Folk festival, dancing, food and hurtful strangers

I had an interesting day. I would like to share an event of the day with you.

We have an annual folk festival here. Today was the day of the festival. Last year I was performing in the festival. This year I was not performing in it (as musician, I did last year) but my wife and 2 of my kids were dancing in it.

Our relatively peaceful town becomes mad for 2 days

I was watching the festival with my son, we watched my wife and 2 kids dancing for an hour or so then took my son to get some food from a stall

I stood in a small queue of 2 or 3 people and waited our turn

The only lady in front of me stood still and did not move forward when the two servers in front were asking who is next
I waited a few seconds and moved forward and placed my order.. afterwards I stood back to allow the lady to place her order.

She turned to me and gave me a mouthful of abuse about how I had Skipped the line...( and I mean F this and you C etc)

I was shocked as I did not intend to do that, not knowing she was in the line and certainly did not expect abuse for it in such a manner
I apologised politely to her and said to the server, please put my order on hold, this lady was first and I beckoned her to go get her food

she responded by giving me a further tirade of abuse and calling me a liar ( with lots of F's And C's in there!) In front of my 12 yr old son too.
I apologised again and told the server to not bother with my order as I really did not wasn't to stand there and be abused for nothing..
then her boyfriend / partner came over and yelled at me I was a total ***** (insert language here) !

At this point , having done nothing to offend either of them and my son totally in shock I walked away and said to the partner who had appeared in "defence" of his girlfriend.... that 'she' was abusing 'me' and that I apologised to her and I get abuse from her" He swore back again as I walked away with my terrified son.

and went home, having had our day and food totally ruined and my son totally upset.

They were not drunk
they were a young couple

What can you do in those situations!??????

What did I do wrong>?
what could I have done better?
Or did I do right?

Sometimes I feel I should have laid it down to them in the face that they were wrong ..But I am not like that
I made my point and walked

Sorry for the loss of custom to the food seller

DV/ant/Kyle

Did you ever ask if she was in queue before getting ahead of her for not moving?

Some people just live in a different world. In their world they are the saints and everyone else is the devil. There is nothing you could have done to avoid them snapping at you like that.

if you can call a queue 2 people and 2 servers.. and waiting for a while before stepping forward and assuming ( wrongly ) that she was with the guy that was being served as she showed no intention of stepping forward.. then you are correct I didn't ask her if she was in the queue as I didn't think she was after all that.. but even so.. Arghh! Some people..!

Ouch I'm sorry this ruined your day. I hope your kid is okay too...
I wonder what made them act like that

the first thing you could have done better would have been to not walk in front of the person ahead of you in line

the next thing you could have done better would have been to stand up for yourself after you made an effort to be reasonable and your effort was disregarded

of course that may have backfired - you may have been outnumbered and matched and the onlookers might have decided that because you over-reacted your point had no merit

onlookers do that sometimes lol

you did ok

sorry you went through that

Personally I would have said "sorry" then just waited for my food ignoring the two.

To me food is sacred. :laugh:

to OB1 . thanks but I said I did not think she was ahead of me in the queue..
I have never jumped a line on purpose in my life.
I f I had done that then even then I would not have deserved the mouth full I got for NOT doing that

manu,.. that's exactly what I tried to do

hidden snow.. thanks.. I have no idea.. just locals are mad I guess..!

We've all got problems in one way or another, but there are plenty of people who have what I'd call serious attitude problems, like which you describe, floating around. It's a good move to try and calm and situation, it works in many cases, and I reckon you were right to leave when it didn't.

In the world of people, I allow everyone possible to go ahead of me....

Its how I control the situation...

At intersections, I waved others on, even if I have the right of way...

If I'm in queue for something, and some one is slightly ahead of me, I ask...

I can't say I.always do, but I do try... lol....

I wasn't with you, so I can't say anything about your situation...

Kyle K, I'm so sorry this happened to you and that it spoiled your day and possibly traumatized your son, at a festival where people should be relaxing and having fun, no less. I admire you for keeping your cool and trying to follow the code. I know it can be very trying, especially when there are kids involved.

Interesting that you brought up that the abusive couple were not drinking, because when I was first reading about the encounter, I automatically assumed that they were probably trashed.

Unfortunately we run into these people all the time, probably mostly without knowing it. They might be driving a deadly weapon in the car next to you, or in front of you in a food line, like yourself. So many people are wound so tight today, that the very smallest of things will set them off. It is sad state of affairs, but fortunately we are involved with something here that shows a better way. It is situations like this, that should reaffirm exactly why we are here (I know it does so for me). I have friends that are wound tight like this, and often have to talk them down. I just don't get it sometimes (though in a past that I don't like to recall, I was known to be a hothead myself unfortunately).

Perhaps if we can shine brightly, with inner beauty and compassion, even in the face of such hostility, others may take notice and realize there has to be a better way. I hope that as society continues to drive itself to the breaking point, that others find their way, as I am finding mine now.

Again I am sorry for what happened, and thank you so much for sharing - as it helps us contemplate how we should prepare ourselves to deal with the same situation, if and when it occurs to us.

-Cenrus

thanks