Tales From the Con Floor (Slightly NSFW)

[NotSoInnocent]

A Tale of Ew

As a member of convention Security, sometime I have to deal with weird crap.

Cosplayers are all over the place. Some of them are intricately detailed, and wonderfully done!

One such cosplayer was an amazing rendition of Princess Cadence. She was being escorted by her fiance, who had dressed as Shining Armour.

She had been stopped all day for pictures and such, so didn't think much about another young man wanting his picture with her.

This young man, though...

He followed her everywhere. Taking constant video and still shots.

When she asked him to please stop, while they were in a panel, he wouldn't even reply.

That, by itself, would have had him booted from the convention...

But he pulled the last straw. *shudders*

That's right, folks.

When she and her fiance stood up to find Security...

The dude exposed himself and began... well... Eww.

...

Turned out that he was well under 16, and developmentaly challenged.

His mother tried to pull a "Speshul Snowflake" card, along with a "My Precious Could Never!"...

It might have worked...

Right up until she flat out said that she was sitting on the other side of the panel room, during the incident, because she didn't want to see her boy jerkin his gerkin.

She knew he would do it.

She didn't want to see it herself.

NOPE!!!!

Badges pulled, one year ban, and I had to go have several mini freakouts over the whole thing.

[Victory Sabre]

Ok, I'm going to assume that his mom is also his caretaker. If that's the case, she not only failed, but was derelict in her duty. I'd say a call to CPS is in order.

[Enjis]

I work con security too, and I know for a fact that this kind of harassment would have gotten the young fellow kicked out and probably banned before his...final act. Mom was certainly derelict in her duties!
We take harassment seriously, and encourage folks who feel harassed or threatened to report to a security person right away so we can protect the victim and talk to the problem causer.

No one should be made to feel unsafe at a con! We are all there to have fun! (I'm at one right now!)

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Who the hell takes their child to a con knowing he won't be able to control himself and will start doing the secret handshake right in front of everyone?

What if it was a girl from school that got his rocks off? Would mommy dearest take him to her house, ring the doorbell, and run away so he could beat the bishop as the girl opened the door?

[NotSoInnocent]

I work con security too, and I know for a fact that this kind of harassment would have gotten the young fellow kicked out and probably banned before his...final act. Mom was certainly derelict in her duties!
We take harassment seriously, and encourage folks who feel harassed or threatened to report to a security person right away so we can protect the victim and talk to the problem causer.

No one should be made to feel unsafe at a con! We are all there to have fun! (I'm at one right now!)

I totally agree! Everything happened within 15 minutes. As soon as our staff were notified, it was handled. He was just that quick out of the gate. And the mother was just... ugh... one of those parents. It was a bad deal all around. I was the one to tell her little darling to put it away. Not something I really wanted to witness.

Who the hell takes their child to a con knowing he won't be able to control himself and will start doing the secret handshake right in front of everyone?

What if it was a girl from school that got his rocks off? Would mommy dearest take him to her house, ring the doorbell, and run away so he could beat the bishop as the girl opened the door?

That was pretty much my reaction as well! As soon as she said that... all my empathy went out the window. I have some kids that need special handling... I would never leave them unsupervised!

[panamared]

We know where he'll be in 5 years. Lined up and exposing himself for the selection process of inmate dating

[Sliceanddice]

We know where he'll be in 5 years. Lined up and exposing himself for the selection process of inmate dating

it depends how developmentally challenged he is, he could wind up in a in-care facility.

[Mr Hero]

I have some kids that need special handling... I would never leave them unsupervised!

Sounds like this kid took care of his own special handling.

[KuariKaydrith]

I do volunteer wrangling at a local con and security/volunteer at another local con. Sometimes I really wonder about parents who let their kids run wild at these things. Even worse are the ones who can't seem to get it through their heads that they really must supervise their youngsters. In the past we routinely had parents just drop their kids off at the doors, hand them money, and take off as if the con is nothing more than a day-long daycare center.

What is really bad is when a mother and her son are jettisoned from the con for the son's behaviour and the mother's unwillingness to corral her precious snowflake's behaviour...and they're both con volunteers! Well, *were* con volunteers - they are now blacklisted from volunteering at any local con, and it has been politely recommended that they abstain from attending the particular con that they got tossed from. Basically it boils down to the son not doing his job and having to be spoken to repeatedly by one of that con's volunteer supervisors, until finally having a temper tantrum on the last day because he didn't want to do his assigned duties, and then the mother having a temper tantrum of her own because how dare the con revoke his volunteer privileges. I'd already reported to my first assignment of the day - the son was supposed to be my partner, but I ended up handling it all on my own, much to the appreciation of more than one of the con's planning committee members - so I didn't hear the entire tirade but I heard their voices over the morning con noise so it obviously wasn't very pretty.

One bonus though is that due to everything I did at the con is that I got invited to the after-con event with the guests. Getting to party with the EMH, the voice of Inuyasha's Miroku, Lancel Lannister, and an awesome Canadian author was frickin' amazing...and I may have some pictures of them all getting screeched in. Okay, I have a LOT of those LOL

But yeah, you see some really weird things when doing con security or volunteering. I recommend it to everybody

[Geek King]

Heh. The anime con I used to help out with had its share too. My favorite took place at the costume dance, which was strictly badge-holder entry only. Apparently one parent had gotten a hotel room for her and her daughter, but only the kid had a badge. Long story short, kid had been forbidden to go to the party, but sneaked out anyway, so Mom was trying to get her.

<Loud music, flashing dance lights, general cosplay dance craziness just through the doors>
Mom: Look, I just need get my daughter out of there!
Bouncer: I'm sorry Ma'am, but you have to have a badge to go past this point.
Mom: Look, can you just go in there and bring her to the door? I'll handle it from there!
Bouncer: Maybe. What does she look like?
Mom: She's got pink hair and is wearing a schoolgirl outfit! How hard can it be to find her!?
Bouncer: <shakes head> Ma'am, I can't even begin to tell you how many people in that room match that description...

[Silent-Hunter]

Cons always seem to bring out the strangest people, like whoever set off chlorine gas or whatever at that SeaTac furry convention.

[Argabarga]

There's a special kind of Hell reserved for people who KNOW their kid/child/uncle/grandma can't behave in public, but take them anyway because it MIGHT be different, you never know....

[Monterey Jack]

There's a special kind of Hell reserved for people who KNOW their kid/child/uncle/grandma can't behave in public, but take them anyway because it MIGHT be different, you never know....

Or -- worse -- they just don't care and believe the rest of the world should bend around their Speshul Snowflake because to complain is to be a heartless bitch/bastard because "They can't help it!" That may indeed be so, but if they truly cannot, it's YOUR responsibility not to put them into situations where they're going to get into trouble or annoy everyone within earshot. I am sympathetic to those with developmental disabilities, but if I'm in a movie theater and someone who is OBVIOUSLY mentally challenged sits down behind me with their "caretaker" and starts to make distracting vocalizations, I am going to get up and either movie seats or leave.

[gremcint]

I feel sorry for this kid. his parents have done him a grave disservice and he's in for some hard lessons down the line.

[earl colby pottinger]

This couple

A Tale of Ew
One such cosplayer was an amazing rendition of Princess Cadence. She was being escorted by her fiance, who had dressed as Shining Armour.

Did they look like this?

http://mlpcosplaycollection.tumblr.c...e/123480224969

I looked a little more to discover:

http://mlpcosplaycollection.tumblr.c...nce-by-dhareza

Has My Little Pony taken over the world?