Hello.

 

Hi, I'm Annie.

Mother of 3,
spouse to G,
writer of things,
former batgirl,
sister,
daughter,
lucky friend,
and American
living in Australia.

Basic Joy = my attempt to document all of this life stuff, stubbornly looking for the joy in dailiness. 

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Mama, Ph.D.: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic LifeMountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the WorldThe Sweetness at the Bottom of the PieThe Island: A NovelThe PassageSecret Spaces of Childhood

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« Alternate reality no. 1* | Main | Arranging marriages (slyly) »
Thursday
May012008

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Whenever G and I read about someone's poor judgment or honest mistake leading to catastrophic consequences, we comment "there's someone who had a bad day at work." Sometimes it's an understatement, like when a truck driver takes a turn too fast and rolls his load of combustible jet fuel all over the freeway, starting an apartment fire in a nearby neighborhood. Sometimes it's even a little humorous, like when the waiter in a hurry stacks the plates too high and loses it all. But we always feel empathic because, let's face it, we've all been there in one way or another.

So here's one for the bad day department that made my heart go out to the poor guy.

Take one nice dad, a 40-something professor of archaeology at the University of Michigan, out with his 7-year-old son to see a ball game in Detroit. (Maybe he's a little unaware of ads and pop culture and such.

Add one very deceptively labelled bottle of alcoholic lemonade. And one very unclear sign at the concession stand.

He gives the lemonade (remember: he thinks it's regular lemonade!) to his son. Who drinks it, on and off, for a couple of innings until an usher notices.

That is the beginning of a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day for this poor parent which proceeds to include the ER, child services taking his son away, two court hearings, being required to move out of his home, etc. etc. It is DAYS before he sees his son again.

Read the full article here and then go thank your lucky stars it wasn't you. Poor guy.

pictures via Detroit Free Press

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Reader Comments (5)

Oh my gosh that is awful! That poor dad! That is a fear of mine, that I would do something totally stupid unknowingly and my kids will suffer.

BTW...We always say "that's someone who's having a bad day" too. Funny.

05.1.2008 | Unregistered CommenterBridget

Oh, my gosh. Just got done reading the article. That is HORRIBLE. I can totally see how it could happen, too. Poor guy. Very bad day, indeed.

05.1.2008 | Unregistered CommenterChristie

This is weird. A similar thing happened to me. When I gave my kids meth, I thought it was a arithmetic candy. Boy was I wrong.

05.2.2008 | Unregistered CommenterThe UnMighty

Sorry about your sick kiddos.
Huge bummer about the trip.
I had another one come home from school yesterday...

05.2.2008 | Unregistered Commenterseven smiles

I thought you were going to say that this happened to your family . . . until, of course, I got to the link for the article. DAAHH.

05.4.2008 | Unregistered Commentertjhirst

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