Woman Calls Cops On 8-Year-Old Selling Water, So Internet Digs Up Some Interesting Facts About Her
Remember ‘BBQ Becky‘? The internet thinks this woman could be her best friend. Recently, a video went viral, showing an angry woman allegedly calling the police on an 8-year-old girl who was “illegally” selling water on the street. Meet ‘Permit Patty.’
Her real name is Alison Ettel. Twitter user @_ethiopiangold and Instagram user @ladyesowavy shared the original video of Ettel appearing to report the girl, a relative of both. “This woman don’t want a little girl selling sell some water. She’s calling the police on an 8-year-old girl,” the child’s mother is heard saying. “You can hide all you want but the whole world is going to see you boo.”
Ettel told HuffPost that, “this has no racial component to it.” She also said she only “pretended” to call the police. Ettel added that the incident, which has left her feeling “horrible and heart-wrenched,” began because the girl’s mother was “screaming.” She asked the building’s security to intervene but said they could do nothing.
“They were screaming about what they were selling,” she said. “It was literally nonstop. It was every two seconds, ‘Come and buy my water.’ It was continuous and it wasn’t a soft voice, it was screaming.” She said she had been hearing the little girl and her mother from her open office window.
“I have no problem with enterprising young women,” Ettel added. “I want to support that little girl. It was all the mother and just about being quiet.”
“It was stupid,” she concluded. “I completely regret that I handled that so poorly. It was completely stress-related, and I should have never confronted her. That was a mistake, a complete mistake. Please don’t make me sound horrible.”
The internet, however, wasn’t convinced. Investigating the woman, it found something that suggests Ettel herself might be missing a permit. Her business, a company called TreatWell Health creates cannabis products for humans and animals alike. But the latter is a legal gray area.
Ettel was also supposed to appear in a documentary about women in the cannabis industry. Upon seeing the viral footage of the phone call, however, the director of the film has announced that Ettel will be no longer involved with the project. Critics were calling for a boycott of TreatWell, too. At least three Bay Area retailers, Magnolia Oakland, SPARC, and Barbary Coast have announced that they will no longer carry the company’s products because of the ‘Permit Patty’ incident.
This is Alison Ettel but the internet calls her ‘Permit Patty’
Her nickname was born after this video went viral
Soon, the girl’s cousin stepped in to better explain the situation
She also shared a pic of the “criminal”
People started investigating ‘Permit Patty’
Image credits: lwoodhouse
Because of the viral video, ‘Permit Patty’ is already losing customers
Ettel later said it was a “stress-related” mistake
But people weren’t buying it
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First, she was kind of a jerk. Second, why is it necessary to attempt to destroy someone's life because of a simple mistake? People make mistakes all the time. This could have been any one of us, when we're tired and stressed and do not want to hear someone yelling outside after hours and hours. We've all made mistakes in our lives. Perhaps we should be showing some compassion, rather than attempting to destroy this lady. I really do not like this new way of doing things, and think we all should perhaps reconsider our mob mentality when someone does something we do not like.
I don't know what you do when you're tired and stressed, but I sure don't act all racist and call the cops on a 8 year old... Meditation works better.
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Did she say anything racist here, or are we just assuming that because the little girl and her mom are black that her motive was race?
We are just assuming that because the little girl and her mom are black that her motive was race.
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People, can we just not? Firstly. its a non story that happened in San Fran one afternoon. there is supposed racist undertones and apparent mistreatment of the 8 yr old girl and her mother. we know nothing of the truth or facts or circumstances except tweets and google searches, which are of course bound to the highest level of ethical, factual reporting. Secondly. stop the trial by social media. Over the course of 23 hours a company and careers were severely damaged because of one incident that was biased in its reporting (as we have tweets from one side only) which had severe REAL WORLD consquences. Do we not see that this high handed, judgemental reactionary society is one of the prime causes behind adult and teenage suicide and mental health issues? Everyone is human. Everyone makes mistakes. You have made mistakes and will again in the future. i understand this #ladyesowavy being upset about it and raging on the internet. but thats where the emotional investment must end.
Yes. Thank you again. When things like this show up on the internet, it hurts race relations. Sometimes people just over react.
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Stop. You're part of the problem, Bored Panda. And you are basically saying you and every person "investigating" this woman and posting tweets are fair game for the same treatment. And in the end, she didn't even call the police, the police aren't involved either against the girl selling water or against this woman -- in all seriousness, WTF ARE YOU DOING.
This woman was listening to these girls yell non-stop for hours...yes, she should have talked to them politely and ask before calling or "pretending " to call the cops, all the while buying some of that water. And, yes, that Mother shouldn't just immediately claim 'racism' from this woman toward an 8 year old girl without even knowing the full story. If we want to talk about compassion and treating each other with respect, we should act on that, practice what we preach
....(continuing from previous) This woman who 'pretended' to call, has formally apologized to them, and they have not accepted the apology. What does that say about her? Both parties need to re-think their actions
Load More Replies... The incident was not racial. Why are people assuming that? Just because the woman is white and the child is black? Sounds like the Mother is just trying to get some internet fame.
And, the irony here is that the Mom is mixed-race (So am I, BTW). Why divide people like this? It just creates hate. It all boils down to 2 women who got in an argument, and one went way too far to get revenge.
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If someone is loud beyond reason I'd call the local police. I would worry much more about the state of my country if making a complaint because of noise would mean I deserve death threats because "calling the police is evil and means she wants to harm the child because there is real danger the cops will kill a black kid". o.O And no, I would not call the police if children are just shouting because they are playing etc. But I called the police when they were on the street in the night shooting firecrackers at people walking by.
ya all need to get a grip. if you need to feel valid by destroying someones life you will never feel valid because you aren't. get a hobby or find a real cause to get behind. become the person you want to be.
Right, Mom is not setting a good example for the girl.
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step 1 - be black. step 2 - do something annoying. step 3 - cry "racism" after someone tries to stop your annoying s**t. step 4 - profit.
Alib - You obviously did not even bother to read the article above if you don't even know WHY the woman took this action.
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She DID NOT call the police. Even the mom had to admit that no police showed up because they were never called. The people attacking her are no better than the gang that killed the 15 year old. Oops he did not do anything!! Stop! Think! Get all the information! Verify! If we start attacking people for being a jerk, at some point we will all be under attack!!!!!!!!!!!
i think the bigger piece of shits in this story are the many people attempting to ruin a person's life. they were screaming for hours, i'd call the cops too, i don't care what race are, dont sound like an animal.
these behaviors are insane: calling the cop against the 8 years-old, but also ruining someone's life for it... this world is becoming crazy, full of self-righteousness, and judging people all the times... plus, calling her racist while she can't defend herself against that (and it'll stick on her for years)... really, both sides of this story are disgusting.
I'm shocked at the responses from people when it was based from a loud child and had nothing to do with who is black or white, but not shocked at the idiots who jump on the band wagon and make it racial. I do not feel bad for the little girl at all. My children have never gone on a vacation, but I would never allow them to be rude to neighbors. I feel horrible for Allison. She has a right to live in peace and there are laws stating so. Shame on Debra Messing and anyone else who accuses Allison of racism when you don't know the story and just want to make it appear like ahh poor girl, defending someone who was wrong! If my neighbors yell for an hour I'd call the police too.
Whether she called the police or not doesn't matter. It's the whole racism card flying right and left and a poor little girl wanted to go to Disneyland, boo hoo. That's life. Be real with your children.
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The action of calling the cops isn't the kind of impulsive reaction that comes from having bad day or being stressed, you have to go out of your way to call the police on a child selling water. We may not know if her motives came from racist inclinations but she certainly is pedantic, insensitive and overall a bit of a s**t.
So now people support bullying a grown up who did something dumb? Sure, she was being petty and dumb, but you cannot assume this is racism. If she walked past a little white girl selling water and said nothing, then maybe. But you can't just say something is racist because two different skin colors are involved. This petty lady should be left alone.
Also, how on earth did this become a racist issue?? I see no where that the woman said anything remotely racist.
Christ people are crazy when it comes to the internet. She clearly stated the 8 year old girl was screaming at the top of her lungs all day to sell water, that would be annoying to anyone living close by having to hear a kid scream the same thing over and over for hours. Now people are going to try and ruin her business and her life? Get real! Bunch of keyboard warriors
That might hold more weight if she didn't live across the street from a baseball stadium.
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How is ruining someone's life justified because they made a mistake? A simple, ma'am you're wrong would have worked. The mom's reaction to go out of the way to shame this woman was far worse than the woman who was annoyed. I deal with jerks everyday, but that doesn't give me justification to ruin their life. Everyone has bad days, including the poster who said she lost her job. I wonder if her need to being so spiteful is the reason why she lost her job?
Allison didn't lose her job. She lost a handful of sponsors/buyers of her product.
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Was the Mom and kid "screaming" like the woman said? I couldn't take much of that, either.
Yeah I’m gonna have to roll with the weedhead business woman who wants peace and quiet versus the loud b***h family swindling people on water. Yelling every two seconds like an a*****e over WATER I can pour from a tap or get at literally any store?? F**k right off. That mom is trash.
Is she a racists? I'd need more facts to know for sure. Could she have handled this differently..absolutely! Why not go up to them and say "Kudos for such an enterprising young girl to be selling water on such a hot day! But I do have a suggestion about marketing. Let her (point to little girl) do the yelling about water being for sale. When people hear a child's voice, they are more likely to investigate and see that she is selling something refreshing..it makes people smile. But if they hear an adults voice in there, they will think that mom put her up to it and that it's some sort of con. They'll drive or walk away. She's got this mom. Let her fly on her own." Then maybe offer to put a handmade sign up on the business door saying that this little girl is selling water, the price and where to find her.
The mother confirmed that they never showed up, so she really *was* pretending to call the cops.
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People need to stop wasting our tax dollars and law enforcement's time.
How did a child selling water bother her at all? Little girl should get props. When I was 8, I wasn’t trying to have a job and make money, I was asking mom and dad for money. I don’t see a racist tone to this, not everything is about race. The blatant fact is this woman is a terrible person for picking on a kid.
At first, I didn't see this as a racial incident, because i didn't know the race of the child until I saw the picture. I read the comment by the girl's cousin, about the men selling t-shirts, etc & nothing being said to them. i thought maybe it was because she thought the 8 yr old was an easier target; i'm guessing she'd get more hassle from the men themselves if she approached them than she would the 8 yr old. either way, leave the freakin' 8 yr old alone--she's not out running the streets getting into trouble, she's trying to be an enterprising child and make some money for crying out loud! and for the record, i don't care how stressed out she was, that's still no excuse for that kind of behavior, toward ANYONE. looks like she needs to find a new source of income with her business dropping the way it is...maybe she'll get a permit and sell some water?
The Twitter mob is ridiculous. They literally want this woman dead in a ditch because she got irritated with pan-handlers.
Hang on now. Surely selling something on the street without a permit is illegal. No matter who you are, gender, race or age. Also... if she's selling bottled water, it's not like she made that (you can't) so it's not like it's even a product she's worked on or made, or done anything at all with. And.... isn't it illegal for 8 year olds to be working selling anything anyway? As well as.... people selling things outside of events who are in no way related to the event, still illegal. On top of screaming for hours next to offices, yes, I'm sure anyone in there would get annoyed. People stop jumping on the band waggon, this is such a non issue.
If she only pretended to call, then the police could easily settle it by stating if they received a call or not.
This woman is a complete example of what makes humans an embarrassment . She certainly didn't show her best side that day.
The part I dont get is why should they have had to show her any type of permit if they had one. She should of just simply called the police if she felt they were selling without a permit to do so. This is just one more thing that has been gotten out of hand. Remember people everyone has phones with cameras so be mindful of your choices when out in public. But at the same time I have never requested or thought it was a requirement for kids to open lemonade stands, or a permit being required when children are out selling stuff to raise money for their school. what about the girl scouts are they required a permit to sell their cookies. This could of been handled way better, she could of asked them to go further down the street if they were being to loud, or just simply minded her own business.
She was just trying to scare them to get the mother to stop yelling. Read the article please... She pretended to call the cops in an act of stress from hearing the mother yell non-stop outside her office window trying to sell water. She wanted the mother to stop and admitted she made a poor decision.
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Another idiot jeopardizing their livelihood by being a moron. When will people learn?
1. Close your window, put on earphones, etc. Or, 2. Go buy some water. Talk to the kid, ask how business is going. Praise the kid on her desire to make some money of her own. Praise mom for being so supportive. Talk to mom, ask how her day is going. Maybe buy another bottle for your friend upstairs. 3. Ask them if they could please not yell so much, as you're working. Wish them luck. Hopefully you've made a new friend. 4. Many problems in this world can be solved by just talking to people.
So, did the girl scout selling her cookies outside the medicinal marijuana dispensary have a permit? Criminal or entrepreneur?
Lol,nobody is annonymus since we have Internet, serves her right.Hahaha.
I say live and let live...people should just mind their own business, unless it's commenting on the internet and then it's fair game lol.
This woman lives next door to a baseball stadium. How loud could this little girl have been, especially for hours? The baseball crowd was not louder? To the mature adults this is the problem with the world nobody talks to each other. The consequences of being irrational is that you look crazy and you might lose your job.
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Upvote This if you would never call police on a child selling water no matter how bad your day gets.
Did you even read the article? She pretended to call the cops in an act of stress from hearing the mother yell non-stop outside her office window trying to sell water. She wanted the mother to stop and admitted she made a poor decision.
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to buy something is not compulsory. no one forces anyone to buy water from that kid...
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First, she was kind of a jerk. Second, why is it necessary to attempt to destroy someone's life because of a simple mistake? People make mistakes all the time. This could have been any one of us, when we're tired and stressed and do not want to hear someone yelling outside after hours and hours. We've all made mistakes in our lives. Perhaps we should be showing some compassion, rather than attempting to destroy this lady. I really do not like this new way of doing things, and think we all should perhaps reconsider our mob mentality when someone does something we do not like.
I don't know what you do when you're tired and stressed, but I sure don't act all racist and call the cops on a 8 year old... Meditation works better.
Load More Replies... Did she say anything racist here, or are we just assuming that because the little girl and her mom are black that her motive was race?
We are just assuming that because the little girl and her mom are black that her motive was race.
Load More Replies... People, can we just not? Firstly. its a non story that happened in San Fran one afternoon. there is supposed racist undertones and apparent mistreatment of the 8 yr old girl and her mother. we know nothing of the truth or facts or circumstances except tweets and google searches, which are of course bound to the highest level of ethical, factual reporting. Secondly. stop the trial by social media. Over the course of 23 hours a company and careers were severely damaged because of one incident that was biased in its reporting (as we have tweets from one side only) which had severe REAL WORLD consquences. Do we not see that this high handed, judgemental reactionary society is one of the prime causes behind adult and teenage suicide and mental health issues? Everyone is human. Everyone makes mistakes. You have made mistakes and will again in the future. i understand this #ladyesowavy being upset about it and raging on the internet. but thats where the emotional investment must end.
Yes. Thank you again. When things like this show up on the internet, it hurts race relations. Sometimes people just over react.
Load More Replies... Stop. You're part of the problem, Bored Panda. And you are basically saying you and every person "investigating" this woman and posting tweets are fair game for the same treatment. And in the end, she didn't even call the police, the police aren't involved either against the girl selling water or against this woman -- in all seriousness, WTF ARE YOU DOING.
This woman was listening to these girls yell non-stop for hours...yes, she should have talked to them politely and ask before calling or "pretending " to call the cops, all the while buying some of that water. And, yes, that Mother shouldn't just immediately claim 'racism' from this woman toward an 8 year old girl without even knowing the full story. If we want to talk about compassion and treating each other with respect, we should act on that, practice what we preach
....(continuing from previous) This woman who 'pretended' to call, has formally apologized to them, and they have not accepted the apology. What does that say about her? Both parties need to re-think their actions
Load More Replies... The incident was not racial. Why are people assuming that? Just because the woman is white and the child is black? Sounds like the Mother is just trying to get some internet fame.
And, the irony here is that the Mom is mixed-race (So am I, BTW). Why divide people like this? It just creates hate. It all boils down to 2 women who got in an argument, and one went way too far to get revenge.
Load More Replies... If someone is loud beyond reason I'd call the local police. I would worry much more about the state of my country if making a complaint because of noise would mean I deserve death threats because "calling the police is evil and means she wants to harm the child because there is real danger the cops will kill a black kid". o.O And no, I would not call the police if children are just shouting because they are playing etc. But I called the police when they were on the street in the night shooting firecrackers at people walking by.
ya all need to get a grip. if you need to feel valid by destroying someones life you will never feel valid because you aren't. get a hobby or find a real cause to get behind. become the person you want to be.
Right, Mom is not setting a good example for the girl.
Load More Replies... step 1 - be black. step 2 - do something annoying. step 3 - cry "racism" after someone tries to stop your annoying s**t. step 4 - profit.
Alib - You obviously did not even bother to read the article above if you don't even know WHY the woman took this action.
Load More Replies... She DID NOT call the police. Even the mom had to admit that no police showed up because they were never called. The people attacking her are no better than the gang that killed the 15 year old. Oops he did not do anything!! Stop! Think! Get all the information! Verify! If we start attacking people for being a jerk, at some point we will all be under attack!!!!!!!!!!!
i think the bigger piece of shits in this story are the many people attempting to ruin a person's life. they were screaming for hours, i'd call the cops too, i don't care what race are, dont sound like an animal.
these behaviors are insane: calling the cop against the 8 years-old, but also ruining someone's life for it... this world is becoming crazy, full of self-righteousness, and judging people all the times... plus, calling her racist while she can't defend herself against that (and it'll stick on her for years)... really, both sides of this story are disgusting.
I'm shocked at the responses from people when it was based from a loud child and had nothing to do with who is black or white, but not shocked at the idiots who jump on the band wagon and make it racial. I do not feel bad for the little girl at all. My children have never gone on a vacation, but I would never allow them to be rude to neighbors. I feel horrible for Allison. She has a right to live in peace and there are laws stating so. Shame on Debra Messing and anyone else who accuses Allison of racism when you don't know the story and just want to make it appear like ahh poor girl, defending someone who was wrong! If my neighbors yell for an hour I'd call the police too.
Whether she called the police or not doesn't matter. It's the whole racism card flying right and left and a poor little girl wanted to go to Disneyland, boo hoo. That's life. Be real with your children.
Load More Replies... The action of calling the cops isn't the kind of impulsive reaction that comes from having bad day or being stressed, you have to go out of your way to call the police on a child selling water. We may not know if her motives came from racist inclinations but she certainly is pedantic, insensitive and overall a bit of a s**t.
So now people support bullying a grown up who did something dumb? Sure, she was being petty and dumb, but you cannot assume this is racism. If she walked past a little white girl selling water and said nothing, then maybe. But you can't just say something is racist because two different skin colors are involved. This petty lady should be left alone.
Also, how on earth did this become a racist issue?? I see no where that the woman said anything remotely racist.
Christ people are crazy when it comes to the internet. She clearly stated the 8 year old girl was screaming at the top of her lungs all day to sell water, that would be annoying to anyone living close by having to hear a kid scream the same thing over and over for hours. Now people are going to try and ruin her business and her life? Get real! Bunch of keyboard warriors
That might hold more weight if she didn't live across the street from a baseball stadium.
Load More Replies... How is ruining someone's life justified because they made a mistake? A simple, ma'am you're wrong would have worked. The mom's reaction to go out of the way to shame this woman was far worse than the woman who was annoyed. I deal with jerks everyday, but that doesn't give me justification to ruin their life. Everyone has bad days, including the poster who said she lost her job. I wonder if her need to being so spiteful is the reason why she lost her job?
Allison didn't lose her job. She lost a handful of sponsors/buyers of her product.
Load More Replies... Was the Mom and kid "screaming" like the woman said? I couldn't take much of that, either.
Yeah I’m gonna have to roll with the weedhead business woman who wants peace and quiet versus the loud b***h family swindling people on water. Yelling every two seconds like an a*****e over WATER I can pour from a tap or get at literally any store?? F**k right off. That mom is trash.
Is she a racists? I'd need more facts to know for sure. Could she have handled this differently..absolutely! Why not go up to them and say "Kudos for such an enterprising young girl to be selling water on such a hot day! But I do have a suggestion about marketing. Let her (point to little girl) do the yelling about water being for sale. When people hear a child's voice, they are more likely to investigate and see that she is selling something refreshing..it makes people smile. But if they hear an adults voice in there, they will think that mom put her up to it and that it's some sort of con. They'll drive or walk away. She's got this mom. Let her fly on her own." Then maybe offer to put a handmade sign up on the business door saying that this little girl is selling water, the price and where to find her.
The mother confirmed that they never showed up, so she really *was* pretending to call the cops.
Load More Replies... People need to stop wasting our tax dollars and law enforcement's time.
How did a child selling water bother her at all? Little girl should get props. When I was 8, I wasn’t trying to have a job and make money, I was asking mom and dad for money. I don’t see a racist tone to this, not everything is about race. The blatant fact is this woman is a terrible person for picking on a kid.
At first, I didn't see this as a racial incident, because i didn't know the race of the child until I saw the picture. I read the comment by the girl's cousin, about the men selling t-shirts, etc & nothing being said to them. i thought maybe it was because she thought the 8 yr old was an easier target; i'm guessing she'd get more hassle from the men themselves if she approached them than she would the 8 yr old. either way, leave the freakin' 8 yr old alone--she's not out running the streets getting into trouble, she's trying to be an enterprising child and make some money for crying out loud! and for the record, i don't care how stressed out she was, that's still no excuse for that kind of behavior, toward ANYONE. looks like she needs to find a new source of income with her business dropping the way it is...maybe she'll get a permit and sell some water?
The Twitter mob is ridiculous. They literally want this woman dead in a ditch because she got irritated with pan-handlers.
Hang on now. Surely selling something on the street without a permit is illegal. No matter who you are, gender, race or age. Also... if she's selling bottled water, it's not like she made that (you can't) so it's not like it's even a product she's worked on or made, or done anything at all with. And.... isn't it illegal for 8 year olds to be working selling anything anyway? As well as.... people selling things outside of events who are in no way related to the event, still illegal. On top of screaming for hours next to offices, yes, I'm sure anyone in there would get annoyed. People stop jumping on the band waggon, this is such a non issue.
If she only pretended to call, then the police could easily settle it by stating if they received a call or not.
This woman is a complete example of what makes humans an embarrassment . She certainly didn't show her best side that day.
The part I dont get is why should they have had to show her any type of permit if they had one. She should of just simply called the police if she felt they were selling without a permit to do so. This is just one more thing that has been gotten out of hand. Remember people everyone has phones with cameras so be mindful of your choices when out in public. But at the same time I have never requested or thought it was a requirement for kids to open lemonade stands, or a permit being required when children are out selling stuff to raise money for their school. what about the girl scouts are they required a permit to sell their cookies. This could of been handled way better, she could of asked them to go further down the street if they were being to loud, or just simply minded her own business.
She was just trying to scare them to get the mother to stop yelling. Read the article please... She pretended to call the cops in an act of stress from hearing the mother yell non-stop outside her office window trying to sell water. She wanted the mother to stop and admitted she made a poor decision.
Load More Replies... Another idiot jeopardizing their livelihood by being a moron. When will people learn?
1. Close your window, put on earphones, etc. Or, 2. Go buy some water. Talk to the kid, ask how business is going. Praise the kid on her desire to make some money of her own. Praise mom for being so supportive. Talk to mom, ask how her day is going. Maybe buy another bottle for your friend upstairs. 3. Ask them if they could please not yell so much, as you're working. Wish them luck. Hopefully you've made a new friend. 4. Many problems in this world can be solved by just talking to people.
So, did the girl scout selling her cookies outside the medicinal marijuana dispensary have a permit? Criminal or entrepreneur?
Lol,nobody is annonymus since we have Internet, serves her right.Hahaha.
I say live and let live...people should just mind their own business, unless it's commenting on the internet and then it's fair game lol.
This woman lives next door to a baseball stadium. How loud could this little girl have been, especially for hours? The baseball crowd was not louder? To the mature adults this is the problem with the world nobody talks to each other. The consequences of being irrational is that you look crazy and you might lose your job.
Load More Replies... Upvote This if you would never call police on a child selling water no matter how bad your day gets.
Did you even read the article? She pretended to call the cops in an act of stress from hearing the mother yell non-stop outside her office window trying to sell water. She wanted the mother to stop and admitted she made a poor decision.
Load More Replies... to buy something is not compulsory. no one forces anyone to buy water from that kid...
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