Don’t Rain On Their Entitlement Parade

(I am waiting on a holiday parade to start. There are police officers on crowd-control duty and barriers set up to keep the parade route clear. Across the street, the sidewalk has been reserved for VIPs of the company sponsoring the parade. Despite the barricades on either side of the street, people keep coming up to ask the cops to let them cross. Some are understanding when told no, but the majority argue back and get mad and rude. Some of us strike up a conversation with the officer standing nearby, and she tells us she’s been doing this event for years.)

Man: “Do people get mad like that all the time?”

Officer: “Oh, yeah. One guy actually told me, ‘I hope your kids are dying across the street one day and you aren’t allowed to cross to them!'”

Man: “What? Was his kid dying?”

Officer: “No, he had just gotten here late and wanted a better spot that he saw in the ticket-holder area, and I told him it wasn’t general admission.”