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Fri 25 Jul, 2003 11:20 am
I'm not easily shocked, but this incident has me appalled.
For the Glorious Fourth, a friend of mine organized a family picnic. The guest list included her children, her grandchildren, her husband's children and her husband's grandchildren as well as several other members of her husband's extended family.
There were more than fifty people on the guest list. She spent a week preparing a variety of food. The grilling menu included hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, spareribs and both beef and seafood kabobs. She prepared the standard salads: macaroni and potato and whipped up some more exotic offerings: corn and black bean salad, a kasha salad and several other goodies.
Of course there were pickled eggs and deviled eggs and a variety of cut vegetables.
One of the stepchildren looked at the buffet table and said, "My kids won't eat any of this sh--," and proceded to order a pizza. When the pizza arrived several of the other step grandhchildren clamoured for pizza--as did two of the grown stepchildren.
The hostess assured me that she kept smiling. Is there anything else she could have done?
!!
I am speechless. What could she have done?
I guess if any thing should have been done or said, it would have been her husband's responsibility.
The hostess did exactly the right thing..............next time she'll know better than to go to all the trouble.
I think that the stepchild acted like a boor. She could have accomplished the same thing in a much nicer way. Maybe next time he/she won't be on the guest list!
Wow!
I dunno, the stepchildren thing is rather fraught. If my grown daughter did that, hell to pay. If my friend did that, hell to pay. But stepchildren... hmmm.
Sorry your friend is saddled with such ingrates.
Sounds like it is time for that stepchild to host next year's party for the family.
Good Answer, Butrfly! Just remember to eat first before you go!
I like Butrflynet's idea.
Or perhaps a more potluck approach? That seems to be a fairly successful approach for a lot of families/groups.
Yikes! I've been know to be a bit tacky at these kind of affairs (mostly because I really HATE them) but I've never been THAT tacky.
This hostess must have been mortified. If she kept on smiling she's a saint!
Any kid who won't eat chicken, burgers, or hotdogs needs to be slapped upside the head.
A .38 would be appropriate for the parent.
When I was a child, we were taught to taste whatever the hostess served--and my parents did the teaching and the enforcing of the teaching.
The idea that a parent would cater to his kids' finicky appetites (the kids, by the way were 10 and 12, not toddlers) is bad enough. Then to complicate a family gathering with conspicuous special treats for his kids but not for everyone's kids.....
My friend has announced, "Never again." I don't blame her.
cjhsa wrote:A .38 would be appropriate for the parent.
That is just appalling, i can't believe you wrote that . . .
What a waste of ammunition--a good old fashioned M1 Big Ass Rock would do the trick . . .
I never advocate violence unless it is absolutely appropriate.
Well, that definitely would not have happened at my folks house. I think that story is absolutely appaling. I wish years of painful therapy for the kids, and the parents stuck with the bill.
I think I would have said to the ungrateful stepchild, "It's a shame your children are so afraid to try new things."
See! See! That's what I meant about dealing with rude people. She's a master. Mistress? Really good at it!
With more than fifty people on the guest list, perhaps next year they could invite sixty or seventy -- but deliberately leave that stepchild and kids uninvited.
Nothing malicious but when asked, the simple and honest reason is that "From our experience, they don't enjoy a traditional Fourth of July picnic. We can get together for pizza sometime, but today we only invited people we thought would appreciate a barbecue picnic."
If they think such a wonderful feast is Sh--, then there's no reason to invite them!
Or at least, on the invitations say "Bring something for the barbecue!"
Not everybody is into such a thing, but many people are.
I would have said "If you want a pizza get out of my house and go the f--k down the street, and never come back" but that's just me.
I'm passing on your comments and they are much appreciated.
Incidently, in that step son's family both generations are picky eaters and the parents feel that this is a sign of their offspring's rugged individualism.
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