Well, there wasn’t actually shit involved, just pee.
But this woman got on the bus with her three children ranging from seven to infant. The oldest girl realized the baby’s diaper was soaked and told her mother. The mother proceeded to balance the baby across her lap to change the diaper.
Now, mind you, they had just gotten on the bus moments before. They had gotten on the bus moments before at the stop in front of a hospital. They had gotten on the bus moments before at the stop in front of a hospital where there are lots of public restrooms.
Now, really, how unobservant does a mother have to be to not realize her infant’s diaper is so drenched it is sagging? And there are plenty of fast food places and such with public restrooms along the route, so if the baby had just wet the diaper, they could have simply gotten off the bus, changed the baby, and gotten back on. The bus runs every fifteen minutes so it’s not like it would have been any great hardship.
But really, that baby could have easily been changed at the hospital before mom got on the bus with it.
Some people.
When my mom was pregnant with my little sister, she bought all her baby supplies in advance, including a changing table. Her best friend had a baby of her own around that time, and when she and her husband would come to visit, bringing the baby with them, if the baby needed changing, she would change him
on the living room floor, in front of God and everybody. When here was a changing table ten feet away in the next roo.
Another vote for the OP. To hell with that. Simple remedy for mom. Bus stops. Get off bus. Change Kid. Get back on other bus. That’s as rude as anything I’ve ever heard. I’ve got no kids, but I’ve changed my fair share of diapers, and for the love of God, almost nothing stinks more than baby crap. Rude indeed.
(Though not as rude as the homeless guy that was masturbating on the back seat of a CTA bus under a garbage bag, but rude nonetheless)
Hell, I’ve seen adults get thrown to the floor on some of the San Franciso Muni busses. Too many of the drivers are fucking maniacs. I would not risk a baby getting violently tossed around on a bus while I tried to change a diaper.
I confess to having changed a baby in the seat on a plane (SFO->BOS). My husband took her to the bathroom first, and there was no changing table, so we changed her in the seat. Later we learned that the first-class bathroom had a changing table, so we took her there the next time she needed it. Do you actually check for changing stations in all the bathrooms, or are you just assuming that all modern planes have them in all bathrooms? Because they don’t.
But when we did it, we laid down a disposable rubber-backed paper changing pad, and promptly disposed of the diaper and pad in the bathroom trash. The area smelled better, not worse, when we were done. I don’t understand how the smell can be so much worse from changing a baby, rather than leaving him in the nasty diaper. And there’s really nothing to be done about the fact that kids poop during an 8-hour flight, or that sometimes kids have to travel, too. It’s not like the parents can drive from NYC to London to spare you their presence.
Those defending the “instantaneous diaper change on demand” position:
What would you do, as the baby’s parent, if the bus hit a bump in the middle of said diaper change, spraying fecal matter every which way? Would you feel obliged to wipe everyone’s soiled clothing clean (or at least dry), take orders for dry-cleaning bills or replacement of clothing, reimbusement for inconvenience, offer elaborate apologies? Or would it just be “Hey, shit happens”?
I’m quite sure the parent didn’t have, at the least, a bottle of liquid spray disinfectant and a roll of paper towels. She just got on the bus thinking, “Hey, there’s absolutely no chance that my baby will soil his diaper on the bus, but if he does I have no other option than to change that diaper there and then.”
well, in China, you can change your kid anywhere and no one will bat an eyelid. Of course it’s kinda nasty if it’s not your kid, but practically speaking whaddya gonna do? Make the kid suffer? Christ on a pogo stick it’s just kiddy poop. (Maybe I’ve been out of the States too long…)
OK, China guy, what happens if feces go flying on a Chinese bus? All smiles and “Have a nice day”? Are the Chinese traveling with Lysol bottles, just in case?
I would have said something. Image someone else had changed their child on the seat and Ms. “mind-your-own-business” sat in some of the stuff. She probably would have raised a real fuss.
I recently saw a woman change her son’s poopy diaper in the laudromat not 10 feet from the bathroom. And she puts the nasty diaper in the open plastic garbage can in the laudromat, apparently not being able to walk through the door and to the outside covered dumpster in the parking lot. The attendant immediately took the garbage out.
Hey, there’s a lot more people here and a lot fewer that believe the rights of the individual trumpting that of society. If that happened in China, the common reaction would be to whip out some tissue and wipe it off (and then throw it out the window). It’s a different scene. I’m not trying to judgemental as to what is “right” or “wrong”, just making an observation.
Sorry, didn’t mean to sound snide. When in Rome, and all. But seriously what happens if there’s a feces mishap, which must happen sometimes what with people in China doing diaper changes on moving buses right and left? Would a Chinese person just arrive at home with his sleeve stained brown and sigh, “Oh, I had another diaper spewed all over me on the bus again this morning, dear.”
It’s a good thing it wasn’t me on that bus instead of Biggirl, because I have a hair trigger gag reflex when it comes to smells. I probably would have been dry-heaving all over the place and hanging my head out the window like a car-sick dog. I’d like to see her use the “mind your own business” line in that situation!
You were 100% in the right. We’ve become a nation of pussies, afraid to speak up and socially censure such boorish behavior. People like you are helping bring back common-fucking-decency one incident like this at a time.
Where I used to live, most buses ran once an hour, and nearly all of them stpped running after 6 p.m. I don’t think it’s feasible for a person to get off and wait for the next bus in that situation, especially if it’s the last bus of the day. That being said, I would try to avoid changing my child on the bus if at all possible, because it’s smelly, kid might fall off, etc. But there are some situations where the child would need changed, it was too long to wait until you got to your destination, too long to wait for the next bus, and you wouldn’t have a choice. Bus-riders have appointments. too. You can’t always get off and wait for the next bus.
Yes, the mother should have let the kid sit in his own poop until the next stop, where a public restroom would be employed. To call that child neglect or abuse is ridiculous. I s’pose you’re one of those parents who’ll change a baby in a restaurant, too? I had one of “your kind” change the baby on the counter at McDonald’s when I worked there as a kid. Fucking ignorant.
That’s right, the way the bus works around here if you get off just to run to a public restroom, you’re going to be waiting for at least an hour before you can get back on another bus going your way. I don’t think what she did was rude, it was part of life. Deal with it.
There is a huge difference between changing your child on a bus and in a restaurant. Yes, changing a crappy diaper on the counter is ridiculous. There is a bathroom 15 feet from that counter usually and it should be used for such. You can’t just step into the bathroom on a bus however.
First, moms have it hard enough as it is. So to the offended, I say, “get over it.” It’s very easy to tell other people what they oughta do or have done, knowing nothing of their schedule or the bus schedule. Yes, it’s gross. But life is filled with unpleasant smells, and you should be so lucky that the worst thing you have to deal with is the occassional shit smell from someone else’s baby. In Mexico City, the air is literally filled with feces and there’s nothing to do about it.
Yes, and did you know that in Namibia most moms can’t even afford diapers?
Hell, let’s all wallow in filth and ignore our obligations to the rest of society, as long as there’s some Third World-type situation we can point to where things are worse. :rolleyes:
Actually, the part about the air being “literally filled with feces” may be a trifle exaggerated, unless you’re talking about a soccer match.
So because it’s worse elsewhere, skutirwe should not mind when it happens here? Sinking to the lowest common denominator isn’t something I want for me or mine.
As was stated before, when you have children, you make sacrifices. If that means dealing with a poopy diaper in the proper place instead of a bus seat, screws with your schedule, even costs you money (if the busses aren’t running anymore and you have to spring for a taxi), then you do it. Because it’s the right thing to do and your kids are watching and learning from your example.
