# That was rude of me, I admit. But that was just plain NASTY!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [June 12, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004 "2004-06-12T19:01:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/21 "2004-06-12T22:58:15Z")

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Oh that’s nothing-I once saw a woman do it on an unused check out counter at Kmart. Yes, when I was working there. Unfortunately, she was just about done by the time I noticed her and I was busy and couldn’t go over and yell at her. We place FOOD on those counters!

And then people would leave their soiled diapers in the carts. Yuck.

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**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/22 "2004-06-12T23:02:13Z")

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> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#):
>
> Yes there is. Prolonged turbulence which keeps people trapped in their seats for extended times, and which would make it dangerous to change a kid on a table in the bathroom while the plane pitches and rolls.

If it’s too dangerous to do it in the bathroom, I’d think it would be too dangerous to do in in a seat as well.

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**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/23 "2004-06-12T23:16:03Z")

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Waiting a few minutes for a more appropriate place would not have harmed the kid and would certainly have been more considerate of the passengers.

I’ve seen people changing their kids’ diapers on the carpeted floors of casinos, fergodsake. They DO have bathrooms available!

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/24 "2004-06-12T23:28:40Z")

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> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> Oh that’s nothing-I once saw a woman do it on an unused check out counter at Kmart. Yes, when I was working there. Unfortunately, she was just about done by the time I noticed her and I was busy and couldn’t go over and yell at her. We place FOOD on those counters!
> 
> And then people would leave their soiled diapers in the carts. Yuck.

lol I can one up you on this one.

I once went to a fast food chinese place in Boulder, CO, ordered my food, walked into the dining area to find a mother changer her child’s diaper on the table. Yup, the table where people ate. Yes, she had a blanket down under the kid, but she casually picked it up and folded it when done, placing the part that had been under the kid on the table.

I was shocked. There was a bathroom not 10 feet away.

I never ate there again.

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/25 "2004-06-12T23:32:07Z")

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Oh, and lest I forget, I agree with the OP. Gimme a fookin’ break - if your kid takes a crap while in the carseat in the back of the car, do you pull over immediately (in the middle of a busy highway if that’s where you happen to be?) and change the kid, or do you wait for an appropriate spot to stop? I can’t believe that this kid couldn’t wait until the next stop where the mother could get off and take care of the problem if it was that much of an issue. I’ve been around kids with poopy diapers plenty of times - 5 or 10 minutes isn’t going to be that big of a deal to most kids. And if your kid has diaper rash so badly that 5 or 10 minutes does cause a problem, maybe you should rethink the whole bus trip to begin with.

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/26 "2004-06-13T00:26:03Z")

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> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#):
>
> Yes there is. Prolonged turbulence which keeps people trapped in their seats for extended times, and which would make it dangerous to change a kid on a table in the bathroom while the plane pitches and rolls.
> 
> Now said event is uncommon, but it does happen.
> 
> I agree with **biggirl** tho. It ain’t appropriate on a bus in those circumstances.

As Gamaliel said, I doubt very highly if the plane was under those conditions that parents would be unsecuring the infant from the seat to change them either, and in fact might be in violation of aur crew orders to have all passengers, regardless of age, remain securely belted. Remember the video of turblulence where the drink cars go sailing up into the ceiling (ok, actually the plane dives down and the ceiling drops, but you know what I mean)? The child would be no safer being changed in the seat under these hypothetical conditions. Thus, my point is still valid and holds true.

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/27 "2004-06-13T00:53:42Z")

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> [@Una Persson](#):
>
> Thus, my point is still valid and holds true.

Sorry, not always.

My source is my father-in-law, a retired Captain for a major airline. If the passengers are instructed to not leave their seats, but a kid’s nappy is leaking nasty stuff, the flight attendants will help the parent change said baby in a seat.

Now, if it’s so turbulent that the attendants are instructed to be seated too, then it is a different story. Junior stews in his own juices until things settle down.

FWIW, both are rare occurances, per F-I-L. But the airlines do (or did, prior to his retirement) have a policy to address even this occurance.

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**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/28 "2004-06-13T00:59:16Z")

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Gotta go with the OP on this one.

And no, I don’t have kids, and no, I don’t think that should make my opinion any less valid. I don’t want to sit on a seat upon which a diaper was just changed without any protection for the seat, whether I’ve procreated or not. Nor do I want to smell shit everywhere.

And yes, I’ve looked after diaper-aged kids, and once you take the diaper off, the smell goes everywhere. Subjecting everyone on the bus to that is just rude; just b/c you chose to have kids doesn’t mean everyone else should suffer. I never understood that train of thought anyway. “Well, you don’t have kids so you don’t know what it’s like.”

Gee. No, I don’t. And that’s a choice I made; why do I have to put up with yours? People do this where I work; it’s a bar that’s got signs posted everywhere that say ‘YOU MUST BE 21 WITH VALID ID TO ENTER,’ and parents will still walk in with their kids and go, “But my three year old really needs to pee!” or “I’ve got to change his/her diaper!”

I’m sorry, but I don’t really care. There’s no changing stations in our bathrooms; they’re in a bar, for God’s sake. And no, regardless of the fact that you’re potty training little Sally, you cannot bring her in here to use our bathrooms. THIS IS A BAR. Nobody under the age of 21 is allowed in here, and that includes toddlers who have to pee.

Even so, if it’s early/quiet in the bar and they _ask,_ I’ll let them go ahead and use the bathroom. It’s the parents who _demand_ the right to use our bathrooms who get on my nerves. Sorry, lady, it’s not my fault you have kids, and it’s not my problem either.

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**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/29 "2004-06-13T01:04:27Z")

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Another vote for the OP. And aside from the rudeness of it, I’m pondering the stupidity – I certainly wouldn’t want my child’s (if I had a child) bare bottom coming anywhere _near_ a seat on a NYC bus. Have you seen some of the stuff that ends up on those seats? I repress enough worries about my own clothed bottom coming into contact with the seat.

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**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/30 "2004-06-13T01:16:51Z")

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> [@delphica](#):
>
> Another vote for the OP. And aside from the rudeness of it, I’m pondering the stupidity – I certainly wouldn’t want my child’s (if I had a child) bare bottom coming anywhere _near_ a seat on a NYC bus. Have you seen some of the stuff that ends up on those seats? I repress enough worries about my own clothed bottom coming into contact with the seat.

You better watch out **delphica**. This was on the 63 which goes down 5th Ave in Scenic Brooklyn. Watch your ass!

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**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/31 "2004-06-13T01:40:05Z")

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> [@delphica](#):
>
> Have you seen some of the stuff that ends up on those seats?

No question! Earlier today I heard this story about some lady who changed her kid’s diaper…

😉 😃

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**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/32 "2004-06-13T01:41:03Z")

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Besides the problems with smell and with the possibility of contaminating the seats and/or the child, what if the bus stops suddenly or turns sharply? What if it hits a bump? It can’t be safe for the child to be lying across the seats like that.

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**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/33 "2004-06-13T02:39:26Z")

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> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Watch your ass!

Now THIS would finally make a useful information campaign for those “Bustalk” posters!

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**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/34 "2004-06-13T03:02:57Z")

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I’m the dad of 19-month old twins. I’ve changed many a diaper.

I agree fully with the OP. There’s a time and place for everything, and a bus isn’t it.

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**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/35 "2004-06-13T04:06:50Z")

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> [@Qadgop the Mercotan](#):
>
> Sorry, not always.

My point was that it was really damn nasty to have passengers changing babies on the seats while everyone is trapped for nearly half a day on a flying coffin with poor air curculation at best and no where to run and hide. If you want to get pedantic over my statement that “There is no excuse for changing the baby out in the open.” then you’ve missed my entire point. It was not an absolute undeniable proof of universal applicability.

For example, I also neglected to account for the possibility that terrorists had taken over the plane and ordered the passengers not to move, I also neglected to account for the plane being one of those 10-seat commuter jobs with no bathroom, and I also neglected to account for a simultaneous failure of all toilets on a plane simultaneously.

My point is still valid but let me modify my words so you won’t keep playing whatever game you’ve decided to play with me tonight. In most all _reasonable circumstances_ there is no excuse for changing a baby out amongst the passengers rather than using the toilets on an airplane, IF the passengers are not under some order not to leave their seats and IF there are in fact toilets on the plane that DO in fact function.

If you want to get pedantic further, look to your own statement:

> [@](#):
>
> My source is my father-in-law, a retired Captain for a major airline. If the passengers are instructed to not leave their seats, but a kid’s nappy is leaking nasty stuff, the flight attendants will help the parent change said baby in a seat.

Under all circumstances, all conditions, always? That’s some airline. In the more than 600 flights I’ve been on back in the passenger compartment I’ve never seen that happen. Obviously that statement cannot be universally true as-written.

You see, you want to nitpick the lack of universal applicability of my statement, but ignore that same lack of universal applicability in your statement you use to refute mine. Fair is fair, even in the Pit.

Must we continue this tonight? Or at all?

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**Author:** ![jsleek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8dc957/32.png) [@jsleek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsleek)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/36 "2004-06-13T06:02:00Z")

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as a bus driver:

them seats are pretty grubby. People do all sorts of things on them. Barfing is so common there’s a term for it. (10-up means barf; similar to 10-4 means ok)

drunks spill their beer on them. (They’re not supposed to have beer on the bus, of course, but they’re drunk, so it’s not their fault.)

One lady picked up the trash can and threw up in it. Several times. At least she was considerate enough to localize it.

One guy took his dog out of the carrier so the dog could throw up.  
Don’t go blaming the driver. He’s trying to get home alive. Other stuff is secondary.

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**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/37 "2004-06-13T07:25:37Z")

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> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> “People need to mind their buisness.” says the shit-cleaner.  
> .

You know, if I can smell it, and it’s possible that I can sit in it, then it damn sure IS my bidness…

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**Author:** ![Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eada6e/32.png) [@Go\_You\_Big\_Red\_Fire\_Engine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_You_Big_Red_Fire_Engine)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/38 "2004-06-13T11:59:45Z")

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> [@Dragonblink](#):
>
> Besides the problems with smell and with the possibility of contaminating the seats and/or the child, what if the bus stops suddenly or turns sharply? What if it hits a bump? It can’t be safe for the child to be lying across the seats like that.

That’s what I first thought. I have seen two toddlers go head first into the floor when they weren’t seated properly on the back seat and it stopped.  
Now add the kid laying down, and with his lovely faeces covered buttocks out in the open, and that is not going to be a nice mess to clean up.  
If she’s going to have a kid, then she has to make sacrifices, one of those to be to get off the bus to change her kid.

> [@](#):
>
> “People need to mind their buisness.” says the shit-cleaner.

I believe it was entirely the OP’s business when the lady started changing her baby. It’s just like saying something overly loud right near someone, then saying it’s none of their business that they heard!

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/39 "2004-06-13T14:17:36Z")

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> [@Una Persson](#):
>
> Must we continue this tonight? Or at all?

My goodness. You seem to be reading far more into my words than I ever intended to put there.

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**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\
**Post date:** [June 13, 2004, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-was-rude-of-me-i-admit-but-that-was-just-plain-nasty/250004/40 "2004-06-13T16:22:25Z")

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> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> You better watch out **delphica**. This was on the 63 which goes down 5th Ave in Scenic Brooklyn. Watch your ass!

Oh, God - I used to ride that bus! I thought that it couldn’t get much worse than the times there were fifteen kids with two moms getting screamed at in Spanish and English. I guess I was wrong.

Glad I moved.

Ava

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