Apr 23 2008
Getting Zoological
The thought of the zoo usually brings to mind smiling families, ice cream stands, fluffy animals, and tasty pizza; but then I get there and remember that really it’s full of screaming kids, air that’s heavy with fecal fumes, asshole mothers carting around wagonfuls of screaming kids, exhibits blocked by screaming kids, screaming kids in buses, screaming kids wearing matching school district t-shirts, restroom entrances flanked by screaming kids, moms in ill-fitted jeans screaming at the screaming kids, balding dads blocking out the screaming kids by fantasizing of beer and slutty babysitters. Oh, and old people. Old people on foot; old people on tram, old people in motorized wheelchairs running over screaming kids and old people on foot.
Let me break down my zoo jaunt for you:
Car ride: Are we there yet, are we there yet.
<20 minutes: Oh my god animals look at the tigers oh my god ice cream oooh Dippin’ Dots!
<30 minutes: I’m bored. I’m hungry. I’m bored. I’m hungry. Ew, it smells.
<45 minutes: When are we leaving?
The worst thing for me is how predictable it is. I know that around that bend is the monkey house. I know the kimodo dragon won’t be out. I know I will hate everyone there. I know I will have to restrain myself from punting kids over fences. I know I’ll be disappointed by the food at the cafeteria and I know that Henry will act shocked at how expensive everything is.
Maybe the zoo can change some shit up, create a theme. Like, maybe The Zoo Takes Harlem. So instead of feigning astonishment and adoping a face full of wonder when I witness the requisite elephant-takes-a-dump scene, perhaps my reaction would be genuine if I stumbled upon the elephants warming themselves in a front of a garbage can fire with a cluster of hobos. Perhaps the zebras could throw some dice in an alley with some inner city kids, maybe the monkeys could smoke some crack under a bridge. I’d love to see the bears and the ostriches in a gang war.
Maybe schedule some human sacrifices. I volunteer the albinos. Who would really miss a few hundred albinos per season anyway, am I right Pittsburgh Zoo?
Chooch was mainly interested in the other children. "Yeah, but look at the LION," I would say, but he would laugh and point at the kids around him, thinking they were there for his amusement. Wait, I guess he really is a lot like me.
At the polar bear exhibit, some little mother fucker squeezed out the last bit of juice from a juice box and then tossed it onto the ground. I was appalled. I vocalized my disgust by scraping sound off my throat and scowled at him and his asshole mother as they walked away. I wanted to say something, shove my fist through their faces, make a citizens arrest.
"He’s like, six years old," Henry pointed out, concerned that I was considering physical punishment. I didn’t care! Littering is littering and his vagina-faced mother is allowing him to ruin MY WORLD.
We ran into them again before we left, in the reptile house, where I noticed that his t-shirt said, "Make pizza, not war." Making sure the little littering asshole was within earshot, I said smugly to Henry, "I want to make him a shirt that says ‘Empty juice boxes go in the garbage can, not on the ground.’" Henry rolled his eyes and continued along with Chooch.
The next thing I knew, the asshole’s equally assholey mother came barrelling around a corner, shouting, "Bram! Bram!" Her miniature litterer broke through a crowd of kids, tears streaming down his face — and in those tears my vindication manifested — and he ran into his mother’s arms.
"That’s what happens to kids who litter," I said loudly to Henry. "They get LOST." Henry told me to drop it, but I wasn’t done gloating. And it figures his name is Bram. Bram. Ha! I scoff at you, Bram.
Our last stop was the Dippin’ Dots stand, where we shared a dish of banana split freeze-dried balls of ice cream that cost FOUR DOLLARS PLUS TAX. Fuck you, zoo. It’s freezer-burnt ice cream crumbs, for Christ’s sake. As we were finishing, a partially-crippled woman sat down at the other end of our picnic table. We got up to leave and I said to Henry, "I hope she doesn’t think we left because she’s degenerate." I was actually concerned about someone’s feelings for once!
"I would never leave just because someone sat down beside me. Unless it was you," Henry said. And then we left.
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HAHAHAHAHA I am so not ok.
HAHAHAHAHA, no you’re really not. Kick a blind kid, you’ll feel better.
aw, thx me.
:(
This was a slightly hostile post, wasn’t it? I haven’t been to the zoo since high school, so the frustrations you were talking about are vague memories for me.
The mother of that kid was a serious dick for not picking up after her kid. I hate that shit. Either teach your kids how to behave in public (if they’re old enough to know) or don’t take them out!
me in a bad mood + me listening to aggressive music is not a good combo but I DON’T CARE.
no one really reads this shit anyway, lololol.
i worked at the zoo for a few summers in high school…and it wasn’t as pleasant as one might think.
aside from the screaming kids (i know what you mean!), litterers, and old folks here were my two other major WTF?s:
-desperate-housewife (only trashier) moms that would come there with their young kids wearing STILETTO heels. to the zoo! a day full of nothing but WALKING…mostly uphill. wtf?
-kids on leashes…SCARY!
Yes! I saw a lot of those trashy housewife types today! Henry was ogling them – asshole!!
I really wasn’t so angry until I came here, so now my recap of the day reflects that, oops!
What did you do at the zoo?
i sold tickets in the front most years.
the last year i worked there i worked at the carousel selling tickets/operating the ride, which was fun because most of the kids were cute (NOT the screaming ones) and would talk to me.
i also worked in king’s kingdom at that little booth near the copper turtle statue selling tickets and giving info. the only fun part about that was that people would always run over to the turtle to take pictures on it, but on really sunny days it would get really hot and they’d get burned. seeing screaming kids get hurt and their parents get pissed is a little fun, actually.
oops, i meant ‘kid’s kingdom.’
also, i have a TON of free passes if you’d like any. not like you’ll be going back soon…but in the future, if you can tolerate one more zoo trip.
Banana split dippin dots are the only way to go!
Chooch is definitely a fan!
We noticed that the sign doesn’t say “Ice cream of the future” anymore. Is it because now is the future??
It may be. They sell them in the mall here, it makes the place more tolerable.
I woulda punched that littering kid in the head while no one was looking.
BEST ENDING EVER.
Bram sounds like bran. Which is a grain that helps you poop. So what an appropriate name for a little asshole who litters. People are disgusting, and you are brave for sucking up all the screaming kids, old people, and Older Persons so that Riley could be entertained. Six years old or not, you don’t litter.
See, good thing I am not a mum. I could not handle it.
I hope Bram gets diarrhea AND lost.
Henry has been on a roll these days!
dude- that kid really was an asshole like his mother…
and i’m glad you said something!
chooch looks so cute squatted in that window. awl.
at first i was like- oh man i’d miss the albinos, BUT if they were in the zoo… it would be easier to see them.
remember when i said i wanted to make the next holocaust, but for albinos?
wtf is my problem. i swear i don’t actually hate ppl that much.
I love how youre kinda giving the camera the finger while making sure Chooch doesnt fall off of the ledge and break his brain. It makes the picture fit in that much better with this post.
I know! It also makes me look I don’t give a shit if he falls or not, lol. No wonder people think I’m a bad mom!