Was it really worth it? (Bad parenting)

[labgirl27]

I guess since this is about a customer of the train, it goes in Sightings? If it's not, feel free to move it.

I went to the city with the family on the train today, and as the train was pulling up, a guy got out of the car with his kid on the other side of the tracks. Now, instead of waiting like a SANE PERSON for the train to stop and to slowly make your way across the tracks away from it, this guy thought he could BEAT THE TRAIN!

I kid you not, he ran across the tracks right in front of a moving train.

Worst off, his kid ran behind him (he didn't even bother to stop the kid, or to help him across, nope. He ran across first, and then let the kid endanger himself running across). The train got literally a foot away from this kid.

Everyone on that platform freaked the hell out. First off, we were convinced we were going to see a horrible accident, and we were just shocked by the negligence of the parent! We all went from to Some guy even started yelling how he was gonna "punch that *censored* in the face!!"

Luckily, life is not without a bit of karma. The train conductors saw this, got off and confronted the guy (who was wearing a sports jersey...he endangered his kid's life for a game...I couldn't even make this up if I tried) They told him, under no flat terms, that he was an idiot and they would not let him on the train. He'd have to wait for the next one, and HOPEFULLY be able to get on that one.

This poor kid got it doubly...he starts crying, all like "but we made it!!! we made it to this one!!" Way to go jerk...you nearly get your kid killed and ruin his chances of seeing the game. Was it worth it?

I wish I had seen the car this guy pulled up in, I would have called the police and given them his license number so he could get a nice visit at home later.

Sorry this is so long, this was a while ago and I'm still shaking from anger at the nerve of this guy.

[kibbles]

I don't blame them for not letting the guy on the train; but, I feel for the kid who did nothing and got jipped out of getting on the train when it was his idiot father's fault in the first place.

[draggar]

I think the conductor did the right thing. Nothing is worth your kid's life (hell, if he had just killed himself then he would have deserved an honorable mention for a Darwin award - but I would feel sorry for the kid).

[Jack]

Honorable mentions are for people who didn't manage to kill or otherwise remove themselves from the gene pool.

[Stormraven]

Well, it would work. He'd already bred, so even dying wouldn't have removed his genes from the pool, so yeah, he'd get an honorable mention.

[RetailDemon]

I just hope the father didn't take it out on the kid later.

[labgirl27]

I just hope the father didn't take it out on the kid later.

O.o Oh boy, I hadn't even thought of that... I hope so too. Hopefully the guy saw that it was his own fault and will try to correct his own behavior as well

[rageaholic]

*loss of words*

http://wylfwt.com/home/files/images/Epic%20Fail.jpg

[Chanlin]

Yeah. Seriously. I could maybe.... MAYBE understand trying this on my own, but with a young kid in tow that's a big hell no. I don't want to encourage any child to try this on their own later, especially since where I live I know of at least 4 people off hand who have died doing this at the train crossing near the local high school. When you do something like this not only do you risk yourself, but think of how bad the conductor and any of the crew or anyone around would feel after witnessing such a horrible death.

[Chromatix]

There just seems to be something about Americans and trains. :-(

[Jack]

Well, it would work. He'd already bred, so even dying wouldn't have removed his genes from the pool, so yeah, he'd get an honorable mention.

Oh, you're right, of course. I hadn't thought of the son. :P

I think that in America, trains aren't a common part of people's lives, so they aren't accustomed to dealing with them safely. Many people fool around with freight trains because they don't realise how difficult it is for them to stop and how misleading its apparent approach speed can be. Also, that's true about the train operators -- I've heard of some committing suicide because they couldn't deal with having hit some kid playing on the tracks, or a car stuck at a crossing.

[Seshat]

Something my father said once: if your car is stuck on the crossing and the train is approaching, GET OUT. Abandon the car. TRY to alert the train driver, so he can minimise the effect on the train passengers. But allow material damage to happen.

And, of course, after the impact, you contact the driver and let them know you were intelligent enough to get out - and then deal with insurance companies, minor injuries to passengers, yadda yadda.

Sure, you MIGHT be able to restart the car - but you might not. It's not worth the risk to your life, the train driver's sanity, and any passengers you or the train driver has.


As for this parent.... hopefully the conductors kept him from boarding the train so he could wait for the police/child services.

[unperson]

I don't blame them for not letting the guy on the train; but, I feel for the kid who did nothing and got jipped out of getting on the train when it was his idiot father's fault in the first place.

Just as a sidebar, the term "Gypped" is a derogatory term for "Gypsy", or Roma person. I'm certain you didn't use it as that sort of term intentionally, but I wanted to at least make you aware of it's racist origins - it's no less offensive than saying you got "Jew'ed".

Also, crappy the kid had to pay the price for his dad's idiocy - still beats getting smeared across the front of a train, though.

[kibbles]

Sorry about that, I actually had absolutely no idea. I thought it was just slang and had no idea it meant anything else. Thanks for letting me know

[PepperElf]

all i can think of are the trains in japan
and if he had been in japan he and the son would have... well first they wouldn't be on the wrong side but, they'd probably be dead too.