Steaming

Yesterday I overheard a conversation between two women with 8-year-old kids, one a boy and one a girl. The boy likes the girl, but she doesn't like him back, not as a boyfriend (!) anyway.

So, it seems another boy in their class decided he likes the girl, too. The first little boy heard the news and went to the new suitor with a warning, "Stay away from my woman or I'll kick your ass. Nobody messes with my woman."

The little girl's mother relates this story accompanied by giggles, obviously delighted that her 2nd grader is so popular with boys. The little boy's mother says, "Isn't that cute. That's something his father would say. It totally is. He's protective of me that way, too."

Cute? It's cute to threaten other kids? Cute to insist a girl belongs to you, even though she's been telling you she's not your girlfriend since kindergarten???

Later, at the salon, I had a conversation with a man whose daughter had her hair done for prom, calling to complain that his credit card had been charged twice. He was totally irate, threatening to have our credit card privileges cancelled and so forth. As he spewed, I gathered the necessary paperwork to investigate and asked several questions. I could hear his keyboard clicking as he checked his transaction list online. Trying to answer a question, he clearly discovered he was wrong. The transaction was confusing, but he had not been charged twice. There's some question whether he was charged at all.

Suddenly, he had pressing business elsewhere. When I asked for his number, he dissembled. Said he's very hard to reach and he'd call me back instead. I gave him my cell number so he could reach me directly.

He did not call back, and I'm pretty sure he never will. This guy raged on and on with his righteous self, then just dropped-it-like-it's-hot when he realized he was wrong. No apology. No acknowledgment, even. Just lots of yelling followed by silence.

I'll bet his mother thought it was cute when he threatened others, too.