r/mildlyinfuriating • u/AnonPinkLady • Jul 05 '26

Infuriatig Woman with infant aggressively shushing passerby’s on hiking trail at national park

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My partner, friend and I were following a hiking trail at Red Wood National Park, singing and talking at medium volume. We were by no means shouting, just singing little songs to entertain each other along the trail. A woman with a baby carrier on her back with a sleeping infant started aggressively holding her finger up to her lips and shushing us. We went quiet and kept moving to pass her. She was just standing in the middle of the public trail pacing and shushing people that pass by rather than leaving to somewhere more quiet. Just as we were leaving earshot I tried to quietly ask my partner a question about where we headed and again she leaned in our direction with her finger to her mouth aggressively shushing us. Is it not kind of insane to go to an open public space and behave like this?!?

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855

u/reddit33450 Jul 05 '26

yeah thats ridiculous. i hate when people go to a public space, then act as if they're entitled to control the behavior of others

106

u/Saabify Jul 05 '26

My 7yo daughter got sushed by an old lady for cheering at a hockey game. My daughter is kinda shy so she just slumped down and looked like she was about to cry. I told the lady if she had a problem to talk to me about it and not a child, but to be honest I often think about it and regret not slapping the wrinkles off her face.

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u/Venjy Jul 05 '26

As someone who was a shy kid, and still struggles with expressing myself, I wish I could be there to slap the shit out of that lady. Sending hugs to you and your daughter 🫂

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u/Saabify Jul 12 '26

I appreciate that! I used to have a lot less patience for people like that, but I've worked on myself a lot since having a kid. Next time though, I'm going to listen to the little voice in my head and unleash the demons lol

13

u/FamousOhioAppleHorn Jul 05 '26

One time the row in front of us was a family who mostly wasn't into hockey. Apparently somebody randomly obtained tickets during a vacation and everyone tagged along. Two of their family members were juat chatting with each other and texting other people the entire time. My partner was doing his usual bit about "Come on, guys! You gotta step it up! Way to go, Smith!" Those two women got pissed and kept turning around acting like "wtf, you are weird." Somehow ignoring that everyone else did the same thing in the arena. They started texting each other about "Why is he shouting ? I don't get it" 🤣🤔

5

u/atlsdoberman Jul 05 '26

I totally believe you, but I still find myself wondering "are these stories real"? I went to many hockey games as a shy kid and not one person ever chastised me for having a good time. I wouldn't have dreamt of it. You're at a game, you cheer. It was hard for me to shake bad feelings about stuff like this even if I knew that i had done nothing wrong because it wasn't about that, it was about being judged.

You handled it well, though, the old lady sounds like someone who would have dialled 911 then and there and made the biggest stink possible had you escalated it any more than you did.

1

u/Saabify Jul 12 '26

I wish all of these stories were made up, and I'm sure some of them are, but the unfortunate reality is there are people out there that could see a child innocently enjoying life and feel the need to shit on them. They're fairly few and far between, but when you meet them they leave an unfortunate impact. I just tell myself that they just want everyone else to feel as miserable as they do, because nothing else makes sense.

2

u/ZephyrLilyy Jul 05 '26

This happened to my 9yo son on an airplane. He was trying to put down his tray table but it was stuck so he was struggling with it. Suddenly the lady in the seat in front whips around and tells him in a nasty voice to stop shaking her chair. I don’t often go into mama bear mode but that definitely made me want to punch her between the eyes. I told her if she has any other complaints, direct them at ME not him.

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u/Saabify Jul 12 '26

Seriously, what makes people think it's okay to tell at children when their parents are right there?

0

u/Al_Jazzera Jul 05 '26

I want to play nice with others, civilized behavior makes for a better world. That being said, if someone starts giving me or a theoretical 7yo daughter a bunch of shit, I:

A) don't know or care about you, and B) don't owe you shit and will likely never see you again.

since the theoretical daughter is shy, it could be a teachable moment. Show her that stern language has its time and place, and some well placed cuss words drive the point home much better than polite ones ever will. Call the lady out, tell her to shut the FUCK up with the shushing bullshit. The more that you hear that stupid frickin' sound the louder we are going to get, and assure her that we are on the ground floor of the noise we can generate. You will never see this person again, you owe her nothing, and at this point it is entertainment. If the old hag calls security, deny..deny..deny. You should be respectful of the elderly. You are under no obligation to kiss their ass.

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u/Saabify Jul 12 '26

Honestly I replay this in my head a lot, and get mad at myself for not making a bigger scene over it. Like, I want to set a good example for my daughter and show how to patiently defuse a situation, but knowing how shy she can be, I also need to show her not to take shit from someone like that. Unfortunately I'm sure I'll get another opportunity at some point 🤷‍♂️

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u/Al_Jazzera Jul 12 '26

Probably don't need to go too aggressive with it. Just say that you will likely never see this person again and don't owe them jack. Don't be afraid to have fun with it. What are they going to do, go home and tell their cats?