I was working on a merchandising project this afternoon when I heard a coworker going absolutely crazy cooing over a baby a customer was towing around. The coworker is a grandmother, and LOOOOVES babies, and she was just gaga over this one. I was twenty feet away and could hear her going on and on about how pretty this baby was and how lovely his eyelashes were. Then she called me over to her.

Coworker (excited and nearly squealing): Look at that baby's pretty lashes! Aren't they wonderful?
Me (bored): "They're long and thick. They're nice." *shrug*

And I walked away from the shocked look on my coworker's face and the dagger shooting expression of pure disgust on the customer's face without another word.

Seriously, I'd be more concerned if a human infant was lacking eyelashes! I just don't get what the big deal is. Oddly, that entire scene was rather fun, in an eye-rolling, "this is a pointless conversation" way. But then, I'm pretty twisted and I enjoy shocking people...

Just thought I'd share. Has anyone else gotten those shocked/ disgusted looks from showing "baby apathy?"

Yeah, I have.

I can't help it that they're boring. Especially if you don't even know either of the parents personally!

It's kind of like having a mechanic be excited to show me the engine of somebody else's car. *yawn*

Yep. I got a lecture from a pregnant co-worker for remaining on a business call whilst some woman I didn't know paraded around her four month old. Her two older children then came running up the hallway. It's an office, not a playground.

Luckily, I'm changing jobs so won't be there when the currently pregnant people all parade in their off-spring.

I've seen the same reactions to my mother at the office (she used to work at the same workspace as me years ago) when the first grandkid arrived. I had those reactions, but it was sorta expected from me. No disgusting looks, but I never got into the "oohh, isn't this baby sooo cute?" stuff. Even the obligatory "pass the baby around the office" things, even if you are a guy, they used to hunt me down for such things. Now, they know better.

Speaking of which, every now and then a co-worker who became pregnant and therefore left to go on maternity leave would arrive showing off the newly hatched loaf. I show absolutely no interest what so ever and therefore stay at my desk into my work. Nobody really hassles me about it as I'm sure that I am being talked about behind my back.

sleepykgm - LMAO at "hatched loaf." Oh gosh that is hilarious! My newest fav CF slang term that I recently read on another CF website is "crotchfruit." Gotta love slang words!

Ugh...I hate the office parade too. I never know what to say and I just don't feel all gaga over the babies like everyone else. I really try to come up with something to say about how adorable they are but it sure doesn't come naturally All the other ladies go crazy practically grabbing the baby out of other people's arms. Not me!

My favourite CF slang is the phrase ' the uterus' which I read on a thread a few weeks ago in regards to a stay at home mother... made me laugh and still does :-)

I had a work colleague on my last project, he had been in the company longer than me and thought as I was new I could be bossed around and told what to do.

He came up to my desk and saw a photo of my cat on there.... he said ' Is that your cat?' I said ' Yes, isn't he lovely?' he replied ' I don't like cats'.

Fine.. whatever.

He then had photos of his daughter and when I went to ask him a question he said ' Look, that's my daughter in the school play'

'I don't like kids'.

He's never said anything to me since.

What a brilliant exchange, Linux Lady! I'm still laughing!

Manatee you took the words right out of my mouth! LL is on a roll today =)

WTG, LL! To be a fly on the wall when that exchange happened... (but only if there wasn't a flyswatter around)

I have never gotten excited when people bring babies around. What's even worse is when they ask you if you want to "hold it"! There is nothing that I want to do less in those situations.
I think most babies look like... babies.. big deal! Some are even pretty ugly, but it's not like you are going to actually say that! I'm too polite for that, so I just stay at my desk and don't mingle with the folks adoring the baby. Now if somebody brings in a dog or a cat, that's a totally different matter. The little wet noses, the shiny eyes, the soft fur, the jelly beans, the cuddles...

I have to say, I don't think people who coo over babies are any less insane than myself who can go to a cat rescue site or spend hours online looking at persian breeders websites (*apparantly* persians are the most popular breed of cat in the US... you lovely US people think that's true?) I can go into raptures over colleagues cats and have actually found a couple of women who have fur-babies.... one has children (grown up kids) and the other is CF.... but the convo is like ' Hi.. How is your cat?' (straight to the important stuff!).

Thing is... I don't like being rude and if someone showed me a baby / kid photo I would be polite and try and take an interest ... 'He has your eyes'... 'Oh, that's sweet' - I mean, there is no need to be obnoxious just because you don't like something as long as they don't force a kid on you and if you work with these people, you should accept that people have different interests...

But... politeness and respect goes both ways in my opinion.

I just thought 'hang on.. you've brought up my cat photo and then have turned round and said that?' .. red card situation.

I had a FANTASTIC convo about pregnancy and childbirth with a colleagues wife about a year ago... She had recently had a kid and I started quizzing her on stuff, not polite 'surface' questions but really probing questions about stuff I wanted to know .. 'So *can* you have sex straight away after childbirth? does your [censored] go back into shape straight away? How much blood is there really? could you walk straight away? do you now have bladder problems?'

Thankfully she was a very loud and very fun American lady who thought I was hysterically funny and relished telling me all about it and watching me cringe - she said it was rare for someone to be genuinely interested as most people 'politely' ask the normal questions ' How much did he weigh?' etc... (boring) She then listened to me recall the time my cat escaped... and showed interest in my 200 or so cat photos on my phone.

See, give and take - she was cool :-D

Does anyone else find these offers to hold a person's baby rather odd? It's a human being, after all, not a toy, even if it has little say in what's done to it. Perhaps I'm overanalysing, but to me it's like introducing a new girlfriend and wondering if you'd like to give her a little squeeze, so you can pretend she's your own for a minute. Why does the fact that the person in question is small make a difference?

Maybe because the parents enjoy holding/hugging the baby, and they assume you will too. It doesn't occur to them that it would make you uncomfortable. I usually worry about not holding it right or even doing something wrong and heaven forbid, while you hold it, it starts crying! Which is embarrassing... I think the parents just want to share their joy with you, and I can understand that, but they often don't understand that not everybody gets a kick out of that.

I'm sure that's right, fatina. I just find the whole thing a bit odd - I love hugging my boyfriend but I don't offer him to others so they can share the joy (admittedly, unlike a baby, he could say no!)... And what makes them think that their baby would enjoy being passed around by a group of strangers anyway?

You know, when I really think about it, I don't mind doing the obligatory, polite, 'awwww' when someone shows me a picture of a baby or a pet, but I don't like it when people start going into numerous stories about the 'hilarious' or 'adorable' things that they've done. I don't mind one or two, and I certainly enjoy pet stories better, but I still get irritated when people go on and on. There aren't many people who can make even pet stories interesting enough that I'd want to listen for more than 15 minutes.

That's just me, though, please don't get mad at me, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with people talking about their pets here.

You know, when I think about it, I think I've GIVEN those sort of looks when people don't look at my dog the way I want them to! LOL

I feel like the most awkward person on earth when someone wants me to coo about their children. I usually try to run far far away if I see the situation in the near future.

Now if it was a kitten or puppy I'd knock everyone over trying to get to it, and you couldn't get me to stop holding it.

I personally absolutely adore babies and am willing to hold any baby offered. My four are more than enough, so I won't be having anymore. I've only been asked if I want to hold a baby by people who know me well. It would be odd if someone I barely knew asked and I would probably say no. I mean, it wouldn't hurt my feelings if someone didn't want to hold my baby. Or my dog. Or my cat.I also remember when my last one was born, it seemed like people EXPECTED me to ask them if they wanted to hold the baby, and I didn't want to give her up! I hate the cooing over baby pictures, though. I love it when people say, "Oh, here's the picture of my baby/grandchild/whatever. You don't have to say how cute he/she is, because really most newborns are pretty ugly." It cracks me up and takes care of the false "How cute." If a parent does seem to want a reaction I just say, "You must be so proud!"

"He came up to my desk and saw a photo of my cat on there.... he said ' Is that your cat?' I said ' Yes, isn't he lovely?' he replied ' I don't like cats'.

Fine.. whatever.

He then had photos of his daughter and when I went to ask him a question he said ' Look, that's my daughter in the school play'

'I don't like kids'.

He's never said anything to me since."

Wow....what a response....you guys are so quick witted!

I've never held a baby before and don't intend to. I am usually very polite to parents though and usually try to say something nice about the baby. Most of them look like little aliens to me but there are some that I think are cute. I would never tell someone that the baby was cute or whatever just to appease them. I only save that for when the baby/child truly is cute.

I don't "hate" kids and I'm lucky that most of my friends' children are of the intelligent and polite variety. It's hard being around a brat.

Well, I don't know if something's wrong with me, but most babies are really ugly to me. I don't like them because they always drivel...*Yuck*

Nearly every woman loves the smell of babies. For me they always smell like sh*** diapers.....

I am a mother and I never thought babies are especially cute. As for the smell, they can be not so fresh and quite often.

I never really wanted kids, but now I have 4. I love my own, but other people's children annoy me. Too many parents think their children are the best in the world when they are really little snots.

I love some babies...but not all. Some seem to have more drool and snot than others. Some have louder, more annoying cries.

If you think parading the new off spring through the workplace is bad.....I once worked with a pregnant woman who would, at least once a week, expose her pregnant belly and go around and insist that everyone feel her belly because the larva was moving. Talk about gross. Of course the larva had to be paraded through the office once hatched and, of course had to dirty it's diaper. The mother was just going to change it right there on the desk next to mine and was highly indignant when I told her that was unacceptable and she had to take it into the ladies room.

I'm fond of most babies. Clean, adorable, personable babies. The thing that annoys me is that when people see me holding a baby, they begin to coo and say how 'natural' I look with the infant, and automatically assume that I want one of my own. I've held a bunny before, and think they're adorable, but I don't want one of my own.

I think some babies are cute, some (a few) are gorgeous ditto for kids. But I don't usually go goo ga over them certainly not all of them.
Once this lass I used to work with had her husband bring the baby so a colleauge could see the baby (I'd already seen a huge overblown photo of him) and when he rang the bell I said "Hello! I'll just go get J..." and I did.
I didn't gush at all.
And my colleague, the baby's mum (no longer working there) looked at me like "Huh, THAT'S interesting! I GET it now, I REALLY do, you don't have that baby gene thing, biological clock going on, fair enough."
She didn't say anything but her look said it all, not in a bad way.
My ex who dislikes babies was given a drooling baby to hold once by some relatives of his when we went to visit his father once. He was really uncomfortable and was grossing out to me about the drool and how he couldn't stand it. And I thought they shouldn't try to force him to hold the baby, he'd TOLD them he didn't want to,
and I also felt sorry for the baby, maybe it picked up those vibes!!!
Cause I work with kids, as you know, I end up thinking most kids in my class are lovely - especially this years' bunch, on the whole, not all - and yes really REALLY cute! - but it's like an overdose. It's like working in an ice cream shop and you eat the ice cream all day before you sell some and then you're REALLY SICK of ice cream
and then when you're out with friends and they say "LOOK! There's ICE CREAM, YUMMY!" you sort of think "Eh, Whatever, yawn! My GOD I feel like I'm back at work, get me OUT of there!"
But actually it's worse than that
cause it's like you work with the ice cream and yet
you may have chosen that job but you never REALLY had
THAT much of a sweet tooth!
Or at least not enough of a sweet tooth that you wanted to eat ice cream away from work in your free time!

Why don't people understand that poop is meant for the bathroom? I can't care who is doing it. Don't get it near my desk or table, and don't talk about it while I'm eating. I think that's a pretty reasonable expectation.

I do love babies, I can't deny it. I don't like it when they grow up! But my friend, who is very pretty, had two really ugly babies. It was like, "let me see the baby, oh, how - UGH! What IS that thing?" Hehe.

My sister's kids are absolutely gorgeous. She's had strangers stop her to tell her they should be in commercials.

I really prefer it when kids are under 9 or so. After that they just get icky.

I one told Chaco (where is she lately, BTW?) that if one of us ever accidentally had a kid, I'd take the kid the first 10 years and she could have it after that.

Remember the Seinfeld episode "Come see the BAYYYYBBBBEEEEE" and didn't the baby turn out to be shockingly ugly? LOL!

Honestly, babies do nothing for me, they seem so dependent and helpless, and it scares me to think of being responsible for something like that. Plus, you can't hardly communicate with them and they can't tell you how they're feeling or what they need. I like intelligent, well-behaved older kids that I can have a conversation with. Or ones young enough and naive enough that I can playfully mess with them.

Cindy

I very rarely hold a baby - only if it belongs to a close friend of mine, and it's not all snottied up. But, like you, as soon as I have a cuddle or play with a toddler everybody forgets that I've told them I'm not having children.

It's all with the 'ooohhh, kids like you, you'll be great when you're a mum,' which makes me so angry!

I love babies and I love holding them, as long as they're not fussing! But it seems when the new moms bring the babies into work that everyone ooohs and aaaahs over that baby for.ev.er. I don't mind stopping and saying how cute the baby is, but then I leave because I have work to do. How do people have the time to stand around for forty minutes looking at a baby?? I'd much rather get my work done so I can go home.

When I think about all the time and energy wasted on the last place I worked on seeing kids, having mom's drop by and all the damn talking about kids I can't believe sh**t gets done. But, what ticked me off...When my mom was real sick last year and dying I was trying to get to the hospital every evening b/c we didn't know if she would pass away or not. Well, it was over an hour drive and I had a broken right toe so I asked my boss if I could work through my lunch and leave early. Well, he said yes, but was not too happy about. Well, after a little while he just seemed so aggervated with me. For gods sake my mother was dying. BUT have one of the moms in my department miss work for sick kids...oh hold the freakin phone...she has a sick kid!!!! One girl missed so much b/c her kid had some lung breathing problem not life threatening. Meanwhile, my mom is on ventilator!!!! I should of went to a higher boss b/c I know he would of been pi**ed that my boss was doing that...he had also just lost his mother that year. Anyway, I quit that job b/c I had just had enough with it all together. But mom's sure do get my sempathy in the work-place!!!!!

Sorry didn't mean to rant...but gosh that felt good!! Thanks for being her for me you guys!!

That is just great!!! I love it..I love it!!!

Jzel, that sucks. I work with a bunch of moms and I know what you mean. Mostly they're really good, but every once in a while I get aggravated. Oh well. At least they are getting better about subbing for me if I need it.

Yes, I never can muster up the crazy enthusiasm and hysterics that I see many women go into when they see someone's baby. I just say, "Cute", or "Congratulations" and then I'm done. If it's not a family member/friend's baby, I have absolutely no desire to hold it, and I am not the craziest about holding babies I know anyway. I never quite know what to do with them once they're on my lap, and I think it gives others ideas that one day I'll have "some of my own". Not so much.

I don't blame you for making a fuss - women who get that way over strangers' babies seem like aliens to me!

I like some babies because some are really cute (some are just butt-ugly, but that's another topic) but I hate, hate, spitup. It smells so awful!

I will not hold a baby unless it's related to me or it's one of my friends'. Hopefully they are all done with that now!

Jzel, that is terrible. It seems that in many workplaces, if you have kids you get a pass on so many things; kids are used as an excuse and no one questions. If you don't have kids, your personal difficulties can't possible be important or valid.(sarcasm) It's awful that some people believe they have the right to pass judgement on the "worthiness" of others' pain.

Haha, that's a good episode! Gotta love Seinfeld sometimes. I'm really repulsed by all babies and most children. It's just this aversion I have, kind of like when people are freaked out by spiders and snakes.

Jzel, that really sucks. You actually have a valid excuse to leave work and get [censored] for it! Kids are always getting sick. When I was a kid I threw up like twice a week and I liked it! Of course, in those days we had to walk to school uphill both ways 15 miles in 6 feet of snow too... I think that nowadays parents rush to their kids aid for every runny nose and ache. They're way too soft on them.