What would you do?

[Crazyhole]

I went on a service call tonight. Right out of the gate I could tell the dude was pretty sketchy but he was very friendly. No front teeth so he's probably a meth addict. As I'm finishing up my work, his 2 daughters (probably 13-17 years old) came in and asked the guy to take them to get Halloween stuff. I could tell he wasn't saying it out of anger or malice, but he called them a couple of bitches, said one of them was a fvcking whore just like her mom, said "you just want to go get laid" to one of them, among other things. His girlfriend, who owns the house and seems pretty reasonable was standing there while this is going on and I kind of gave her a look to let her know that I didn't think this was OK, and she gave me a look that was kind of like "I don't know what to do". I ended up saying, "dude, don't talk to your daughters that way". Not in a threatening way, but he knew I was serious. He laughed and started to go on about how his ex wife had the one daughter when she was 15 and she's a whore but he had a kid when he was 14 so "i can't talk", then proceeded to kiss my ass for coming over on a Friday night to fix the problem and I have a repeat customer, blah blah blah. I have to go back tomorrow and he's not going to be there but the girlfriend is. Do I ask her if things are OK around there or just mind my own business?

 

[ChrisKnight06]

Play this out. If you ask her if things are OK and she says no... Then what?

 

[Crazyhole]

Play this out. If you ask her if things are OK and she says no... Then what?

No idea. That's why I'm asking. I suppose I should just let it go but that doesn't seem like the right thing to do. I'm kind of haunted by the quote "silence in the face of evil is itself, evil". Maybe there's nothing I can do, and maybe nothing needs to be done. But maybe something needs to be done and maybe I can be the one that does it.

 

[ChrisKnight06]

What are the things that you can actually do that won't put her or the 2 girls in harms way? How far would you be willing to go?

I'm just asking questions bc I won't pretend to have the answers.

I guess you could always just ask and then strategize.

 

[_glaciers]

Its unlikely anything is going to get him to change, people don't usually have epiphanies about how to treat other people after the age of about 25-26.

It's also unlikely anything you say to the gf is going to enact change. Women are also highly emotional, and anything you say to her would be like supplying ammunition she's going to use in a fight later, at which point you would have a verbally abusive meth-head who now sees you as instigating trouble with his family (not saying that's what you're doing, I'm saying that's probably how he'd think).

What you could do is when you return, keep a special eye out for signs of drug use, such as errant tinfoil, an odor like catpiss (meth), visitors, cigarillo wrappers. You could then either make the case to your employer that you're not comfortable with being in a position that could implicate you with felony drug charges, or go to the police with the same concern.

Problem is, any police contact shortly after you having been there could raise questions with meth-head, though whatever avenue he could take to enact any sorta revenge would be unlikely to occur.

If I were personally in your position, I would do nothing. I don't view it as my responsibility to fix the lives others in a situation like much the same way I wouldn't fix a burning house with a socket wrench. I can take care of my family, and carry myself as a model of a man so that others may take influence to better themselves. Most of the people you look up to in life aren't people you've even shared words with, they're people you've witnessed vicariously and shared words with yourself over. Maybe the daughters will take notice and realize that's the sort of man they need to surround themselves with.

Obviously I don't know the tone with which it was delivered, but some people (usually poor) have a weirdly open sense of humor with their children that goes both ways.

 

[firm_bizzle]

Maybe they are whores and he's keeping them from getting pregnant?