What began as a father's in-flight game of peek-a-boo over the South Pacific ended with a flight attendant's firing for briefly hiding a 17-month-old boy in an overhead bin, according to reports from Down Under.
Where do I start with this? This extremely long sentence has so many things…
Okay, someone please explain to me how a game of “peek-a-boo” involved moving the child in any way? Peek-a-boo involves hiding your face behind your hands, a blanket, etc. and then surprise – reappearing and saying, “peek-a-boo.” When Munchkin was eight-months-old she could initiate a game on her own. Apparently we taught her all wrong.
In what world is it okay to just randomly pick up a complete stranger’s child? I understand talking to the kid, interacting with him, but picking him up – that’s five kinds of wrong. Hiding the kid in an overhead bin, that’s a couple more kinds of wrong.
I know this is USA Today and I know it’s a news blog which means there’s not the complete formality of a news story, but honestly, referring to Australia as “Down Under” – on first reference, no less? That’s enough to make my skin crawl.
Virgin Blue airlines said it fired the male attendant and offered Natalie Williamson two free trips for the incident, which occurred three months ago, the Melbourne Sunday Herald Sun reported.
I’m not really sure the guy deserved to be fired. He was trying to keep the kid happy, after all, we all know how much fun a pissed-off 17-month-old can be. I mean, in the end, yeah, he ticked off the kid and the parents more, but I don’t think that was his initial intent. I mean, had this been a second or third violation hiding a kid in the overhead bin, okay.
Williamson said her son, Riley, has been suffering anxiety and withdrawal and has seen several specialists. She said the child was inside the closed compartment for about 10 seconds during the flight from Fiji to Sydney.
Are you freakin’ kidding me? Really, 10 whole seconds has caused suffering anxiety? First of all, doesn’t this idiot mean “separation anxiety?” Second of all, someone please tell this wonderful parent that separation anxiety peaks around 18-months-old, so this is most likely (and by most likely, I do, of course mean, completely likely) a result of a developmental phase and not this poor dude trying to entertain your kid.
"My husband, Shayne, was standing one meter behind my son, Riley, when the air steward picked him up and placed him in the overhead compartment," she said.
Okay, seriously, it takes some time to pick up a kid and shove him in an overhead bin, why is it your husband, or *gasp* yourself, didn't intervene and tell him to put your kid down? Trust me, you could have uttered the words before your kid made it into the overhead bin and stayed there for 10 full seconds. In fact, I could type those words in less than that time, so I know you could say it.
"I stood up and there were people laughing and then I said, 'Get my son out of there now,' " she told the Sunday Herald Sun.
Of course people were laughing, they thought your kid and the attendant were playing. It’s endearing to watch people interact with children. And if he wasn’t screaming, they thought he was into the game, so it probably warmed them in the cockles of the heart. Maybe in the subcockle area. Maybe in the liver or the even colon, we don’t know. (Yes, the cockles is from Denis Leary's No Cure For Cancer, I can't take credit for something that good.)
"I was devastated. I was absolutely devastated.
You were devastated? Embarrassed seems like the more likely adjective here. I mean, if my husband was a complete moron and didn't interfere with a stranger picking up my child, I'd be embarrassed for both myself and my husband.
"I was crying. My husband was in shock. For days on end I was crying."
You are such a drama queen. And so are your husband and kid. For the love of all things holy, my stepbrother turned off the all the lights in the house so we could play laser tag. At some point I remember wigging out, and since he turned them off at the circuit breaker, I couldn’t turn a light on. But I’m not emotionally scarred for it. I don’t need to see a therapist because of it. And I promise you, it was more than 10 seconds.
Williamson said she and her husband are now estranged.
Yeah, because you’re a drama queen. I wouldn’t want to be with you either.
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