Man scolded for not handing out Halloween candy

[TheSeeker]

From the article:

Tom Ibbitson, who was not home on All Hallow's Eve, said he's received an anonymous letter reprimanding him for not giving out Halloween candy.

Upset by the note, the 26-year-old man has posted a sardonic rebuttal on the classified-ad website Kijiji.

The rebuttal

I can't say I blame the guy for responding the way he did. That letter was totally uncalled for. No one should have to hand out candy if they don't want to. When I was 26 and living on my own the last thing I wanted to do was stay home alone on Halloween handing out candy to kids.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Brilliant reply.

Although its not a great problem over here in the UK these days, for the past few years this supposed holiday has come and gone with nobody even in the street........thankfully.

 

[Deckerd]

It was probably one of his friends, wanting a candy party.

 

[SPOCKED]

Good one, Tom Though I'm surprised those entitled bastards didn't come back and egg his house. Well I suppose in this economy and with the price of groceries, eggs and TP retalliation are off the table

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I never hand out Halloween candy either. For several reasons: 1) I'm not into Halloween; 2) I'm always working that night anyway; 3) There are no trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood that I'm aware of, so it would be a waste even if I was home since I hate candy.

Some stupid little shit leaves me a note like that, though, I start handing out rocks.

 

[Miss Chicken]

If that letter was written by a young child I am reasonably impressed with their spelling though the apostophe is in the wrong place in Hallowe'en.

 

[RandyS]

I don't know who this Tom Ibbitson guy is, but I'd love to shake his hand.

Hell, I'd love to buy him a beer, and I don't drink.

 

[Mary Ann]

There's very little chance that a young child would use the term "rectify", so my guess is that this is written by parents. Whether written by parents or children, though, this was an incredibly rude letter to write and I love Tom's reply.

 

[ares93]

I don't know why people make such a big fuss about this. Its a free bloody country, isn't it?

I know I don't celebrate Halloween at all. Mostly because there is another holiday i celebrate then. I've actually never really cared about Halloween. Then again, I don't have to worry about complaints since they cant even enter the building. A four inch fireproof steel door with bulletproof windows and an RFID scanner keeps them out. Its also very handy way to avoid the local door salesman, coppers, Jehovas witnesses and others.

Yeah, this is a high crime area....

 

[backstept]

If that letter was written by a young child I am reasonably impressed with their spelling though the apostophe is in the wrong place in Hallowe'en.

there's no apostrophe in Halloween


hehehe, you can put one there if you want to

 

[wamdue]

that letter from the kids is unbelievable.

 

[Owain Taggart]

There's something of an attitude I've noticed this year. In total, we only had 4 kids come to the door. One kid, of about 4 or 5 said, "What took you so long?" as my Mom opened the door, as if we weren't quick enough. If I had answered the door, I'd likely have closed it upon hearing it.

 

[ares93]

There's something of an attitude I've noticed this year. In total, we only had 4 kids come to the door. One kid, of about 4 or 5 said, "What took you so long?" as my Mom opened the door, as if we weren't quick enough. If I had answered the door, I'd likely have closed it upon hearing it.

Ungrateful little buggers... Now I'm not a parent, so I dunno if I'm the right bloke to give advice. But have they not taught their kids respect?

 

[Hound of UIster]

Overentitled little morons.

 

[Miss Chicken]

If that letter was written by a young child I am reasonably impressed with their spelling though the apostophe is in the wrong place in Hallowe'en.

there's no apostrophe in Halloween


hehehe, you can put one there if you want to

There originally was an apostophe in Halloween, as it is is a shorten form of Hallow Even, but the apostophe is now rarely used. However Hallowe'en is still a technically correct spelling.

I am not sure if the Hallowe'en spelling has ever been used in America but it was certainly still used in Britain and Australia when I was a girl.

 

[RoJoHen]

Ungrateful little buggers... Now I'm not a parent, so I dunno if I'm the right bloke to give advice. But have they not taught their kids respect?

I see a lot of parents in my job now, and the answer is no, parents don't teach their children anything anymore.

I am not sure if the Hallowe'en spelling has ever been used in America but it was certainly still used in Britain and Australia when I was a girl.

I doubt we ever used it in America. We have a tendency to remove extraneous letters and punctuation from British words.

 

[Miss Chicken]

It seems that Hallowe'een spelling was used in America.

According to Wikipedia

American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the U.S; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America";
The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Burn's poem Hallowe'en as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now.

i wonder when this spelling fell into disuse in the USA.

 

[ed629]

Went over to my sister's house for Halloween, had one kid tell me to give him more candy since there was more candy in the bowl. Gave his candy to the kid behind him, he got upset and his mom got mad and started to bitch me out. She even more mad when I told her both of them were assholes.

 

[scotpens]

There's something of an attitude I've noticed this year. In total, we only had 4 kids come to the door. One kid, of about 4 or 5 said, "What took you so long?" as my Mom opened the door, as if we weren't quick enough. If I had answered the door, I'd likely have closed it upon hearing it.

To be fair, a child that young can't be faulted for being impatient -- or not yet fully grasping the social niceties. But any parent or older sibling accompanying the child should have immediately told him he was being rude.

Overentitled little morons.

What's worse are the parents who encourage and enable this sort of attitude in their kids. That letter was almost certainly written by a parent or group of parents.

(Although I knew the word "rectify" when I was eight years old.)

 

[Miss Chicken]

Or it could have, as Deckerd suggested, been written as a joke by a friend of the man who received the letter.