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What would you do if a kid ran by and accidentally hit your iPhone onto the ground?

I would for sure address the situation with the childs parents, but for christs sakes people, its just a phone.. you can get a new one.. the same can't be said for childhood.

When I was a child I made alot of mistakes like that, one time I was backing the lawnmower out and hit my moms car, thank god she didn't flip out like some of you guys would have. Mistakes happen, if a child has his health thats the MOST important thing at the end of the day, not your stupid phone.

Trust me, he/she knows they screwed up if they see the phone break, they are already very sorry and scared.
 
kinster said:
Easy to say when you don't have kids
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well then, the wife and i are "tattoo covered" (my tattoo shop paid our way through college), college educated and parents to three girls. my kids don't and wouldn't act like that. if my 2 year old grandson begins to misbehave in a public place, we'll leave as to not annoy other people. (did this when my girls were babies too).

as a responsible parent, if someone asked my to reimburse them for damages my kids did to anything, i'd pay and my kids would work it off.

i don't spare the rod but child abuse isn't even remotely funny.
 
txr0ckabilly said:
well then, the wife and i are "tattoo covered" (my tattoo shop paid our way through college), college educated and parents to three girls. my kids don't and wouldn't act like that. if my 2 year old grandson begins to misbehave in a public place, we'll leave as to not annoy other people. (did this when my girls were babies too).

as a responsible parent, if someone asked my to reimburse them for damages my kids did to anything, i'd pay and my kids would work it off.

i don't spare the rod but child abuse isn't even remotely funny.
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I like your view alot better than the woman who is 'tattoo covered'.

No need to be a rude pompous ass, kids will be kids. Good for you by the way with the shop :).
 
I wouldn't blame the kid, those things happen, and they're just kids. I'd tell them to run along carefully now, then get myself that blackberry I've been wanting for a while now.
 
Arran said:
Hey, why are we just focusing on kids? Adults can be just as irresponsible.

Some, not all, btw.
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It could be adults, but there were a few comments about it being harsh to make the kids or their family pay for the damages, so I just used that other situation to strengthen the cost of the damage, to see if people would still react the same way to a broken $3,500 computer versus a broken $200 phone.
gdeputy said:
I would for sure address the situation with the childs parents, but for christs sakes people, its just a phone.. you can get a new one.. the same can't be said for childhood.

When I was a child I made alot of mistakes like that, one time I was backing the lawnmower out and hit my moms car, thank god she didn't flip out like some of you guys would have. Mistakes happen, if a child has his health thats the MOST important thing at the end of the day, not your stupid phone.

Trust me, he/she knows they screwed up if they see the phone break, they are already very sorry and scared.
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You can get a new one, but shouldn't that kid's family have to pay for it, you already spent your time working to pay for the phone, why should you have to spend your money again to replace something at no fault of your own. But childhood is more important than a phone, any day, but I think the reason for a lot of these comments is that it was a hypothetical situation, and didn't actually happen.

Still though, that kid and his family are responsible to repay for the damages to your personal property. If I broke my neighbor's window as a kid I know that I would have to pay for it to be repaired, and if I couldn't then my parents would have to, even if it were an accident.

EDIT: Sorry I was not meaning more my post to seemed aimed at you, for some reason I thought that your post was written in response to mine, and I would have to agree with you, child abuse is not a joking matter in any way.
 
JML42691 said:
..I would have grabbed the kids by the arms, taken them to their parents..
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..and be dumbfounded that they are now going to press charges for assault for touching their kids, or just face a beat down from an angry dad, because your phone got broken, and thought that justified physically having a reaction with his kids.. :rolleyes:. This is not the Old West..
 
senorFunkyPants said:
Well...two young kids on one bike came tearing down the drive in front of their house out onto the road and I hit them with my car. They and the bike went over the hood and into a ditch.. I ran and fetched their parents (who were totally unfazed, while I was nearly freaking out that they were seriously hurt ) and we were all relieved that there were only cuts and bruises.
I got my car repaired and gave the parents the bill (about the cost of an iPhone) and they paid without a fuss.
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Wow this is a great story. To bad in the states we would never get this kind of justice. Here the parents would be totally unwilling to accept the responsibility, would have dollar signs in their eyes. 'Hey honey little Joey just ran out in the street into a car, we've hit the jackpot!'
 
The problem here is twofold (well actually threefold, but I'm not going to get into semantics):

1 - We cannot automatically assume that the parents of these urchins will automatically refute any and all claims to make things right.

2 - The whole premise of this entire thread is based on a lack of personal responsibility that has become so pervasive in society today. (at least here in the U.S.)

I do have kids, and I would never let them behave that way in public. Heeleys, Wheeleys, or whatever they are called are banned from every public market, mall, ect in my area, and with good reason. For crying out loud, most kids here don't get enough exercise as it is, and now we want to keep them from actually having to walk?

IMHO, part of the problem is that parents aren't held accountable often enough for their offspring's transgressions. Then again, why should we expect any different from a society that has people in SUVs and Minivans driving through traffic like mad-people, cutting other motorists off and going all road rage, yet they made sure to affix their "Jesus Saves" bumper sticker or that religious fish emblem to the back of their "war wagon".

I've adopted a policy that whenever I am out in public, chances are I'm going to be dealing with the lowest common denominator. Sure, it is a slightly jaded way to look at things, but if I go out with low expectations, I am prepared for the worst, and it is easy to be pleasantly surprised.

I agree mostly with what you've said Lindsay, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that more often than not, if the perpetrators are unwilling to be civil from the outset, going after them with legal proceedings will probably be more trouble than it is worth. I understand doing it on the principle alone, but you can't always get blood from a stone, ya know?
 
Well, I am taking a completely different view of this.

If someone knocked my iphone out my hand and broke it I would be rather annoyed.

I know you think the parents should pay for it but you can't force them to pay for it or take them to court. Same with the example of the car. You can only take legal action if you can prove it was intended criminal damage of your car. Otherwise you should have it insured incase something like that happens, thats why people have insurance.

I live in the UK by the way, and thats what would happen.
 
JML42691 said:
It could be adults, but there were a few comments about it being harsh to make the kids or their family pay for the damages, so I just used that other situation to strengthen the cost of the damage, to see if people would still react the same way to a broken $3,500 computer versus a broken $200 phone.

You can get a new one, but shouldn't that kid's family have to pay for it, you already spent your time working to pay for the phone, why should you have to spend your money again to replace something at no fault of your own. But childhood is more important than a phone, any day, but I think the reason for a lot of these comments is that it was a hypothetical situation, and didn't actually happen.

Still though, that kid and his family are responsible to repay for the damages to your personal property. If I broke my neighbor's window as a kid I know that I would have to pay for it to be repaired, and if I couldn't then my parents would have to, even if it were an accident.

EDIT: Sorry I was not meaning more my post to seemed aimed at you, for some reason I thought that your post was written in response to mine, and I would have to agree with you, child abuse is not a joking matter in any way.
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I agree with you. I think it's almost implied though that the parents would pay for the item. No need to grab the kid by his arm and drag him through a store. My point was, theres really no need to ever YELL at the child, because from my experience anyways, he/she is probably scared because A. They broke your phone, and B. your a random stranger and C. im sure his parents will kick his butt for costing them 3-400 dollars later on I'm sure the parents would buy a new phone, for you.

Also, my post wasn't really aimed at you in particular, just a general statement, and moreso at the woman that was posting. Take it easy :D
 
dixieD said:
Wow this is a great story. To bad in the states we would never get this kind of justice. Here the parents would be totally unwilling to accept the responsibility, would have dollar signs in their eyes. 'Hey honey little Joey just ran out in the street into a car, we've hit the jackpot!'
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Agreed. I live near a street where children aged 2-15+ are constantly darting in and out from parked cars across the street, which is fairly highly traversed, and rarely, if ever, is a parent or guardian in sight. Of course, the second one of them so much as suffers a scratch, I'm sure 5 relatives would be on the spot, instantaneously wailing about how "their baby" was injured.

I avoid that street like the plague, and if I do need to go down it, I'm usually creeping through at about 15-20 MPH.
 
i would probably make the parents pay for it, if they refused i would beat there a** and possibly follow them home and make there life hell, no use for me being a jerk to the kids because there parents cant raise them.
 
This is one of those awkward situations that can happen with anything - not just iphones. And it could be kids running by like idiots because their parents don't give a damn, a kid bumping into you while calmly walking with their parents, or maybe even another adult bumps you by accident.

All you can hope for is that the responsible party (parent, or person if of age) will take responsibility for their actions. Otherwise, you can try to involve the police I guess.

I know if it were me that bumped someone and they dropped their <insert gadget here> I would first consider how hard I bumped them and why. If they stepped into my path or something and it was sort of a mutual bump and they banged up their gadget, then, sorry, too bad, watch where you are going. If I damn near plowed them over somehow, I would offer my apologies and to help replace whatever was damaged.

I think the easiest solution to your proposed problem is to hold onto your phone a little better :p
 
sr5878 said:
edit: or feed them to reptar

reptar003.gif
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Works for me!:D
 
Sonicjay said:
..and be dumbfounded that they are now going to press charges for assault for touching their kids, or just face a beat down from an angry dad, because your phone got broken, and thought that justified physically having a reaction with his kids.. :rolleyes:. This is not the Old West..
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You've got a point with that, but I was not intending that it would be assault or abuse in any way, even though I could easily be charged with that. But if I were the parent in that case, then the last thing that would come to my mind with this situation is charging the guy with assault, I would be more worried with this guy charging my kids with destruction of property.

But then again, some parents are messed up these days, I work at a local youth hockey rink during the winter and there was a fight that broke out in a squirt level game (for people that do not know, that is kids about 10 years old). Punches and everything, one of the referees was breaking up the fight by grabbing the kids and pulling them back away from the fighting, nothing abusive or anything, just pulling them away. One of the parents did not like that and stormed down to the door to the ice where he began to threaten the official. We ejected the parent from the building, but he came back in after the game and threw a few punches at the referee and was threatening to press charges against the referee, me and the other employees on shift restrained the man and called the police. Nothing ended up happening after that except with the parent receiving a lifetime ban from the rink.

But to rephrase my previous statement, "I would have taken the kids to their parents...."
 
Not to sound harsh, but if you're not aware of your environment it's your own fault – whether the bump comes for a chair, a rolling trolley or a running child.

and...

If you went to the parents it would be your word against... a child!? I don't think you'd have much recourse. A child isn't legally responsible for damage they cause. You'd have to hope the parent is very understanding and kind to hand money over.
 
irishgrizzly said:
Not to sound harsh, but if you're not aware of your environment it's your own fault – whether the bump comes for a chair, a rolling trolley or a running child.

and...

If you went to the parents it would be your word against... a child!? I don't think you'd have much recourse. A child isn't legally responsible for damage they cause. You'd have to hope the parent is very understanding and kind to hand money over.
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+1 entirely. If you are that worried about it, take out insurance that covers this type of damage, or you can try to press charges, hire a lawyer, and take it to court. For $500. Good luck.
 
arkitect said:
At the end of the day… to paraphrase Steve Ballmer:

"Insurance…Insurance…Insurance…Insurance…Insurance…Insurance…Insurance…Insurance…!"
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at the end of the day.. to paraphrase apple and AT&T:

"no..no..no...no...no...no...no...no..."
 
irishgrizzly said:
Not to sound harsh, but if you're not aware of your environment it's your own fault – whether the bump comes for a chair, a rolling trolley or a running child.

and...

If you went to the parents it would be your word against... a child!? I don't think you'd have much recourse. A child isn't legally responsible for damage they cause. You'd have to hope the parent is very understanding and kind to hand money over.
Click to expand...

First off.. Kids will come out of NO WHERE and its NOT your fault THEY were rought housing and flew into you/

Secondly, the KIDS arent legally responsible, but the parents are LEGALLY responsible for anything their kids break.
 
Wow, I like this thread. All hypothetical, but very interesting to watch the dialog. I would show that I was very saddened by the accident and hope the parents would cover it, even find the parents and let them know. But I wouldn't be demanding it, provided the kids were apologetic.
 
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