Rant: Small children grabbing my cane, and the parents glaring at me when I inevitably go off-balance and have a bad fall.
I hate people sometimes.
Depending on the situation, I'm not sure if I'd yell at the kids to GTFA from my cane, or yell at the parents for not teaching the kids to keep their grubby paws to themselves.
Earlier this year the staff at my apartment building hosted a "mad scientist" pizza party. I'd just recently returned from my two-week hospital stay, and the manager said, "Even if you're not interested in the mad scientist stuff - it's really for the kids - we're having free pizza. You should come."
So I did (it would be silly to turn down free food), and discovered that the social room was wall-to-wall kids. I use a wheeled walker when I leave the apartment (balance issues), and I do
not take it kindly when people touch or handle it without permission. That walker means the difference between me having mobility outside this apartment and not having it. In short, it means the difference between having some quality of life over being stuck here.
But there are people who see something on wheels and they figure that they can just move it around wherever they want, and don't bother asking. One of the maintenance people did that one time when I was in the office here paying rent, and was surprised when I told him to bring my walker back. He said it was in his way, and I asked him if he would just run off with someone's crutches or wheelchair, if they were in his way. He said no, so I asked why he felt free to move my mobility aid without my permission. If my walker is ever in someone's way, I expect them to politely tell me, and I'll do my best to move it out of the way (it's not always possible). But anyone who just grabs it and moves it is going to get about ten strips torn off them
at least.
Back to the pizza party: During the event, I was making a trip back to the table where the pizzas were set out, and a kid decided that my walker was just the most fascinating thing. He squatted down and
stuck his fingers in the gap where the brakes make contact with the wheels. I kept telling him to get away, he didn't listen, so I snagged the kid's dad and said, "Look, your kid is just lucky I noticed him. If I'd put the brakes on and his fingers were in that gap, they could end up broken and you'd be taking him to the hospital. Tell him to get away from my walker." The dad apologized, but I ended up just putting the pizza slices on my plate and leaving. Too many kids, not enough supervision.
Aimee, any time people are rude to you like that, just call them on it. The kids are putting you at risk of falling, and they're putting themselves at risk if you lose your balance and accidentally hit them. And tell the parents off - there are a lot of incredibly rude and thoughtless people who think it's funny when people fall. They need to know that's not okay. Don't worry about being embarrassed or drawing attention to yourself. You have no reason to feel embarrassed for speaking up. They are the ones who should be ashamed that you would need to.
She has to hold it though
Many canes nowadays have rubber(ized) grips on them, or some other non-conducting material.
I saw a bottle of GMO-free water in a grocery store. Okay, then.
Genetically modified
water?
Seriously, how stupid do they think people are, anyway?
Nahhhh...cattle prods have electrodes on the tip. I'm thinking a metal tube sliced lengthwise with an insulator strip between the halves. Insulated tip and handle, probably stolen designs from currently popular canes there. Some sort of battery driven charging system and a high voltage capacitor bank inside connected to the two half tubes so anyone that wraps their hand across the insulator finds out they wish they hadn't.
The objective here is to get people to stop treating Aimee like crap, not get her arrested for assault!
