Is it really that bad?
Driving home today, I was listening to the comedy station on the radio and heard Yet Another Routine about how We Hate Crying Babies On Airplanes.
I've done a lot of traveling. Short inter-island hops when I was a kid, longer trips in college and as an adult. And, I shall not hesitate to remind you, "longer" means "up to twelve hours flight time alone." That one I've done probably two dozen times, Honolulu to Des Moines or Madison.
And I fly coach.
Maybe I'm just not as sensitive as some people, but I've never been bothered by a crying baby. Is it really that big a deal? Do people just not understand that Babies Cry?
I've done a lot of traveling. Short inter-island hops when I was a kid, longer trips in college and as an adult. And, I shall not hesitate to remind you, "longer" means "up to twelve hours flight time alone." That one I've done probably two dozen times, Honolulu to Des Moines or Madison.
And I fly coach.
Maybe I'm just not as sensitive as some people, but I've never been bothered by a crying baby. Is it really that big a deal? Do people just not understand that Babies Cry?
posted by Robert at
9:53 PM
4 Comments:
I won't lie. It used to bug me. I couldn't understand why the parents didn't "do anything." I guess I set myself up for that. Not that Meredith is a bad flyer - she's pretty good. But the bigger and more mobile she's become, the less patient she's become with being strapped in to her car seat for long periods of time. Our last flight was coming back from DC after Christmas. Pretty much as soon as we were on the plane, she said "Mommy, all done." We bribe her with M&Ms, apologize in advance to the people sitting in front of her (and offer to buy them drinks), and there really ain't anything else we can do.
To the extent it DID used to bother me, I will say that nothing bothered me more than the dad who was doing everything but beating his child on our flight from Sydney to Cairns. Dude, if I don't want to hear your kid cry, do you really think I want to hear you screaming at her for three hours to stop crying? Where's Crocodile Dundee when you need him.
By
Anonymous, at 8:09 PM
Robert,
"Do people just not understand that Babies Cry?"
You can't be serious. Ad hominem much?
The very reason babies cry is to iritate adults enough to make them take action for the survival of the infant.
NOT reacting, if only on a personal-internal level, seems like the oddity to me.
By
Anonymous, at 1:05 PM
I dunno, I think there's a difference between "I hope that baby is okay" or "is someone going to take care of that baby" and "If somebody doesn't shut that fucking baby up, I am going to crash this airplane into a fucking mountain." Which is pretty funny, but I don't get the wellspring of active rage that some people have, which is different from being "irritate[d]...enough to make them take action for the survival of the infant."
By
Robert, at 1:22 PM
Alls I'm sayin is that having turned 40, I irritate myself so much that I can't imagine dealing with outside stuff. I should be old enough and fat enough by now that the testosterone/estrogen ratio should be tipping to the mellow end.
I'm gonna start smoking.
Screw off - I hate you.
:)
By
Anonymous, at 4:04 PM
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