Halloween Tip #20 – The Rude or Obnoxious Trick-or-Treater
Those of us who have years of experience understand that we will probably have at least one older trick-or-treater who we will find to be rude or obnoxious. Usually this particular visitor is a young adult male. Usually he is traveling in a pack of other “over-age” Halloweeners.
The young adult may speak rudely to you. S/he may try to grab all of your goodies from you and run. If you are dressed in a costume s/he may try to rip off your mask. If your yard is full of Halloween decorations s/he may knock over your pumpkin, tare down the fake cobwebs, or even knock over a small child leaving your front doorstep.
First, it is time to keep our estrogen in check. Getting physical or verbal will NOT solve any of the behavior problems. In fact, doing so may exasperate the issue.
If you want to stress yourself and go to the extreme of course you can try to identify the youth in order to later “teach him/her a lesson.” However, if this is your choice, don’t be surprised if you are later taught a lesson of your own when you see the front of your house has fresh graffiti sprayed all over; or your car has been keyed; or your sprinklers have been broken. Don’t forget the word “retaliation,” if this is how you choose to react.
If is a hard pill to swallow but it might be easier to make a comment such as, “Wow, I really like your costume.” Hopefully this will disarm the offender causing him/her to calm down a little and hopefully leave your property without any further problems.
Just be prepared! Every neighborhood has a young resident who will most likely fit this description. Don’t let it spoil your night!
