Peanuts are one the most widely known allergens and even miniscule contact can cause a reaction in some children. That is really the most disturbing part to me that someone would throw a peanut butter containing sandwich on an unsuspecting family’s table. My friend avoided flying Southwest because her son was severely allergic to peanuts and residue or peanut dust could cause a reaction. Thankfully he was one of the kids selected for the new treatment that’s similar to allergy shots and now he can eat a few peanuts. He can’t eat very many, but he won’t die from incidental contact or cross contamination now.
My niece was touring a University of California campus, and when they passed a dorm building, some kid went out on the balcony, pulled down his pants and peed on the ground below. And he was only mildly embarrassed when he saw the tour group. No, she did not pick said campus, but it made for a fun story.
Too bad he didn’t have time to grab his phone and snap a photo of that jerk.
@ClassicRockerDad #15: Old Dominion was not amused a few years back https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/08/24/virginia-frat-suspended-old-dominion-university/32298193/ I would not have a sense of humor about this.
@AboutTheSame That kind of sign would really turn me off about the school even though my kid is a son and even though that may not be representative of the school. The fact that a school staff did not put a stop to it quickly would convince me to persuade my kid not to attend that school.
Based on my experience, a guided tour is really a hit and miss depending on the guide. I had 2 guided tours at Stanford: first one sucked (the guy gave an impression that the only reason he’s doing the darn tour thing was to pay off his free tuition grants) and 2nd one really good. I was so impressed by tour guides of Berkeley and UCLA. First tour guide at Stanford was so bad that my kid told me he wants to work as a tour guide so he can give a better guided tours and better impression of Stanford.
On the plus side, we visited our second college today, this time a large state school and it was a very positive experience.
Might help if you name the schools involved. I would not necessarily write off a school because of a jerky kid who did something stupid. If there are lots of examples , different story. But, overall vibe is important and there are lots of schools out there. Good luck!
I wouldn’t like to have my kid go through that, and it would stick with me, no question. Going to college is enough to deal with, yet being given the impression a jerk awaits around every corner when you get there. As the saying goes, there is only one chance to make a first impression. My initial reaction was ya, write that school off. But this thread made me wonder, would the impression be different if it happened at Harvard/Stanford type of U versus a less selective big U? Would I think a dare in one case but a bully in another? Maybe.
I can see brushing it off in some situations and running for the hills in others. Regardless, I would try to minimize it with my student and say they were being silly. Then hope they didn’t want to apply there.
one of my favorites. The prank start at 1:40 pm
Listen closely for the unsuspecting Tour guide and he tries to talk over the (ahem) band.
I agree with post #20 about the peanut allergy. That could be very dangerous.
If you are going to do a prank put some genuine effort into it so everyone enjoys it. post #28 or Harvard tours Yale
@ClassicRockerDad , your incident was funny, because it was directed at a group. The OP’s incident was personal and very inappropriate.
" Would I think a dare in one case but a bully in another?"
These frames are not mutually exclusive. My money’s on both.
How did your son react? Did he confront this kid or was he in shock that a kid would do something that stupid? It seems like a really strange thing to do. Some pranks are pretty harmless, this one just seems odd. At UVa years ago , some a cappella guys interrupted our tour by breaking into song on the Lawn. But, that was funny, and nobody on the tour seemed offended. It was a highlight of the tour!
What if your son did not realize peanut butter was in the sandwich before taking a bite? This could have been a life-threatening prank.
I don’t necessarily think the school should come off the list until you have seen what the administrative response to this might be.
I think the appropriate administrator should be told of this incident (by you) and there should be some sort of strong punishment of the perpetrator.
And an email should go out to all students, describing the incident, and reminding them that many people have food allergies and that everyone needs to be aware of this with fellow students and visitors alike.
This was a very serious event and needs to be addressed regardless of whether your son still wants to go there or not.
When your child has a life threatening allergy a prank like like this is the same as an assault. My heart goes out to your son, @JoyG.
I am so sorry that this happened to your son, and I would not let it slide - please write to the director of admissions and the president’s office. They need to know. As you can probably tell, my DC has food allergies too, and this situation is not acceptable - brings out my “Mama Bear” attitude for sure! I doubt your son was the first visitor who experienced this, but he should be the last.
Glad that the visit to the other school went well!
It’s pretty unfortunate that this one knucklehead did this and turned you off the school. Worst of all it really isn’t even remotely funny - just bad taste and potentially dangerous. Anyways, I think isolated incidents can happen at any school whether on a tour or once attending. As a parent I may have confronted this kid but you and your son took the high road so good for you.
Actually, in this instance, I don’t think it would have been inappropriate for either a parent or the son to say something to the kid directly. But that’s just me!
What happened is part and parcel of that particular student, not the school. I remember as a freshman in college, I think there was a movie Animal House that made food fights seem hip. In my school, someone yelled food fight at Sunday Brunch and few who were into the movie flung some yogurt and stuff.
However, one student in particular took it upon himself to flip over the table holding all the untensils and plates which made a huge noise when all the plates crashed to the floor. When security came, everyone pointed to the student with very poor judgement. He wasn’t celebrated, but ostracisced as someone who took something meant to be harmless to a harmful place. And I believe the college suspended him.
I think this student did the same thing, and my guess is no one thought it was funny.
My son said that he thought a particular school was probably good but just not for him and he couldn’t actually tell me why he felt that way. I told him he didn’t have to actually have a reason and that sometimes when things just don’t feel right that’s reason enough.
If I had a college age kid any more, I would be tempted to teach her/him how to fake an allergic reaction to freak out anyone stupid enough to pull such a prank. Tempted, but would not do it, since someone else down the road might not take a real reaction seriously. I hate not being able to take revenge on idiots.