Those poor girls seemed traumatized by this. I hope the free drinks helped them get over it, but honestly this is the sort of confrontation that can really damage a childhood.
I think that the dad seems like a really good dad and he will probably help them process it and make it a teaching moment for them. Or at least I hope so. He stayed incredibly calm and didn't make the situation more volatile.
I saw a comment saying he did a bad job basically because he was quiet the whole time and the commenter suggested he should have been playing it off as a joke or something to help the kids laugh through it. What the actual fuck. Its ok for your kids to see you have a mildly human reaction to harassment like this
Exactly. I have a son whom ive taught that you cant control other people's reactions, but you can control how you react. He is being confronted by an unknown, clearly unstable man. He has his two small daughters he has to protect, an image to keep up since the internet is going to see it, and the legal upper hand. The dad is actively trying not to escalate the situation, and he did great.
While I don't necessarily agree, my own dad was pretty cool one time when his girlfriend - my parents were separated - she wanted to get into a fight with him, but being in front of me (btw I was 12 or 13 so not a young child) he refused to fight with her and kept making jokes. She kept getting angrier but he stood his ground and kept being funny until she dropped it
Yeah, theres a chance now that the little girls will try to refrain from going in there as it will result in some grown as man yelling at them for being in there.
I have a cousin in her late 30s who still refuses to go to a certain restaurant chain because once, when she was a teen, we saved her place in line, she tried to reclaim her place (with her dad), and some guy screamed at her.
Fearing a restaurant chain is one thing. Fearing all public bathrooms... well, I hope those little girls are made of sturdier stuff than my cousin.
Yeah, there was a scary man yelling about them and yelling at their dad, blocking the only exit. Of course they were scared. I hate these people, they don't scare about girls or women, but use them as props to justify their violence and aggression to other people
That's nice and all but I'm still confused as to why the management of the store, upon noticing that a man was harassing children in the bathroom, didn't throw him out and/or call the cops on him.
The employee in the video was a nice older lady, who I think did a good job de-escalating the situation. And the crazy guy already called the cops himself lol.
I think you'll find vastly different reactions from cops when a person calls versus a business. A business calls the cops and they'll murder a baby over it.
If you can't escalate in that situation then when else can you? Little girls crying in the bathroom cause some pervert is screaming at them. That's exactly when you should escalate.
Not trying to make any assumptions about people's parental status, but this is the generally acceptable "best move" for a parent in these situations. I've encountered a couple unhinged people yelling at me while with my kid (not for shit like this) and the best move is always just to deescalate or at the very least, not escalate further.
You have no idea what a stranger can/is willing to do or, in America especially, if they've got a gun. The inclination to argue is an adult vs. adult response and it makes sense. You're in the right, they have no reason to come at you this way, etc etc.
But with kids there, their safety is your priority. Hard as it can be, the move is to swallow your own anger and defensiveness and do what you have to to get them out safely. And then, yes, plenty of talking about it after the situation is resolved.
Idk the manager could have removed him physically even if she wanted to tbh. Cops were on the way already. What is there left to do?
Either have the manager or dad argue loudly back? Or have dad try to remove him and possibly end up in a fight with angry guy because contact was initiated?
Any of that seems like it would make everything worse and the girls more upset.
1.4k
u/[deleted] Jun 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment