A bit of a rant, pre-sorry but so sad and annoyed right now.
Went to my favorite barber shop today. It’s built on being nice, upscale, and men’s haircuts. They do the works, good cuts, beard trimming/shaping, hot towel, the whole thing, and it’s built to be man’s place, they have a pool table, they have a couple of kegerators, they’ll pour you a whiskey while you wait. Very nice.
(Note I say man’s but really if you’re a woman/any other gender and you like that sort of thing, then awesome. I mean man in the masculine sense)
Until recently this was my favorite place, but apparently it’s gotten on the mom groups online and now the last few times I’ve gone it’s just filled with children and moms. Where I could go and get a whiskey while I wait and find someone to shoot pool with, now kids are literally running around and as for the pool table they’re just throwing the balls around. Meanwhile the moms are either talking with each other or hovering over Bradley getting his hair cut and how cute it is.
On top of it all, because there was a group of them instead of my normal 20 min wait it was almost a 2 hours wait. I just walked out.
I’m just so tired of it, this place obviously was built for adults but god forbid we have any adult places that aren’t “actually meant for children”. I mean obviously it was built for children, there’s 2 kegs and a shelf of nice scotch but yes, bring all of your children here.
How come every place that used to be for adults is now a child zone? My favorite breweries used to be great places to let off steam after work and now I have kids playing tag in the middle of them. I flat out don’t go to movies anymore because even the super late showings are just dumping grounds for inattentive parents to leave their kids. And god forbid you ever mention outside a community like this that you want to drink a beer without a kid running around or you’re literally the devil who should be shunned.
Anyway, this isn’t going anywhere specifically, I’m just really sad, and I didn’t get my haircut today.
It’s the people that changed. It used to be common sense. There were places parents knew that you just didn’t bring kids. But now, parents are taught to be entitled. They demand to bring kids everywhere.
I’d suggest that a minor contribution to this would also be stagnating wages; inflation; and increased cost of childcare. Now the ‘adult’ activities we want to enjoy are more expensive; we’re earning less money (in real terms); and childcare is more expensive, leading to a lot of people on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum to be faced with the choice of ‘take your kids or don’t go at all’.
I definitely agree with you though. Western societies have been becoming more individualistic and entitled and that’s likely the biggest cause. I just don’t think it’s the only cause. As with everything in life, the reasons why something happens are usually varied and can rarely be boiled down to one thing.
Individual selfishness is responsible for… People having children, raising them, and bringing them places?
Am I insane or does that just on its face not make any sense?
Your first paragraph is the actual reason here. It’s too expensive for a lot of parents to get a babysitter, so they need to bring their kids with them if they want to go do something. And for many people like me who work from home (I don’t have kids yet but the point stands) that one night every week or so that we go out to dinner is basically the only time I go to do anything fun outside the house that isn’t working out. When I worked in an office (which I ever want to do again) I’d go out to lunch with coworkers and occasionally do a happy hour after work, but that isn’t an option anymore.
If I had kids we’d be bringing them with us when we go out because it would be significantly cheaper than hiring a sitter for a few hours.
Individual selfishness is responsible for… People having children, raising them, and bringing them places?
Am I insane or does that just on its face not make any sense?
It has always been cheaper to bring a kid with you to something to hire a sitter.
Previous generations seem to have understood that having kids means you don’t get to do all the things you want to do all the time. Or, doing so will cost however much a sitter cost.
But, as an example, I was in a comically expensive restaurant not too long ago to celebrate a friend graduating law school. (Appies are 30+, entrees range in the 50s and it would be gauche to only get an entrees.) But, even in a lovely place some parents decided to bring their screaming child much to everyone else’s delight. The cost of a sitter would’ve been less than either of their meals, their wine or a fraction of what his suit cost. But they decided to keep that money and inflict their child on the rest of us. To me, that’s selfish.
I wish there were more adults only places/days. I am autistic and children are very overstimulating. Plus I like doing childish things so… Gimme a no child night at an arcade or mini golf or something and I would be there so fast
Meh. It’s one thing to not like children, but here this seems to have been your real problem:
my normal 20 min wait it was almost a 2 hours wait. I just walked out.
We, uh… live in a society. You don’t get to feel entitled to be served at an advantage over other people. We all have to share all these natural resources and the labor of all these workers. But more people is not a bad thing. What’s next, you gonna complain that all these immigrants are clogging up the line to the drive through, or that all these old people are making you wait long time at the doctor’s office? Everyone is entitled to life. And in truth more people means more workers means more benefit to you and everyone on average.
Yes, you feel that this barber shop in particular was targeted towards adult audience with its shave service and whiskey bar, but apparently all those moms saw something useful in that service too, and more importantly they were all willing to pay for it. If this shop was so exclusive and upscale, then how could those kids even afford it? Yet they are customers too apparently.
I feel that way too sometimes, like when going to the movies - if I pay $20 for a ticket, how can all those kids in front of me cough up the money, when I remember paying $5 per movie as a kid myself? And yet they paid too, so we are all in there together. If I really didn’t want to share space with other people, I could go look for a $50 movie theater with individual “bedroom” cubicles. As could you. You could outspend all those kids and find an even more exclusive and expensive barber service, by appointment-only. I’m gonna tolerate the kids and keep my money. 😂
I’m sorry that happened to you. Let the business owner know that all of those kids are ruining the vibe that you patronize their business for. Solving this problem could be as easy as the barber shop offering something like a kids day where they don’t serve whiskey and instead serve lemonade or something, allowing that day to be the main kids day.
I think you don’t see those adult only places much any more because to most they have outlived their usefulness. There are 2 factors behind this. First, there are far fewer children around nowadays than before. When everyone had multiple children, adult only spaces were necessary if anyone wanted to get anything done. The second, and honestly a great thing from a childfree point of view, is that between birth control and abortion, most people who do have kids genuinely want them. I suspect that most of the demand for those adult only spaces in the past was from people who were seeking peace from their own kids. Of course all parents need breaks from their kids, but ever noticed that the people who complain the most about their children are the ones who had them out of obligation rather than desire?
I have a kid and not by choice because even with birth control and abortion in a Christian family community you aren’t left with options.
because even with birth control and abortion in a Christian family community you aren’t left with options.
Those are both perfectly fine options. You are your own person, do what you want.
