Long story short, we played and I broke one of the boy's glasses while going up for rebound.
Just in case you guys have no idea what a rebound is.
So here's what happened next;
I asked him if he was okay. He gave me a half nod half ignoring me.
I said sorry, he didn't reply. So I was feeling kinda bad but we played on.
Game over, we won(not the important part of the story but I just wanna say it.) and the kids didn't want to play anymore.
I went over to the boy again and asked if he's okay and I'm sorry. Still ignoring me and turned his back and walked away. And I was like....
The next thing I know came an angry mother with the son asking for compensation. I am pretty sure the mother didn't expect anything easier than this. I did not say much, I just told her playing basketball and getting contact is very common. I wouldn't say it's not my fault cause in fact it was my arm that hit onto him. So I am willing to pay half of it and I added that I was trying to talk to him but he ignored me.
The lady went on wanting to say more about the situation and all and I just told her "Mdm, I agree and I will pay. You don't need to explain anymore. It happens all the time even when I was a kid."
But what I didn't tell her is that when it happened during my time, I did not went home crying to my mother for help. I would either have told the guy what I wanted and In fact I never ever asked anyone to pay cause the rule is I wanna play, my stuff got broken it's my fault.
I was upset by this incident not because I have to pay but I was upset by the fact that the 14 yr old boy didn't talk to me. I'm all friendly and tried my best to talk to him but all he did was went back to his mum?
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| How I see myself. |
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| How he saw me. |
In fact many of my friends agreed that I was being too nice willing to pay for the damage which I shouldn't be obligated to but my point was, if money can solve that problem I will just pay but I guess I was too disturbed as well by the boy's action. I wish I could have solved that problem instead.
Are you gonna call your mum to back you up in everything in your life? I don't know, maybe the mum forced him down but again if he would open his mouth and talked to me, the mum wouldn't need to come down at all?
What happened? Why has things changed so much and why is it that our nation is so soft? What caused all this and how can we change all this?
Looks like maid agency is still the best business in Singapore.
P.S: I would probably get beaten up worst if it was in the 80s or 90s. "Call your mother? see who you can call now when I break you arm."
P.S: To the boy, if you are reading this, I hope you don't get your mum to come and complain or get police to shut my blog down. I just wish to tell you to change a sport as well. Maybe to badminton. Or Chess maybe. You can't play ball game when you don't have any.
Mr.Smith, S is for Stinkapore, S is for Soft.
16 comments:
The one line I picked up back in primary school, where I played basketball with a few friends and some local "characters" (they took really good care of us despite being much older, because we were respectful), was "Boy ah, you got buy insurance or not?"
And yes, that was a threat, said to another (teenage) kid who did not know better and wanted to barge into our game. Without first asking.
So yes, kids these days are much softer. And you were non-confrontational enough to pay. I would have laughed in her face. And asked her if her kid has insurance.
'Cuz, you know, I know some really good insurance agents...really :)
Yeah, those were the days and that's how we get tough and how we get better.
I really like how you put it: " Cuz, you know, I know some really good insurance agents...really :)"
I guess I should stick to #UncleTimes and less sports before I break more things. LOL.
lol.
The best thing my father did for me was to tell the principal at the office that if they wanted to punish me, they did not have to ask him for permission. Just go ahead.
Remember that kid whose parents wanted to sue because they made her wear black trash bag?
I had a broom stuck through my uniform like a scarescrow and my mouth taped. Many others, but that's my favourite.
I guess if my parents were as useless as most modern ones, the whole school would be in jail.
how could you know the boy went back to cry to his mother?
The son came home with a pair of broken glasses. you think she wont ask questions?
This seems to be more of a overprotective parents case to me.
Hi Person who don't name himself,
like I mentioned, I dunno if he did, maybe it was his mum that forced him down but my point was if he had the balls to talked to me first and settle it himself. He wouldn't need his mum to say anything.
Bro, you were too kind. If it happened to me, frankly I won't even be bothered entertaining the mother. She can tell her son to stop playing basketball. He should know better that this is a contact sport. I lost count of specs I broke from the game.
Sure that is a true blue local boy? What if he is a foreign import or a Singaporean but stayed most of his earlier life abroad or the only boy in a brood of five, whereby the other four are overbearing and aggressive females or just another latch-key, lonesome kid.
If you were to meet an overly aggressive and obnoxious one instead of this one, would you have concluded that all SIngapore kids the opposite type?
to yet another reader who didn't put his name,
no, i did not check his passport when I agreed to pay for his spec. But if you left a comment without your name nor contact, i pretty much jump into the conclusion that you need some balls too. To answer your question, he looks very local and so is the mother.
To satisfy your curiosity (yet again) on how would I react to an overly agressive boy at the court, I will say this is how it is. This is what the street and society is or at least what I grow up from and how I know it. Because I play on the street, this is what I expect. You meet challenges, you meet strangers and that makes u better. I don't expect a coach or a ref to come in and give me 2 free throws cause I got bumped from the side. Unless when ur overly aggressive means him pulling out a dagger or pistol.
And no, I will not ask my mum to scold the overly aggressive boy.
Smith.
My child's elbow knocked off a classmate's glasses & an arm was bent. Child said she would pay having no idea what glasses cost as she felt bad. Classmate bought a $200 pair of glasses and expected full payment for a yr old glasses of half the value. Get an estimate before the "I'll pay".
Just because basketball is a contact sport, it does not mean that you can break someone's glasses without paying. Glasses are expensive these days.
What's the difference from playing basketball and carrying a vase in your hand and saying that anyone who breaks the vase must pay for it?
Dear yet another person without name, (Sometime I wonder if it's the same person or really someone name Anonymous Tan or something.)
I'm not saying basketball is a good reason for me to punch someone, which I did not. We are saying it happens.
And you are really missing the point here. It's not about paying or not.
Stuly Kan,
yes! I like your comment!
HAHA.
Zeus,
oh well. Like i mentioned, if money can solve the problem and shut the mutha up. I'll pay. Pay woman to shut up is one of the best thing to do with money.
HAHAHA.
one kid and u generalize evbody? by the way it is his faulot for wearing glasses when playing ball , no nid pay , let him learn his lesson
To anonymous commented at 1.01am,
Just because the kid is wearing glasses AND playing basketball, it doesn't mean his glasses won't break and accidents won't happen.
Yea glasses are ex these days...the bespectacled kid is better off playing NBA2012 at home. No wait...there is no guarantee he won't break his glasses at home. He prolly will break it because he lost to the com. Duhz...
Bottomline from Smith's post...it's not that he doesn't want to pay. The fact remains is the kid is a wuss...I will worry if these kinda men is defending our land in future.
Wayne
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