Sarcastically Southern advice column is written anonymously by a woman in Bulloch County. To submit a question, please e-mail her at sarcasticallysouthernblog@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SarcasticallyS5, and on Facebook, Sarcastically Southern.
Dear Sarcastically Southern,
Some moms dread the back to school shopping, others dread the homework and early bedtimes, but I dread the drop-off line! Every year the school changes the rules or the procedure and every year, there’s always 30 percent of the parents that didn’t read the handout, e-mail or listen to the teachers at open house and they never follow the instructions! It is SO irritating.
We are adults…PARENTS…and should be teaching our children to follow the rules, not blatantly ignore them! There’s one mom who sits in her car (blocking traffic) while she applies her makeup… after her kid has gone inside! I get it, we’re all frazzled and busy in the morning trying to get the kids to school and ourselves off to work, but couldn’t she at least pull into a parking spot, out of the flow of traffic?
Another mom SPEEDS through the open lane of traffic and on more than one occasion, I’ve seen her almost hit a person and almost hit an open car door!
What happened to common courtesy? And how do you address this issue with repeat offenders?
Sincerely,
Car Line Crazy
Dear Car Line Crazy,
Apparently, common sense and common courtesy went out the window a long while back — especially when you put someone in a vehicle! These mommas are just trying to make sure their children are taken care of and that they aren’t late for work — the same thing you are doing — but they are hindering you, and that’s not fair! The best way to combat things like this would be to have the school address it. If you talk to her directly, she’s going to make you the bad guy or be confrontational about it.
With people like her, you’re going to be blamed for her actions, even though they are not your fault! I would park your car one morning and go into the school to talk to the principal or whatever teacher is responsible for car line and talk to them. Give them a list of your concerns. If you have some mom-friends that you can trust, you could get them onboard to get their opinions and their concerns as well and then present them all to the person in charge at one time. Then they can draft an e-mail to the entire school and send it out.
As tempting as it is, singling out the offender is going to do nothing but put her on the defensive and make her madder than a wet hen. I can guarantee that you aren’t the only parent that’s noticed her cosmetic traffic jam and she knows it, so if the school addresses the issues in the drop-off line, then hopefully, your problem will be solved. If it doesn’t, there’s always that finger in the middle of your hand that can be used to get the point across.
Dear Sarcastically Southern,
This letter is going to give you the mental image of an older, technology-illiterate individual, but I can assure you, I’m not. I’m a 30-something woman and I’m quite savvy with a cell phone and social media…
WHY in the world do people think it’s acceptable to post photos and comments on Facebook about EVERY bad thing that happens in our community? A recent example: when the young girl got hit by the car in Portal, there was immediate speculation on Facebook about who the girl was, who her parents were and who had hit her. There were untrue, embellished facts running rampant. And to this day, I wonder if folks know what really happened or if people have just made up their own stories, pulling details from all of the different version of events they’ve seen!
A few years ago, a friend was in a car accident that looked REALLY bad… it totaled his car, but he was mostly uninjured, just super sore. Well, someone in the line of traffic posted a photo of the accident and it immediately started making its rounds on Facebook. Luckily, he was able to reach his wife to tell her about the accident before she saw a photo of his car on Facebook.
People just need to learn that social media isn’t the place to announce deaths, accidents and other things until it’s been long enough for all family to be notified. What’s your thoughts on this? How do we get that message across?
Sincerely,
Freaking Tired of Facebook
Dear Freaking Tired,
The worry and anxiety we have over the people we care about is perfectly normal. I worry when I haven’t heard from my husband, especially when he’s on his way to work (45 minutes away). *Full disclosure— I worry about everything anyway.* If someone posted that there had been an accident along his route and that they were “praying for those involved”, I would FREAK out. And if they posted a picture that had a truck similar to his in it? Oh, that would be it — I’d have to leave work to go scope out the situation and make sure that he wasn’t involved.
All of that would be absolutely unnecessary and he would probably think I was nuts if he was not actually involved in the accident. ALL of that panic, that wasted time, that high blood pressure, white knuckled, mind going in all different directions crazy period could be avoided if people wouldn’t post things online that aren’t necessary.
Think about it. After EVERY incident in the Bulloch County area whether it’s a house fire, a car crash or someone passing out at a restaurant, there’s always that person who starts out by telling everyone what they saw. Now, social media can be AMAZING for tragedies — look at the GoFundMe for the Hagan Family that passed away following Georgia Southern’s game at LSU.
I think the BIGGEST issue with it all is that people think that having Facebook at their fingertips via smart phones means that they have to post things as they are happening. That’s not the case — you can still be “praying for those involved” and not have to tell everyone on Facebook about what happened.
I think what ALL people need to take into consideration is how they would feel if they were to ones finding out about a loved one’s death via Facebook. If you wouldn’t want to find out that your brother had been in an accident via social media, then you need to make sure that you aren’t inadvertently notifying someone of their family’s accident via social media.