So, yesterday I took my family out to a McDonald’s for lunch. My wife, my son, and my 9 month old daughter who stays in her car seat. As we’re eating, I walk to the front to get a refill (there’s no fountains here, you have to ask the counter and wait,) while doing so this guy walks in, totally covered in mud, filthy hands, but is very egregiously polite- greeting everyone he sees with a hello. Now, I have a pet peeve- people assuming they can touch my baby- I’m assuming other parents out there share this especially in these times. As this person walked past my family, he greeted them as he did literally every other breathing person in the restaurant, and went to touch my daughter. Immediately I took a few strides away from the counter and, without raising my voice in the sense of yelling, sternly said “do not touch her.”

I got some dirty looks from another group sitting in the restaurant, turns out this person was special needs to some degree.

I don’t feel bad about it personally as I didn’t know that he was special needs -I’d have given the same reaction if he was a little old lady- don’t touch people’s kids in public that you don’t know.

However, in the spirit of this subreddit, aitah?