Recently, a mom and a dad and their baby went on a vacation. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? The family went to a ski resort in Colorado, where the brain surgeon dad had a conference, staying at a local hotel. And hotels, for those of you who have never been, have thin walls. During the night, the baby did what lots of babies do: cried. And the people staying next to the parents and the baby, understandably, weren't happy. But instead of talking to the front desk about a room change, they slipped an incredibly nasty letter — anonymous, of course — under the family's door, essentially telling them they were the worst people in the world and they completely ruined their vacation. (The letter writer is a parent, too, FYI.)
Here it is:
More from The Stir: Woman Posts REALLY Nasty Note After Neighbor's Loud Bedroom Activities
After the mom showed her brother, a dad blogger, the letter, he went off. He wrote a long, thoughtful post on his blog, sticking up for his sister, brother-in-law, and niece. He makes lots of good points (the baby normally doesn't cry at night) and describes the kind of people his family members are. Sure, he's biased, but it at least humanizes these parents, who clearly aren't evil, entitled people, who think the world ought to bow down to them.
Here are a few particularly interesting quotes from his letter:
Perhaps, if you had yelled back or pounded on the headboard, then the thinness of the walls would have been more evident to the struggling parents. Then again, such an act of directness would have identified you as the petty selfish person you are. Personally, I think you knew that, which is why instead, you decided to lay your opinion out anonymously and with no consideration of what was happening within the room or who the people are you were addressing. You knew all you needed to know: "Someone is doing something I don't like! I should cry about it." Sound familiar? The baby was cutting teeth, what is your excuse?
Your kids ruined things for other people too. As a matter of fact, you ruined more than one evening for others when you were a little tyrant yourself. The same is true for every adult walking the planet, unless their parents kept them tranquilized or frozen in carbonite until graduation. Maybe you didn't know, but it happened. That is the way of the world; this is not a hermetically sealed, adults-only dystopia where nothing unexpected occurs to anyone. If you want to guarantee a trip with those parameters (and since you obviously planned for this years in advance), then plan a little better and rent a freaking cabin or bring a set of earplugs.
If it's not a child, it will be a dog; if it's not a dog, it will be a group of drunken fraternity members, or a construction crew, or a leaky faucet. Maybe loud lovers, the TV in the next room, or a neighbor who leaves their radio clock on all night that will disturb your slumber. It's always something, isn't it? I know the feeling. It sucks, but these things happen. Sometimes they are due to inconsideration and more often due to accident or happenstance.
Clearly, he's agitated, but I have to say, I agree with this man. I feel like writing a letter like this was just plain mean. Other people, though? Not so much. If you read some of the comments on the Huffington Post page, where the letter was republished, they actually think the letter writer was right!
Here's a sampling of some:
I find the author to be worse than the person writing this note. Obviously his parents failed at raising children as well and it appears he and his lil' sis are following the parents behaviors.
Actually, I completely disagree with this author. I don't care how many people that your brother-in-law helps, I don't care how nice of a person your sister is, I don't care if your sister had a desperate need to want to get out of the house, and I don't care if it was tougher for the parents that were in the same room. Those points are completely irrelevant. Your sister brought a baby to a ski resort, to a place where a baby really doesn't belong.
When my kids were young, I (and probably your parents, too) did all kinds of horrible, un-adult fun things — like Chucky Cheese, Disneyland, MacDonalds and local parks. It did not occur to me to inflict my unpredictable baby, who was unready to behave in society, on other people in places like fancy restaurants, ski resorts, movie theaters — even flights.
Gotta love the Internet, right? It's the land of perfect parents!
I really don't see how slipping an anonymous letter under someone's door solved anything. It didn't fix their vacation and only made the parents feel worse than they likely already did. If the baby was quiet the entire time, no one would have thought twice, so the issue isn't bringing babies places, it's bringing crying babies places. And, as every parent knows, it's impossible to predict when your baby is going to start crying.
Taking a baby to super fancy restaurant is unacceptable, but a hotel? Why not? Like the brother said, there are plenty of adults-only resorts for childless people/people with grown kids to go. Although, you never know, you might get a room next to a super loud drunk.
Who do you think is right?
Image via Dad on the Run
