Or for that matter, to Piazza.
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Posted on 09/07/2005 5:30:49 AM PDT by pa mom
A 17-year-old youth walked into an Italian restaurant in Burlington, N.J., to order two large pizzas.
Emblazoned on his white T-shirt was a large yellow smiley face with the tip of a cat's tail protruding from of the smiley's mouth. Beneath the design was an explicitly depraved, three-word sentence that would offend almost any woman.
"I will not take your order so long as you are wearing that shirt," the counter woman told the customer.
"Get your mind out of the gutter," the youth shouted at her.
"Get that shirt out of my store," the woman yelled. "Does your mother know you're wearing that filth?"
"Yes," the boy answered. "She just laughed. What does my shirt have to do with my pizza?" To prove his mother's consent, he left and brought his mother to the store moments later. She asserted her son's rights to order the pizza and wear the shirt.
The shopkeeper held her ground.
The mother, fuming, left with her son, threatening to complain to police that the order was refused. So far, neither mother nor son has returned. The police have not shown up, either.
The incident begs the larger question: Why would any mother support her teenage son's "right" to wear such a filthy declaration in public?
If parents do their job in raising children with sensitivity and social values, the children won't engage in such public displays of vulgarity.
Instead, I sadly note that among many teens, there's no respect for women. It's not just the words on a T-shirt. It's also the boys who invariably raise their voices as a woman passes - to make certain that their lewd language is heard.
To its credit, society fights back in enforcing decorum. Many businesses display signs reading: "No shoes, no shirt, no service." Some stores prohibit smoking or the loud playing of radios. In upscale restaurants, there's often a rule that men must wear jackets and ties. Management will even supply a coat or tie to uphold the standard. Girls seldom go to church donning short shorts. Some banks refuse to serve customers wearing hoods, hats or dark sunglasses.
Even casinos, where millions go to enjoy nearly unbridled fun, insist on a certain protocol among their customers. Cursing, drunkenness, lewdness and boisterous behavior often bring on bouncers at night clubs and doormen in dance halls.
Any establishment without standards is a place to avoid. Rudeness doesn't just offend management; it irritates customers as well.
The teenager wearing a perverted smiley face on his shirt should have felt the full brunt of his mother's wrath. Had the mother protested the insulting display, perhaps he would not have flaunted it.
Mothers sometimes are suffocated by the demands of their children. Many, gasping for air, give up altogether. So here we have another case of "anything goes" being endorsed by a parent. Here's her message to the world on behalf of her son: Let all those who might take offense go straight to hell.
In a civilized society, we must express outrage when people are intentionally discourteous. Parents who defend rudeness by their children when teachers demand respect do an injustice to all of society. In the privacy of one's home, lesser standards may be tolerated, but in public places conduct must be regulated. There is also the unwritten law of cohesion that calls for propriety everywhere we travel. Only when parents abdicate their responsibility do we need specific ordinances to govern disobedience.
A mother who supports her son's brainless impertinence has reared not merely another wayward minor but a menace capable of turning his effrontery upon her and everyone else.
Mom and son have no "right" to pizaa. He was told to get his ass out of her store, he should have gottne his ass out. End of story. Next in line?
The sad thing about many boomer and Gen-X parents is they have grown up with that "trust no one over 30" attitude thinking that any and all authority is a bad thing and are therefore unwilling to be authority figures or disciplinarians.
Yep. This mom is raising a looter of tomorrow.
Good for the store owner for standing her ground.
And a pox on that mother. She's a disgrace and when her son grows up and demeans women in other ways, she will have no one but herself to blame.
Gee, I wonder what it could have been.
My problem is that his issue is sensitivity and not just plain profanity. It the shirt profaned some other demographic segment, say the religious right or even the State of Israel, would the author have been as upset?
The mother was clearly a bad parent anyway, certainly someone of depraved or absent moral character. The son will be as bad oor worse, the pair just contribute to a cycle of declining moral consiousness.
I recall once getting a rather obscene but funny T Shirt. I laughed like the dickens, but I never wear it outside, and seldom just around the home. Some things are best left unworn.
In our country the youth had every right to wear the T-shirt. Just as the shop owner had every right to refuse service.
I do agree that it is a sign of our times.
Geesh, there's one in every crowd! :)
Or for that matter, to Piazza.
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It's a safe bet that this idiot is a regular poster on the DUmmie forum.
In fact, there are dozens of them, with just this attitude.
And every one of them dumber than a box of rocks.
Irony can be so ironic sometimes.
That ain't Piazza. It's Ivan Rodriguez - a REAL catcher.
Okay, I'm suing. How did you guys get my picture?
Oh, please spare me from the mock outrage of others. The childs pride in the t-shirt is because it is meant to directly lead to the gutter. A tissue of defense at any unawareness of any double-entendre is tedious and tiresome.
No Pizza for you!
Give that shop owner a medal.
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