Emily in Richmond, Virginia says this note was recently posted in her apartment building, “right next to a note complaining about a) the tenants in the building that have parties and don’t clean up the beer that gets left in the hallways and b) the laziness of the dog owners in the building that don’t pick up their dogs’ poop.”
related: Wanna touch the baby?
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284 responses so far ↓
#1
Kevin
h
Mar 9, 2010 at 9:49 pm rating: 33
#2
Connie
Being colicky as a baby is the most passive aggressive thing my sister has ever done. I expect this baby is also an evil mastermind. Nothing like colic to make everyone hate your mother wherever she goes.
Get a one up on the mental scarring you’re in store for, and let her have it! Team baby.
Mar 9, 2010 at 9:49 pm rating: 94
#3
Wade
The rancor of the note was somewhat diminished by the choice of light green marker.
Mar 9, 2010 at 9:50 pm rating: 79
#4
Jonathan
Team Spay-and-Neuter-Your-Neighbors crushes Team Oops-I-Did-It-Again!
Mar 9, 2010 at 9:54 pm rating: 81
#5
Apertif
Now THAT’S one crying baby I’d like to shut up!
Mar 9, 2010 at 9:58 pm rating: 20
#6
A Fox
I know I hate it when I have to wake up early because my asshole is crying.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:04 pm rating: 185
#7
Canthz_B
See, that’s why my apartment complex only allows autistic babies.
They still cry, but only inside their little heads.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:05 pm rating: 92
#8
farcical aquatic ceremony
Team ‘trees that had to die so people could write a world’s-worth of fucking incoherent notes like this one’.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:09 pm rating: 21
#9
marco
guess who should “get the FUCK over living in an apartment”
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:10 pm rating: 69
#10
R.M.
People live in apartments because of the novelty of it? Dang, I thought it was a cost issue…
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:11 pm rating: 36
#11
Curtis Retherford
“It wasn’t a chicken!”
-Hawkeye Pierce
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:12 pm rating: 28
#12
farcical aquatic ceremony
i realize that it’s little more than a scrawl (or simply the result of a hand spasm while holding a marker), but, jeez, for some reason that little cartoon baby huddled in the corner of the note looks so pathetic…
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:20 pm rating: 4
#13
Aksijuice
I love how they assume (and I would say are right) that if you have a kid and live in an apartment your child is a mistake.
Unplanned pregnancy which leads to lowering the quality of life for others ftw!
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:22 pm rating: 51
#14
Ashley
Yes, of course. When your baby cries, you’re not already automatically and even frantically and desperately trying everything you and anyone whose phone number you know can think of to “shut it up”.
As a mother, I’d really love to track this person down and give them something to cry ABOUT. I’ve been reading these notes for almost a year and have NEVER thought that.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:23 pm rating: 65
#15
Lori
Who calls a baby a crying asshole? Pot, meet kettle.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:33 pm rating: 71
#16
Jason
Team Shut It Up!
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:33 pm rating: 33
#17
Dibs
Virginia is for lovers….but not of babies, but if you’re a lover, don’t have a “f@#$%g mistake” and then have the nerve to live in an apartment. Get the F#$%K over it…wahhhhh
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:36 pm rating: 7
#18
Jen
Wow, as if someone trying to find a way to quiet a crying baby doesn’t have enough problems withOUT having to wonder who the douchebag is who left this grammatical abomination of whine sauce for all to see.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:52 pm rating: 55
#19
TheOldSchool
Dear Note Writer:
Hi. We’re the family with the sick baby on the top floor. We feel awful about the inconvenience our baby’s crying caused you. We would dearly love to help you out. Stop by our unit, and we’ll let you pick the window.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:56 pm rating: 54
#20
Bobalina
I love how he uses punctuation and capitalization to give us a visual representation of his swelling rage. The first sentence is whiny, yes, but not terribly angry, apparent in his use of lowercase letters and a period. Then, as he thinks about it, he gets angrier and angrier, resulting in this: “No one wants to hear about your fuCKING MISTAKE!” After that, his rage takes over. He is no longer able to form a coherent sentence, and profanity has become his punctuation.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:57 pm rating: 25
#21
Rossy
Sorry but I have to join team Shut It Up on this one. Too many parents in this world get used to the sound of their children and start slacking off on shutting them up, forgetting that the rest of us never get used to it. We hates it.
Mar 9, 2010 at 10:59 pm rating: 47
#22
Gery
Wow, what a whiner. Get some ear plugs!
Hopefully he / she is sterile and will never have to eat those words when he / she finds out how what raising kids is really like.
Mar 9, 2010 at 11:05 pm rating: 19
#23
beth
Baby H8tin’ Bizatch!!
Mar 9, 2010 at 11:22 pm rating: 3
#24
Pterosaur
I bought a house to escape all that apartment bullshit. When you live in an apartment, every audible neighbor is automatically an asshole.
Crying kid? Asshole.
Barking dog? Yep, asshole.
Loud partiers? Definite assholes.
Old deaf lady who keeps her TV on full blast? Total asshole.
Young couple who won’t stop fucking? Complete assholes.
3am alarm clock guy? Fucking asshole.
Mar 9, 2010 at 11:23 pm rating: 84
#25
Mike626
Team Procreation Is Wrong
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:02 am rating: 14
#26
Havingfitz
We’re biologically hardwired. When we hear a crying baby our genes tell us that we do something to remedy the situation. If we cannot (baby is in another apartment) this distresses us and causes these kind of notes. Or this guy doesn’t realize that he was once an annoying, crying baby too. One of those has to be correct.
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:04 am rating: 17
#27
Jan
I can totally relate to this note, my neigbhours have broken up many a party thrown by me or my roommate at 10PM because it kept their baby awake, but did we EVER call them at 5, 6 in the morning to tell them to shut their baby up because it kept US awake (when we’d gone to bed only half an hour before and had to get up a mere 2 hours later)? No! Because we’re good people, obviously!
So suck it, baby. No-one wants to hear about your puny problems. If you’re lucky, we’ll invite you to one of our parties in 20 years. WAHHWAH WAH
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:30 am rating: 28
#28
snatchbeast
Granted, I dislike children myself… but there are far better, more passive ways to word this without sounding like a douche nozzle.
Loud parties and dog poo are also undesirable.
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:56 am rating: 14
#29
Canthz_B
Here’s the one and only way to quiet a crying baby, it worked for us:
First you, oops, phone is ringing, BRB…
Mar 10, 2010 at 1:44 am rating: 7
#30
Yipper
It’s been in several of my apartment leases: Your crying baby wakes up other tenants? Buh-bye.
Mar 10, 2010 at 2:54 am rating: 13
#31
dostoevsky
The coherence really deteriorates after “HOURS”… What on earth is this person trying to say, exactly? In fact, the 12 hours thing doesn’t make sense either.
Mar 10, 2010 at 5:24 am rating: 4
#32
WaywardCat
You know, this note was next to two others. Maybe it’s supposed to be a joke, taking a jab at the other two? That’s what I’m going to hope, even though I know some people are… pretty insane when it comes to children and their expectations for what children should be able to do and what their parents can control.
Mar 10, 2010 at 5:36 am rating: 4
#33
K
I don’t know about anyone else, but last time there was a baby screaming the place down next door to me, I knocked and asked if everything was ok and needed any help. Two cups of tea with a frazzled mother, use of my internet connection to look up way to soothe teething pain, and an offer to help with her housework since I was between jobs, and things have been a lot quieter ever since. Odd how when the mother isn’t stressed, the baby isn’t stressed.
But, y’know, that takes human decency and all that.
Mar 10, 2010 at 6:05 am rating: 92
#34
morgan
granted, the note writer could have used a better marker (not green) and proofreading would have helped, but I agree with then completely.
The note writer has to live there too. Parents need to learn that not everybody loves little snot factories, and if you live in an apartment, you need to teach the kid to shut up fast.
Mar 10, 2010 at 6:17 am rating: 20
#35
JK
I love the commenters that show their obvious lack of kids… I love my daughter dearly, but when she was less than a month old I spent 2 sleepless nights due to colics… I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, I was desperate! Luckily I live in a reasonably large house, and the neighbours aren’t too close, but I did have to put up with my husband telling me to shut her up, since he had to work the next day!!!
of course theres no way of knowing if the baby in question was colicky or sick, but I do know that most parents try anything to calm their kids in situations like that!
Mar 10, 2010 at 6:53 am rating: 8
#36
HappyNat
Nobody can call my baby an asshole, except for me.
Mar 10, 2010 at 6:58 am rating: 20
#37
wfa
I can kinda feel her pain. Crying babies are fucking annoying. Unfortunately they’re also mostly unavoidable. But after 12 hours I think everyone would be cranky.
My neighbors let their kids fake-cry-cuz-i’m-not-getting-what-I-want for hours and it makes me want to punch the parents in their reproductive organs.
Mar 10, 2010 at 7:07 am rating: 24
#38
macmommy
You know, they make these amazing things that help with the noise of living in an apartment.
I believe they’re called earplugs.
They also work at hotels.
I am confused about this part of the note: “not every1 is stupid & has to wake up early because of CRYING ASSHOLE”.
I hope no one has to wake up early from crying asshole. That sounds horrible.
Mar 10, 2010 at 8:15 am rating: 15
#39
claw71
This note was clearly posted by the baby’s daddy. Trust me, no matter how hot the chick in 3D is, don’t bang her until you move to another building.
Mar 10, 2010 at 8:32 am rating: 6
#40
Max Time
well my toy baby was working fine till i spilled beer on its batteries and it started balling for 12 hours
Mar 10, 2010 at 8:38 am rating: 3
#41
oi
Whatever you say wailing banshees are nuisance. no, they are more than nuisance when you are stuck behind them in long haul flights.
WAAH!
Mar 10, 2010 at 9:26 am rating: 11
#42
GhostWriter
Did nobody think to use a ball gag?
I’ve applied this technique whenever I babysit my nieces and nephews; I think it makes them look sexy/cool! (…like something out of “Pulp Fiction“)
Mar 10, 2010 at 10:20 am rating: 7
#43
ANgela
Excuse me, but is that squiggle at the bottom a depiction of a crying baby? Wow, artistic and articulate.
Mar 10, 2010 at 10:33 am rating: 1
#44
Luna
Common sense should be the rule here people. Occasionally, all of us make some noise. Sometimes it’s crying babies, sometimes it’s barking dogs, and sometimes it’s a drunken orgy. If it’s one instance, ignore it. If it happens on a regular basis, maybe casually mentioning it in a nice way is called for. But all of this fury should really be reserved for people with no regard for their neighbors. I’ve lived a lot of places and most people just don’t fall into that category. Have a little tolerance, people.
Mar 10, 2010 at 10:35 am rating: 13
#45
Wizard
Hey Luna(tic), here’s some common sense for you:
Bringing something into an apartment complex which you KNOW is going to make a big loud disturbance at all hours is the epitome of rudeness.
Too bad we can’t demand child-free complexes (except for a few brave owners) because it’s “discrimination” to not want to wake up at midnight because *someone else’s* BRAT is wailing!!!
Mar 10, 2010 at 11:36 am rating: 14
#46
claw71
Dear Green Crayola:
Thin walls are a bitch, aren’t they? That’s why we bought ear plugs two weeks after we moved in. Now that we have a baby, we can’t use them to drown out things like the Jason Mraz Live album that was causing our baby to cry all night. Hell, I wanted to cry.
Look, I know Jason Mister A to the Z is a local kid, but that doesn’t mean the whole city needs to jam to the extended acoustic version of ‘Geek in the Pink’ at 3am.
PS:
Call my kid an asshole again and I’ll shove that lame marker so far up your ass, your gall bladder will be writing haikus on your pancreas.
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:37 pm rating: 20
#47
veinglory
My solution to the baby next door sometimes crying is a $2 set of vinyl earplugs. They could block out the sound of a jet engine.
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:51 pm rating: 3
#48
Bossy
1) If you are in an area where houses are common (i.e. not Manhattan and similar cities) then people should have homes before having children. Why? Kids need space. Not to offend anyone by comparing kids to dogs but it wouldn’t be fair to keep a Labrador in an apartment, the dog is full of energy and needs to move, same for kids. Yes there are parks, but sometimes you need the privacy to let your kid play in a wading pool or have a private birthday party.
2) Regardless of whether the baby is an “a**hole” or not all apartments/dorms should be made soundproof. No one wants to hear any noise or even acknowledge that neighbors exist when they live in community quarters.
Mar 10, 2010 at 12:53 pm rating: 12
#49
claw71
I wish I lived here! Young couple, just starting out. The stress of raising a baby in a tiny apartment. Dad’s got to work during the day, mom’s staying home with the kid because day care is too expensive. The baby cries all night. Neither of them sleep. They fight. She feels lonely. All by herself during the middle of the day.No friends. No life. Just emptiness.
That’s when I knock on the door. “Hey,” I say in a soothing voice, “I’m claw71 from up the hall. I heard all the crying last night and thought you could use a friend.”
She’s nervous at first, but desperate for the interaction. She hasn’t had a conversation with another adult in weeks. Her husband gets home and falls asleep. The days drone on and on.
I take an interest in her. I make her feel like a person. I make her feel pretty even though her hair is a wreck and she hasn’t put on her makeup. I pour some wine. She gets a little giddy. One thing leads to another and 9 months later we’re back here x2.
Mar 10, 2010 at 1:07 pm rating: 17
#50
Rose
I’m amused at how passive-aggressive many of the comments are. It’s like a low burning flame, perhaps a scorching….
Mar 10, 2010 at 1:19 pm rating: 1
#51
claw71
Dear Rose:
Blow me!
Love,
claw71
PS: your link sucks and so do you. Team Park Rose.
Mar 10, 2010 at 2:04 pm rating: 2
#52
Izze
http://www.lemondrop.com/2009/11/30/men-women-hear-baby-cries-differently/
My money is on the note-writer being a girl…
Mar 10, 2010 at 2:08 pm rating: 0
#53
melissa
I would be pissed off if an adult or a child old enough to know better was being ridiculously loud in an apartment, but I have to blame the note writer here. They chose to live in an apartment with thin walls/poor insulation. I have lived in four different apartments so far (low-priced ones at that) and never hear a peep from anyone unless they’re talking extremely loudly while walking by my door, which rarely ever happens. The building structure is something I have always taken into consideration when choosing an apartment.
Though, one time recently I came home to find a woman who dwells in the building next to mine holding the hand of a baby learning to walk… across my doormat. But it’s an apartment. You can’t control what goes on outside of your door.
Mar 10, 2010 at 2:30 pm rating: 2
#54
aaa
Holy shit, son. All this ‘net-bitching has given me a girl boner. Quick, somebody grab the butter and get the emu ready!
Mar 10, 2010 at 5:40 pm rating: 2
#55
Cordelia
All babies cry and there’s no way it bothers anyone half as much as the baby’s parents who are listening to it in the same room/home. If a neighbor doesn’t like it too damn bad! That’s life. The baby can’t help it and there’s only so much a parent can do. The same can’t be said about adult behavior – like the moron who wrote the note and is in desperate need of a thesaurus. If the note writer is that intolerant then s/he needs to go out and buy a home. Probably deep in the woods where s/he can write PANs to the birds who chirp too loudly.
Mar 10, 2010 at 10:17 pm rating: 3
#56
Kat
I’m going to go ahead and agree with several of the relatively sane individuals who chose to post today:
BUY A PAIR OF EARPLUGS.
Seriously. Team “Stop Bitching About Parenthood and Apartments and Buy Some FUCKING EARPLUGS”
Mar 10, 2010 at 10:24 pm rating: 4
#57
Leesuh
i don’t like the thought of screaming babies next door because my neighbor’s dog’s incessant barking and her horrible taste in music already make me want to smash – but i deal with it because the broke ass underemployed of us can only afford apartments and our parents’ have changed the locks (IN THIS ECONOMY?!). i will say i’m sure parents of younguns don’t move in to apartments writhing their hands together and cackling about how step 1 of their master plan is complete – annoy the crap out of their neighbors with the sound of babies!!!!!!!!(! infinity). or maybe it is, i dunno i don’t have kids so i’m not in on the master evil plan of baby domination.
also, i don’t like the assumption that people who choose to not have children hate all children and think children are a mistake. i mean, yeah i totally do, but i’m sure there are some people that don’t. i wasn’t a mistake because now i’m on passiveaggressivenotes.com at midnight getting involved in a commentroversy over babies. so…life well spent, obviously. oh and i don’t want to imply that all broke ass underemployed people live in apartments. well they do, but not everyone who live in apartments are broke ass underemployed people. it’s like not all whiskey is bourbon but all bourbon is whiskey…or vice versa i don’t remember too much whiskey…or bourbon.
Mar 10, 2010 at 11:14 pm rating: 6
#58
Felicia
The parents on this site are the real crying assholes. If you don’t realize why people don’t want to hear your squalling semen demon, there’s really not much help for you.
Mar 10, 2010 at 11:21 pm rating: 7
#59
SillyGirl
I just want to know if the baby was actually crying for TWELVE HOURS. If a baby is crying non-stop for 12 hours, it seems like maybe they need to take the baby to a doctor to make sure it’s alright. I mean if it’s off & on for 12 hours, that’s normal, but if it’s 12 hours straight of non-stop crying, that seems more than “I’m hungry” or “Change me” crying. That seems more like “maybe the baby’s in pain or something that a doctor should check out just to be safe”
Mar 11, 2010 at 8:39 am rating: 2
#60
H for Toy
Holy Moly! Look at all I missed by not reading PAN everyday!
Team sleep-deprived mom gets off on temporary insanity plea for killing rude note writer.
Mar 11, 2010 at 9:03 am rating: 8
#61
Not That Nicole the Other Nicole
This is the kind of hateful, ignorant, spiteful BS that makes me ashamed to tell people I don’t want children of my own. I get lumped in with the “childfree” crowd and automatically this sort of screaming, “children are leeches” attitude gets attached to me and almost nothing I can do can shake it. You think being accused of being militant just for being a quiet atheist is bad, try telling people you don’t want children when jackasses like this notewriter are going around smearing people’s perceptions.
You don’t like kids, fine. Move to a childfree apartment complex. They exist. I live in one–although that wasn’t why I moved there (rent was low, honey). I’m with the Comment of the Day person here–I wish I could chase down the note writer and choke her for being such a backwards, ignorant, rude jerk. It’s not like any mother worth a damn WANTS to hear her baby crying.
I would put money on it–however much I could afford on this shoestring budget I have–that this baby cried intermittently, every couple of hours, over a night. Maybe the baby was sick. Maybe it had hurt itself earlier in the day. Maybe it was just in a bad mood. I KNOW people like this notewriter and I can guarandamntee you that the baby was not going on and on for twelve hours. It was probably crying three times in the space of eight (heaven forbid!).
As for you people in the comments throwing around stupid terms like “breeder” and “semen demon,” I hope you’re ashamed of yourself. It’s all fine and good to not want kids (I’m there with you) and all fine and good, even, not to like them (I’m there with you too), but if you’re ignorant enough to apply negative terms to people who see fit to heed biology’s biggest imperative (to breed), I hope you decide to reject biology’s second biggest imperative as well–that whole staying alive thing.
Jesus Christ. I have rarely been so incensed by a PAN and the ensuing comments. Make that never.
Mar 11, 2010 at 10:12 am rating: 37
#62
Q
I’m team receiver of note here. I remember my days of living in an apartment with thin walls– hearing the loud music, the sex from all sides, etc.. I DEALT with it. You can’t always help a baby crying.. with my 6 month old, I swear one minute she will be smiling, then she’ll get this sad pathetic look on her face and burst into tears for a few seconds, and then she will break out into a smile again. All this while she’s been fed, has a fresh diaper, wearing fresh clothes, and being held in my arms. She’s a drama queen and attention whore
Then again, our cat is also a drama queen and attention whore, and has gone so far as to be able to perfectly imitate the baby’s cry, but that’s because the cat is a bitch
Mar 11, 2010 at 10:45 am rating: 12
#63
lisa
I lived above a single mother with a baby for 9 months. I heard the baby cry sometimes, but it wasn’t *that* bad. Get some thicker skin, people. It’s not like you can’t drown it out with a little music or TV. My next door neighbors singing off-key karaoke songs all day were much more annoying, even though my floor was supposedly much thinner than my walls.
And as far as that whole Amanda v. PAN drama up above, I will say this: I think it’s a great value to want to raise children in a nice environment, and having your own house in a good neighborhood would be ideal. But I’m not going to judge people raising kids in an apartment, because a)it’s none of my business b)different lifestyle does not equal bad lifestyle c)they’re providing for their children and d)I was a kid once, and people tolerated me, so why should the world have to stop reproducing to accommodate me now? I figure if you can’t afford a home, you have to learn to tolerate your neighbors.
The writer of the note is probably just as annoying as the newbie mother she’s criticizing. I mean, look at it: girlish writing in green marker, obviously old enough to not have to wake up early (guessing college or night shift) and is probably only annoyed because she’s so hungover. Yep, she’s one of the partiers leaving beer in the hall in the other note on the wall. Boom! Roasted.
Mar 11, 2010 at 12:13 pm rating: 4
#64
KarenW
Other Nicole: that was an awesome comment. Thank you for restoring my faith in humanity. I’ve never commented here before. I love this site and think the posts are hilarious – however, many of the commenters are self-righteous, judgmental fuckheads. I’ve noticed that they just love to crucify parents, using only the tiniest bits of information. Baby crying? Must be a shitty parent.
By the way, I am a mom, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you not wanting kids. If anyone tells you otherwise, it is none of their damn business. They are just as rude as this note writer and give all parents a bad name.
Mar 11, 2010 at 12:33 pm rating: 13
#65
Emma
I would way rather live next to someone with a crying baby than next to someone with a barking dog. At least the baby is my own species. I live next to a pathetic couple with two greyhounds that never ever stop barking and these morons won’t shut them up and get highly offended when anyone complains about their “kids”. At least a baby actually is a kid and not some sorry child substitute.
Mar 11, 2010 at 5:58 pm rating: 8
#66
Church
Canthz B said, “some would say raising kids is money well spent.”
Others would say that an abortion was money well spent.
Mar 11, 2010 at 7:06 pm rating: 4
#67
ArtisticBusinessOwner
Yes, people need to understand that babies cry. They do it when they have needs, they do it for no reason at all. It grates on our nerves and makes us want to cry to. It physically and mentally hurts a mother to hear her child cry. Rest assured, you ignorant bitches who complain about it, everything is being done to stop it. Sorry, it just sometimes doesn’t work. Some of you chose not to have kids. Kudos to you, you probably couldn’t handle it. It takes a stronger person to raise a child.
As for Amanda and her rant on having to buy a house first. Hmm, sorry, but that isn’t always possible. Let’s see, if you can only afford one at a time, and choose the house first, that’s a 30 year mortgage. By the time you have that paid off, you are at the very least, 50 years old. That’s far beyond child bearing age. So I guess those of us who don’t make several hundred thousand a year should live in misery with empty lives because we don’t want to cause an insignificant amount of annoyance to the pathetic excuse of humanity that you are.
I have my own business, but cannot afford my own home as of yet. I could rent a shitty, drafty, old, dangerous house to raise my son in around here. I can’t afford to rent a super nice new house. I think I’d rather have an end unit apartment on the bottom floor to have my son in, than that deathtrap house. You can have it, be my guest.
Mar 12, 2010 at 2:36 am rating: 2
#68
Max Time
babies crying? give it whatever and it will cry later anyways, a babies cry may be annoying and irritating but they dont know any better, they just want to be comfortable any way they see fit. Its up to whoever cares for the baby to do whatever. If the baby cries I say its the babies fault, dont blame it on someone who doesnt fully understand their baby. Sure they have time to learn about the baby but hey everyone’s different so STOP READING BOOKS!!!! XD
Mar 12, 2010 at 8:39 am rating: 0
#69
Greengrassblueskies
I just spent an hour reading these messages. I am flummoxed and disheartened. It’s hard to accept that people bright enough to post to the website (that’s an intentionally low bar) are not clear enough about the human condition to understand:
1. Owning your own home is not and should not be a prerequisite to being a parent.
2. Babies can’t be forced to stop crying but that doesn’t mean they are assholes. They haven’t reached the age of reason.
The people who deny numbers 1 and 2 are either under 30 and childless, over 30 and have major control issues, or simply not as bright as they imagine they are. I suppose number 1 is debatable: we could live in a society that had that as a law but number 2? To believe babies can be made to stop crying, even if you have no children, simply contradicts what should be clear from an adult experience of the world.
And finally, I must say that Amanda’s tone was like nails on a chalkboard – so full of contempt and superiority. Perhaps Amanda does have many lovers and many friends but I wonder how many of them feel accepted by her and valued. It’s hard to imagine someone who sounds like that being a person others would really feel connected to. And I guess for all of those who have felt the need to defeat her view and strike back at her that may be all you need to know about Amanda – I, at least, imagine her interior world to be an unhappy, insular one. Might even bring up some sympathy – not sure I’m there yet but it’s possible.
Mar 12, 2010 at 11:32 pm rating: 10
#70
Ash
Felicia (#58), I think I love you for that one.
Greengrassblueskies (69), you’re exactly the type of person everybody else hates. The rest of the world shouldn’t be made to suffer because YOU couldn’t stick a condom on it.
As somebody who either deliberately chose to have children or made the mistake of having unwanted children, it’s your responsibility to keep your kid from disturbing those around you. And NO, I’m not clueless about the way kids work–I know some kids are unconsolable and can’t be made to stop crying. But you know what your responsibility is in that situation? Get up off YOUR lazy ass and take YOUR little mistake outside until the screaming bastard calms down, so that the neighbors around you don’t have to suffer.
You aren’t some sort of saint or hero or good Samaritan just for popping out a kid. Your kids didn’t ask to be born and your neighbors didn’t ask for you to help further condense the human population… therefore, it’s YOUR responsibility to care for them and keep them from being a disturbance to others. You aren’t entitled to just take a break and let everybody else deal with that.
Mar 13, 2010 at 1:51 am rating: 8
#71
Greengrassblueskies
Ash, you miss my points entirely. Home ownership and parenthood are not connected. Babies are not assholes. Those are narrow points. My comment was that a person like you who calls a crying baby a bastard is ignorant and/or a dullard and is not someone I would enjoy knowing. It is not the baby’s intent to ruin your night’s sleep. They don’t have the kind of intent that can earn them the label asshole or bastard. You see? What I found disturbing about this thread was the fact that people believe the first point, which smacks of an Orwellian approach to the world, and that they are cruel enough and stupid enough to ascribe intent to wailing infants. I was not speaking to what the parents’ job is in that situation. You jump to conclusions.
Mar 13, 2010 at 5:42 am rating: 5
#72
FlyingLady
This is one of my favorite notes on this site and anywhere! I want to hand a similar note to all the parents who bring their screaming babies into every one of my flights. Bastards.
Mar 13, 2010 at 11:11 am rating: 6
#73
sketchy
@greengrassblueskies- great comment. Improved my increasingly dim view of humanity.
People who spew such venom about babies are creepy. Probably also hold grudges against rainbows and puppies…..
Mar 13, 2010 at 1:31 pm rating: 4
#74
Fanboy Wife
There are some really mean posts here. I just wanted to comment on the incomprehensible-angry-washable-marker-note! (Is she retaliating because of the notes she gets for her loud parties and she leaves dog poo everywhere?)
I live in an apartment, and many of my neighbors are annoying. Many of them let their annoying children run yelling up and down the halls. I’m not going to post any notes about it though. Not only will that not solve anything, but it seems that childfree people who are irritated by misbehaving children are awful humans. To be fair though, the parents and other adults are worse at times. Some of them like to stay up all night screaming at each other and pulling the fire-alarms. I also have the neighbors that let their dogs defecate in front of my garage door.
In a perfect world, people would wait until they could afford to live somewhere other than an apartment with paper-thin walls before procreating.
Mar 14, 2010 at 11:23 am rating: 0
#75
A Richmonder
Just a little perspective…
Judging from the mention that the PAN was a response to a note about partying, I’m guessing that the apartment building is located in the downtown or fan districts of Richmond.
This isn’t NYC or LA. There are affordable houses for rent or sale within the greater Richmond area, within 20-30 minutes. I live in this area because it’s within walking distance to many bars and restaurants, but if I found out I was pregnant, I’d get my ducks in order and move to a more baby-friendly atmosphere ASAP.
The author of the note was incredibly rude, and I’m not condoning her choice of words… but odds are, an infant living in a Richmond apartment building prone to partying was NOT planned.
Mar 15, 2010 at 2:06 pm rating: 2
#76
Oracle
What are you supposed to do about your screaming babies in public? Hire a baby sitter. If it’s recreational, don’t go. These are the consequences you suffer for having children. Take some fucking responsibility.
Mar 15, 2010 at 4:30 pm rating: 8
#77
J
Damn, that’s one hell of a nice title. Kudos.
Mar 15, 2010 at 10:14 pm rating: 3
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