stay too long, because there are not enough wardens to be everywhere at once. Police have too much else to do (chasing criminals?) that they generally ignore parking offences.

Andrew

 

[TIGGERSMOM]

Wheels - I would definitely complain to the community laison officer about her attitude. There is no call for it. She would not have been dispatched to a low priority call if there was something bigger going on. Low as in not a violent crime.

Andrew - It was that way here years ago until Mass wrote legislation - now it is still a civil offense(most tickets are) but they added the extra bonus of insurance points - which can cost you $50 to $100 a year for 6 years. Guess that's why you don't see toomany people parking where there not supposed to around here.

On the 4th I noticed 2 cars being towed from the esplanade in our town, for what? You guessed parked in HP without stickers/plates - the business owner complained. And off they went. Life can be very good at times!!

 

[SueM in MN]

In Minnesota, the fine is $200 and you can get towed. The signs at all the handicapped parking spots say that, which I do think makes people think about it before they park. I don't know if there are any points involved.

Wheelsie, I wonder just what the police officer you had the experience with would think is a crime that IS worth her time.
And you do wonder sometimes what the crooks are thinking... ??? abandoning a stolen car in a handicapped spot???
There was a lift van with a wheelchair inside stolen in Minneapolis not too long ago. It turned out it was taken by some teens for a joy ride! What kind of people steal a lift ven for a joyride?????????

 

[s&k'smom]

Hi itscctu, just one word BRAVO!!!