I can't stand vomit. I hate it more than anything, even changing dirty diapers. Although I hardly ever threw up as a kid, I made up for it in college. Every weekend there was a line for the porcelain bowls in the dorm after a hard night of partying. I was always in that line ready to puke my guts out before crawling into bed to pass out. If it was a good night, I even brushed my teeth before hand.
By some miracle, my children hardly ever threw up and if they did, they knew to head for the toilet, so mommy wouldn't puke while cleaning it up - no lie. The one time a child threw up in my car, it wasn't even mine. I was carpooling some of my daughter's third grade class to UCLA for a play (a forty five minute drive in traffic which I knew was going to be a plus ten on the stress scale) and on the freeway, halfway there, a little boy threw up all over the car. All six kids started whining and we drove the rest of the way with the windows down. The teachers were sympathetic, but didn't offer to clean it up. At that moment I knew there was a reason I never had a calling to be a teacher.
Well today was payback time for me. I was with a friend, it was lunch time and he decided he wanted to stop at the Macaroni Grill for a quick bite to eat. Since it was extremely busy, the only seats were in the bar area, which was fine since there was a Laker game on TV. At the table next to us were three eight year old boys in little league uniforms. It was obvious they had just come from a game and the three gentlemen at the bar drinking beers were their fathers. We watched as the boys consumed a inordinate amount of pizza, fries and cokes. Just as our food came, one of the boys got a sick look on his face and continued to throw up on the floor right in front of our booth. By the size of the kid, you could tell he really packed away the food, and all of it landed on the floor, in a pile right in front of me. I couldn't get up or else I would have to step in it, so we had to sit there while they figured out who was in charge of clean up and where the mop was located. I guess the clean up person only works at night after everyone has gone home.
As soon as it was cleaned up I insisted we move to another table. My friend thought I was over reacting, but he really wanted to watch the Laker game. I never did finish my meal but it didn't stop my friend as he continued to eat as if nothing had happened. The father finally did apologize, but then sent the kid back to the table to finish his coke!
With all the debate going on about cocktail play-dates and mothers who have a glass of wine in front of the kids, I have to put in my two cents worth. If it had been three moms instead of three dads, the moms would have found a mop and cleaned it up themselves, apologizing profusely. They would never have allowed the boys to eat all that junk in the first place, and they would have been paying more attention to the kids instead of watching basketball. It really bothers me that there is such a double standard when it comes to drinking in front of the kids. Nobody thinks twice of fathers getting together in a bar, over beers, watching a game on tv, while the kids run wild and eat grease till they throw up. But let some mothers unwind with a glass of wine while the kids play and people are ready to call Child Services. What do you have to say about that, Meredith Viera?
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