Oh, something I forgot to mention from work yesterday

[xiphias]

So, I was the day bartender at the Grill Bar yesterday. Some problems early in the shift when nobody could remember how to get the big screen projection TV working, which was a problem because a lot of people wanted to watch the Harvard-Penn football game, but we got that working just a minute or two after kickoff, so that wasn't too bad.

Around 3, a family came in for lunch -- mother, father, godmother, and two sons, four and two. The four year old got bored, and wandered away from his table, and to the bar, came and sat on one of the barstools (which are actually upholstered chairs with really long legs -- comfortable, yet bar-height. Nice.) There was nobody else at the bar, so I just did what I always do -- came over, said hi, asked if I could get him anything, put the bowls of peanuts and snack mix in front of him (he mentioned that he didn't have a peanut allergy). He saw the game was on over the bar TV (as well as the big screen TV), and started talking to me about another game that he'd seen recently, where the team his friend was in didn't win, but they did do pretty well, and we talked a bit about how Harvard's been doing this year in football -- I mentioned my theory that when the Harvard team gets behind, they get scared, and then they get angry, and then they get sloppy, and then they get fouls, and lose. He agreed that you just can't get angry about the ball, because there's only one ball and you have to share it. Which made sense to me.

At one point, he looked behind the bar and asked what the wine in the green bottles was, and I explained that it was port, which is a very sweet wine that people usually drink for dessert. He mentioned that he didn't really like alcohol, which I said was fine, because I'd have had to card him if he'd ordered anything. I did get him a glass of water, though, in a rocks glass, because that's easier to pick up with small hands. We talked a little about birthdays, and some other stuff -- well, mostly, he talked and I listened, because I'm a bartender, and that's what I'm there to do.

So we chatted for a bit, and, at some point, I heard the mother and godmother saying, "Look how serious he is!" which I didn't understand, really, because the four year old wasn't been all that much more serious than most four year olds. Then I realized they were talking about me, and how I take people seriously, and I didn't look like I was just humoring the kid or anything. I sort of realized that the reason that I look like I'm taking kids seriously when I'm talking to them is because I AM taking kids seriously when I'm talking to them.

When I was telling Lis about this, she said, "I can just imagine you talking to a little kid, wiping off a glass or something while talking." I said, "Actually, I was wiping down the bar, but yeah. . .. "

It's not so much that I like kids. I mean, I do, but that's not how I think about it. It's that I like people, and children are a subset of "people."

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

It's not so much that I like kids. I mean, I do, but that's not how I think about it. It's that I like people, and children are a subset of "people."

Well, yeah. Many people seem to think we have larvae, or something, but in my experience, children are just younger and sometimes shorter than other people.

This is, of course, one of your many many good qualities. :)

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

It's not till they're teenagers that they become larvae. :)

[dadlion.livejournal.com]

heh - you rock

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

To my mind, kids are just like grown ups except with fewer experience points.

[gingicat]

That's a really good way of putting it.

Recently at the high school where I work, an "anonymous" survey was passed out where kids, teachers, and staff were asked for opinions on the dress code. I wrote that I thought it was a good idea to ask kids not to wear sexualizing clothes (low-riding pants, low-cut shirts, midriff-baring shirts...). Not because sex is inherently bad, but because it's *confusing*, and the 8th-graders and 9th-graders have very little experience in dealing with it.

[angelovernh.livejournal.com]

I wish more adults treated children as people. :) That anyone would be shocked by that kind of respecful treatment speaks volumes of our society in general.

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

I can just see you and the 4 year old talking. What a great conversation! If more folks talked to kids of all sizes and ages as people, the world would be a little less screwed up.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

God bless you. The plague of my life as a child was people who didn't take me seriously. People who would comment on how verbal I was and then ignore the content of anything I was saying. Grrr! Arggh! People like you who would talk to me like a person were a joy to meet.

Mer

[ailbhe]

Someone once commented to my mother, on seeing one of us in a pushchair, "Oooooh, isn't she just a little doll!"

My mother snapped "No, she's a little person."

And walked away.