a friend or a freak?
I was carrying Regine on her mobile car seat across our apartment carpark with Emily, when a heap pulled up beside us. Its driver side window was rolled down, and there was a middle aged Malay bloke hanging his right arm out of it. He had a very unkempt outlook and one of his eyes was lopsided (probably a scar or something), and I was absolutely positive that I haven’t seen this guy in the neighbourhood before.
He then pointed at Regine, and asked…
“New baby?”
I’m not sure if there’s such a thing as a ‘new baby’, ‘old baby’ or even a ‘used baby’ in this world. Since I’m sure I didn’t buy Regine off a fleamarket, I would just assume that she’s new. So I answered
“Yeah.”
It was replied with a faked smile to paint an impression that I’m an incredibly friendly person. Then to our sheer befuddlement, the guy exclaimed excitedly
“Congratulations!”
It was uttered with a smile even faker than mine. Emily and I were like, totally, dumbfucked by his overly unctuous behaviour. Being a mild mannered couple that we are (ahem), we just thanked him like he had just bestowed us the blessing for having a lifetime’s worth of multi-orgasm, and we quickly bolted off into the elevator foyer.
I don’t know what’s with that guy, maybe he’s trying to be friendly. Maybe he’s just a lonely old fart who’s looking for someone to talk to. But whatever he was to be, it didn’t go down very well on us. What he did can be best described as ‘freakish’, at least to our impressions.
Like, there are certain ways to chat up with strangers and make them comfortable at the same time. You don’t just walk up to anyone and express your delirium about their child (or worse, touch them…). It’s just not very… natural. You’ll freak people out more than the intended goodwill. Especially at times like this where crimes are rife and our national police force are worrying about who should pay for their emergency number bills.
You can never be too careful especially when dealing with strangers.
I’d say, if you want to be friendly, just give a nod and smile, then leave it to the other person to reciprocate. (And stay the fuck out from his/her child.)
freaky… and if u hvn’t seen him around the neighbourhood, i dun blame you for being suspicious.
I have stranger who just walk up and give my baby a pinch on her cheek. I so wanna do the same to her face!!! That is regarded as RUDE!
Becareful, be very careful…
So scary. Something fishy there.
Like Hijackqueen, ppl always come and touch my kid. One of them asked if she can carry my son and walk around. Stupid or what i don’t know but i’ll break their neck if they harm my baby!
It happens to us too and Darrius always got kisses from Indon girls @ the coffeeshops… eeeewww…. Won’t say I don’t mind a wee bit coz who knows what kind of deseases can transmit through kisses rite?
Potential baby-thief alert!
olivia - Even if I’ve seen him around in the neighbourhood, I’d STILL be feeling uncomfortable.
hijackqueen / sasha - It’s not only rude. It’s fucking unhygienic! You wouldn’t know what those people have dug with their fingers before pinching your toddler’s cheeks…
inevitable - I am…
angeleyes - Indon girls give blowjobs to garbagemen!! Ewwwhhh!
Rin - Thanks for the alert. You know, I probably would have thought that guy’s just a condom salesman if it wasn’t for your alert. Phewhhh!
The best thing a stranger can ever do for me is ‘don’t talk to me’. Hehe… definitely FREAK!
Probably a burglar/robber scoping out the neighbourhood, who knows.
You don’t think you’re over-reacting just a little?
Maybe you’re being overly suspicious?
I know that being a parent automatically makes you more cautious, but that was only a 1-min encounter right?
I’d only worry if I saw the guy again…
sniperberry - You know, that’s what I always feel when I get my credit card statement every month… “LEAVE ME ALONE!”… heheh
insomniac - Well, I hope I’ll never get to find out about that…
Yin - Over reacting? Like what? Spitting on his face? Didn’t I mention how I reacted then?
And one word about that ‘only 1 minute encounter’. I tell you, it only takes a fraction of a second to be careless, and the next time you saw the guy again, you’d probably be worrying about your own life… Like I said, you can never be ‘too careful’. Walk safe, people. There are many sickos out there.
What a stupid question. Potential pedophile.
Next time I walk up, pinch pinch Regine’s cheek, smell smell Regine feet, can right?
primrose - Uh uh. Not that easy. You girls out there are required to perform nude squat in front of Regine’s daddy before touching her. You know, just in case you might hide some Weapon of Mass Destruction inside your rectum…
thr used to be an old man sitting in a gen-2 at the park in front of my hse.. he shaked hands with my neighbors.. n 15mins later he became a snatch thief in his car. n this is happening in bangsar..
I suppose that in asian countries, a too enthusiastic attempt at friendliness could put people in defensive mode. I have actually witness this kind of scene before in Europe. You know, stranger comes up to baby’s mother in the park and starts to coo all over the baby. It’s all a matter of culture i guess.
wye - Wow, snatching handbags from his car? Mannn… I thought they only do it with bikes!
Arkane - Well, if only you can see how they would react IF an unkempt black man with a scar on his face were to coo all over their baby…
i’d freak out too, especially in uncrowded areas, like an apartment’s carpark. there is no such thing as being paranoid with strangers behaving over friendly. these days you never know, even a well dressed guy driving a waja can be a snatch thief (a true case in Ampang, just yesterday, maybe he’s an executive doing part time job as a snatch thief)
michael ar, if i want give baby Regine sum japanese biscuit to munchy can or not ?
Be very, very careful…there are weirdos out there..
Wah lau eh! Touch kenot nvm. Talk oso kenot. Regine is covered with GOLD one meh?! LOL. Summore asked the girls to do nude squat in front of the humsup daddy if they wanna get close to Regine. So babai liddat!
anas - I wonder why are there a lot of girls out there still flailing their handbags all over their heads knowing that its a thief bait? All those risks just to look good? I don’t understand. We guys never get attracted to a girl because of a fucking handbag… *shakes head* (get rid of them, girls)
ahlian - Caaan, but with conditions. #1 - Regine’s daddy gets to munch 80% of the treats first, just to be safe. #2 - The nude squat rule remains. (sorry, rules…)
deekiat - Weirdo is an understatement, girl. It’s much more serious than that… More like psychopathic motherfuckers… or something like that…
titoki - More than gold, ok?
90% agree with your last line - smile/nod at me/Papa but stay away from my baby! I deplore strangers coming up to him, touching him and worse trying to snatch him away…there r some girls who are just *too* excited over cute babies, u know? I’d rather be grumpy than sorry, nowadays.
Wat if it’s me and I wanna baby talk to her and kiss her tummy?
kittycat - Girls USED to get excited over me… sigh…
Shar - 2 words, nude squat. Period. XD
There are full of weirdos out there nowadays! just watch your back people!
i was at klcc that day, and this indian guy came up to me while waiting for the elevator..samething happened..pointed at my tie and said nice tie..and said “wow cool..great!”…it went on something similar..except he didnt really have a lopsided eye…but used ur “template” to express what happened to me haha! it was freaky really!!
yeah dude, you better watch your ‘back’. That Indian guy probably wants it, desperately.