Gah! I'm ready to smack someone...

[flybye023]

So I was in the grocery store for some light shopping, only needed 5 things and was hoping to get in & out really quickly. I get my 5 things and go to the express line because there were only 2 people in line ahead of me.

Person #1: Young woman with limited English and a screaming baby. Not sucky in and of itself except she thought this was the ideal situation to argue and question the price of EVERY FRICKIN' THING in her cart. While her baby still screamed. Finally she gets done and I heave a mental sigh of relief that she and the screaming baby will be leaving. BUT she pulls far enough ahead to get out of the way--not to comfort her child, no that would be too easy--but to rearrange every shopping bag, go over the receipt, do some head scratching, anything but take care of her SCREAMING baby. Did I mention the baby was SCREAMING?!!!! (it was one of those cries that resembles a crow trying to sing Klingon opera--major annoying)

Person #2: Guy with 3 items. Should have been quick. Except that in response to cashier's simple question of "do you have our Savings Card?" Responds with a mini rant on savings card, names off all the different store savings card he has, debates the merits of savings cards...WHO CARES? Just pay and get out of line!!

Took me 25 minutes to get through the store. Bah!, I say.

[Chromatix]

NEVER ignore a crying baby. There are four reasons why babies cry - dirty, hungry, hurt, or lonely. It's just as important to attend to that last one - commonly known as "colic" - as the others.

Now a toddler's tantrum, on the other hand...

[tollbaby]

Actually, colic is a stomach cramp caused by gassiness or difficulty digesting. It's not just the baby crying because it wants to be held. They're in genuine pain when they have colic. (one of my kids had it, the other didn't - BIG difference)

[Kogarashi]

Yeah, doctors aren't quite sure how to help colic, other than the baby growing out of it (and a few specific ways to carry baby that ease it). My little girl had something like a mild form of it when she was about three months old. If it was just lonliness, picking her up would do the trick. Colic, however, often requires pacing with a screaming child for three hours or more before that day's fit subsides. I'm glad she grew out of it.

Either way, that mom should've definitely attended to her baby. I won't argue that point.

[otakuneko]

Actually, colic is a stomach cramp

I learned something new today!

...which is more than I can say for my day at uni.