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I had a "get off my lawn" moment today
I felt like a grouchy old lady (and probably looked like one, too) today at the Lee-Harrison Shopping Center. There were hoards, HOARDS of teenagers there because apparently school let out early today and every teen in Arlington decided to go to the same shopping center.
I had taken Warner to JW Tumbles Playzone around 11 with plans to go eat at Elevation Burger afterward. We came back upstairs when he was done playing and it was like a zombie invasion. They were just roaming around, not paying any attention to where they were walking (like walking straight into Warner, so I had to carry him which is fun now that he weighs over 35 lbs). The line was out the door at Elevation Burger and every other place in the shopping center. And I had promised Warner we could eat there, I was starving myself so I made the terrible decision to just stick it out and wait in the horrendous line.
Meanwhile the kids in line behind me decided to save ALL the tables for themselves by putting their bookbags/purses all over them. Oh hell no. When the kids directly behind me got back in line after tossing their bags all over the last table, I turned around and said "Did it occur to you that the people in front of you in line might like a place to sit?" And then they gave me the stink-eye and went and retrieved their bags. Bwahahahaha!! And after that, the store manager came and laid the smack down making the other kids pick up their bags and told anyone who was not actually planning to order food to get out...and half the kids got out of line.
Usually I have no issue with teenagers, but I was actually pretty appalled at how rude some of these kids were. Many of them left a giant mess behind them or just didn't throw their trash away at all. Unacceptable.
Oh and for any Arlington teachers, based on the t-shirts sweatshirts I saw, these were W&L students. Yes, I'm tattling :-)
Re: I had a "get off my lawn" moment today
I made the mistake of going to Starbucks one afternoon on a day off. One of the guys working that day told me the Williamsburg kids overrun the place for 30-60 minutes after school gets out, then it's the Yorktown kids after THEY get out, so it's madness from 2:30-6. Lovely. Strike that entire shopping center off the list of places to go in the afternoon. It sounds like a MS hallway. Why do they have to YELL so much?
OMG, and now my inner granny is coming out to join you...
Good for you for saying something.
I swear I wasn't that bad when I was there age...KIDS THESE DAYS!!!!
I mean, when I was in high school, everyone got an after school job. No time (or money!) for lounging at Starbucks!
Kids are incredibly lazy, rude and just not "right" these days.
My sister turned 16 and my mom always comments about how different she is than me and brother. She kept asking them for money, and it never once occurred to her to get a job. My mom then lectured her about how on the day I turned 16 (a holiday) I was working, my brother has been working since he was 14, and he she is, going on 17 and hasn't made $1.
Her and all of her emo friends just sit around in a field of daisies playing their guitars. (I'm not even kidding, she has a picture on FB of her and her bff doing that.)
We make the rockin' world go 'round.
OMG! i almost spit my water on my computer!!!
and bh, good for you for speaking up!
I *want* to give them the benefit of the doubt bc hey, we were all teenagers once, too. BUT -- by and large, teens these days act so effing entitled! so yay for you for speaking up (pg or not), and yay for the manager for talking to them, too -- and maybe, just maybe, the next time, they will think twice about their socially unacceptable behavior.
you can come on my lawn anytime... I'm the person who stands on the curb and screams "slow down!" to the fast cars! (my street is a dead end but it's a 1/4 mile or so to get there, so the damned kids speed right by me!)
"What is a week-end?"
I agree. And Starbucks? Try it being 20 min to the nearest fast food place and only one of your friends has a car.
I also agree with the entitlement thing. It drives me nuts and makes me vow that my kids (at least around me) will never act that way.
ugh. i used to see situations like this (or just your general obnoxious bunch of tweens/teens) when pregnant and would look at DH and say "what have we done??"
i guess i can only hope that we are good enough parents that H turns out like her father and I did. behavior like i see these days never would have been on my radar when i was growing up.
good for you for saying something!