[merylsilverburg]

Originally posted by Fortune

Meryl, just to reassure you and Blackthornn: parents are like that in every part of the "civilized" world. Or better, some of them are like that. And actually, it's their way of acting that ruins kids most of the times. There are kids (some of them aged 4 or 5) who are real bastards, and if you look at their family more carefully, you'll notice it's because it's their parents who aren't very good at their job in the first place.

Believe me, I know what you're talking about and it's completely true. The thing is, with Asian families, it's a little different than it is for other cultures, IMO. That's because Asians pride themselves very much in being intelligent (why do you think many assume Asians are really smart most of the time?) and when the son/daughter "proves" their brains, it makes the parents feel all arrogant and proud. Seriously, they always have that "Oh, you poor little restaurant people...so brainless, tsk, tsk". <--- This is the type of look that mother was giving off, along with the "I'm so proud of my daughter" crap and I'm not over-exaggerating.

What happened to you is really bad. It must suck to have customers like these people who are so stupid to come and tell you such things, just to make you feel embarassed. Most of all, it must be terrible to be unable to reply in a proper way (telling them to ... well, you got the point...).

Yes!! Exactly! You can't really tell them to "F*ck off" or anything because you're not supposed to. I wasn't able to do anything but keep my anger in the entire night.

I know these things can make you really angry, and you have all the reasons to be, but listen, being mad at those people is unuseful, 'cause they'll never see how ridiculous they are. People like the members of that family are 100% sure they can never be wrong. It's always the others to be wrong. They have very limited perspectives. The more they are like that, the more this fact is evidence of their ignorance and lack of intelligence. Be pissed, be angry, but never feel embarassed because of these idiots! You don't have to be!
The worst thing is your mother telling you to be careful. But maybe she didn't really mean that, it was just the situation.

I know what you're saying and I would never feel embarassed in this type of situation. And I also know it's no use to stay angry at these stupid people because there's no point and it's not really the healthiest thing to do.
And no, my mother really did mean what she said. My mom is one of those people who listens to others instead of her own daughters, so she was being dead serious about me being careful.

Thanks for the support and understanding Chara, BlackThornn, and Fortune.