So we have just come back from a local fair.
Mr 9 was finally tall enough to ride solo on the Dodgem cars..
However he did struggle to get going and to understand the steering - next minute the guy running it jumps on and is actually really aggressive with him as he instructed him but also took control of the vehicle. He threatened to kick him off etc.
I understand that he was struggling to steer but the body language and aggression he had in dealing with my son was pretty intense. I watched his face completely drop. He came off the ride and was trying to hide the tears. He wouldn’t go back on them.
I’m actually trying to make sense of the whole thing could he have thought he was older?
They didn’t give them any instructions on jumping on just checked their belts and off they went!
Sorry no question just vent. I’m stewing on it!
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10 Replies
I've never seen anyone check if you're able to drive it and they don't make money being driving instructors. If he was struggling to control it then yeah it's typical for them to stand on the side or back and take over, or to remove drivers to prevent anyone being hurt. I imagine they'd get pretty frustrated doing the same thing over and over for a seemingly long line of kids offloaded onto their ride completely unprepared.
I remember many years ago seeing lots of too young kids being removed from the ride because they didn't understand the concept of the ride or how to control the vehicle, I also remember being injured by one of those kids driving erratically before they were taken off the cart. He was just sitting unmoving so I went to go past and out of nowhere they just shot off head on into the front edge of my cart jarring my wrist really badly, it ruined the whole rest of the show for me.
I'm sure he could have handled it better, take a moment to look at it from his side though. And prepare your boy in advance, warn the operator your son is new to the ride and they will literally stand on his car for most of the ride helping him, only stepping off when needed elsewhere. It's how I learned.
I would never treat anyone the way my son was treated today.
While I completely see what your saying. It’s an amusement ride. We checked his height, there were no further instructions anywhere.
I have no problem with him standing on the car helping. But the way he spoke to him was hideous! There were many children driving pretty crazily it’s is dodgem cars. He got kind of stuck in the middle on his own driving in circles he wasn’t actually hitting anyone when they guy leaped on.
Every dodgem cars I have been on as a kid and my own 4 kids someone would always run around for a minute or two making sure they knew how to use it. I loved the young guys that would jump from car to car if kids were struggling or got stuck. He should not have got angry with him, he is in the wrong job if he gets frustrated at a young kid like that. Maybe just let the organisers know what happened, it might not do anything but if something else happens later on there will be a bit of back up.
That was my memory too.
Next time I will take him on myself and let him drive. I couldn’t get him to go back today. 😓
Interestingly enough he is used to getting in trouble, and normally I would back someone for going cross on him when it was deserved. But this was so different.
I had a Santa photographer get angry with my 3 year old and that was horrible. Same with a hairdresser. Sounds like I had a horrible kid but he was just a normal three year old who couldn't keep his head still lol. Some people shouldn't work with kids!
There’s a difference to ‘being in trouble by a trusted adult where you know you are safe’ to getting abused by an angry man. that would be scary for a child.
I bet the guy was off chops.
Its amazing the local police let these operators, operate, they do walk through what for a free hotdog?
Police don't let these things happen, it's the local councils that do. Police are told and might do a walk around for police presence as they usually do where there's large crowds but they have no control over if and when they operate. That's a local government jurisdiction.
Without going into detail, I have an unfortunate insight into carney life. I refuse to take my kids to one of these things as a result. The majority of these ride operators have no business running heavy machinery or being near kids.
I guarantee the guy you encountered was either high or agitated because he wasn't high.
It's a shitty experience for your son for sure though and I hope he's not too discouraged to try new things in the future.
Oh well my 9 year old went on solo recently as well, also couldn’t steer, got stuck, and got bumped continuously while the dude did nothing to help and she sat there stuck getting bumped her entire ride. I was so mad. I walked around the outside to her and started instructing her how to get free then the timer buzzer went off.