WTF Moment of the Week

Last night after work, I decided to take Abbey with me to run some errands. Mike was doing some work from home so I figured it would be nice for him to have some quiet. As the gas tank of my Explorer was approaching the dangerously empty point, my first stop was at a gas station. As soon as I pulled up to the pump, Abbey starts crying (and by crying, I mean literally shrieking) - she was tired, hot, upset with having to sit in the backseat by herself, and have I mentioned that she's getting 3 (yes, three) teeth in. I calmly opened the back door while the gas was pumping and was attempting to soothe her as best I could without actually taking her out of her carseat.

Enter the middle aged woman pumping gas on the other side of the pump.

Here's pretty much how our conversation went:

Her: "God, that sounds terrible. Are you sure she's ok?"

Me: "Oh, she's fine. It's close to bedtime and she's teething so she's had a rough few days."

Her: "Well, can't you do anything for her? I mean, listen to her! You should really do something. Why don't you call her doctor? Isn't there anything he can do?"

Me: "Really? Don't you think if I could do something I would? Her pedi has already given us some great suggestions."

Her: "You NEED to make her stop. Poor little thing."

Me: "While I do feel badly for her, what exactly would you suggest? Should I magically pull all of her teeth through her gums to quicken the process? My goodness. She'll be fine in a few minutes once the car starts moving again. Babies cry. That's what they do. I'm so sorry to have inconvenienced you."

She then drove off with her friend in the car both staring at me like they were a second away from calling child services.

WTF?

First of all, it's not as if I was just leaving her there to cry. I was soothing her the best I could while pumping gas (the stupid little latch on the nozzle wasn't working so I had to keep manually squeezing it). Secondly, she's only 20 weeks old. Yes, she cries. She does it regularly, in fact. She's still a perfectly healthy and happy baby.

Apparantly, this woman has never had nor been exposed to children. Do people really get this worked up by a crying baby?