Personally, I think the 5 year old (what's that? Kindergarten? 1st grade maybe?) should have been publicly flogged in front of everyone there. By that ripe age, he should have known that "midget" is a slur and not insulted that employee.
:
As far as where he heard it-I hear it often, on the radios "Sad news, SoAndSo, a midget who starred in Wizard of Oz, died last night of xyz", Midget Wrestling gags, my instructor at college talking about the special health considerations of midgets, etc. Or possibly from a well meaning, but clueless adult in the child's life. (This is part of what makes such a large difference between "midget" and "n*gg*r")
An example-My son is biracial-half black, half white. The term "mulato" is a slur. A highly insulting slur. I try my best to remember that not everyone realizes that (as I'm sure many reading this right now didn't), and use the opportunity--as an adult and someone with class--to educate. My son's pediatrician, who I love, said something like "Well, it's hard to see if there's much discoloration because he's mulato" without a hint of maliciousness. I almost had to laugh at how clueless he was. So I explained "C, that's a slur. Big no no! The right word is biracial". He was so embarassed! He apologized, and thanked me for preventing him from making the same mistake with other families in the practice.
Now, which was better-that, or if I blew up and said "That's it! You're not treating my child. This visit is over-I'm getting a new doctor!" and stormed out, making a big scene in front of other patients? He'd have had NO idea what went wrong, and I would have come off as a bit reactionary, no?
That term bothers me, and I'd be pissed at anyone who told me to get over it or lighten up, etc. I am entitled to my feelings, as was this woman. But there's a way to go about things, a way to use sense to interpret situations, and she was way off base.
And no, it's not always our job to educate the public. It shouldn't be our burden. But if I'm going to take offense to a term, I make the choice to be proactive in irradicating the usage of said term. IMO, it's more beneficial than leaving in a huff.
Now, if someone is using a term to knowingly hurt someone, or just because they refuse to accept that the term hurts others, then that's a different story.
Kae
PS-I'm thinking the manager offered the tickets in part because this carnival worker way overstepped her job description as someone who gets paid to do something pretty simple--Collect a ticket, Assist the child on the Ride. There's no judgement involved, no deciding who goes on and who doesn't (unless the person were drunk, under or over the height limit, being abusive, etc). She was way out of bounds, threatening a child/mother with that, trying to pull rank and use her "power" to punish a child who didn't know any better. Because of that, the OP was right to accept the 20 tickets gratis.
:As far as where he heard it-I hear it often, on the radios "Sad news, SoAndSo, a midget who starred in Wizard of Oz, died last night of xyz", Midget Wrestling gags, my instructor at college talking about the special health considerations of midgets, etc. Or possibly from a well meaning, but clueless adult in the child's life. (This is part of what makes such a large difference between "midget" and "n*gg*r")
An example-My son is biracial-half black, half white. The term "mulato" is a slur. A highly insulting slur. I try my best to remember that not everyone realizes that (as I'm sure many reading this right now didn't), and use the opportunity--as an adult and someone with class--to educate. My son's pediatrician, who I love, said something like "Well, it's hard to see if there's much discoloration because he's mulato" without a hint of maliciousness. I almost had to laugh at how clueless he was. So I explained "C, that's a slur. Big no no! The right word is biracial". He was so embarassed! He apologized, and thanked me for preventing him from making the same mistake with other families in the practice.
Now, which was better-that, or if I blew up and said "That's it! You're not treating my child. This visit is over-I'm getting a new doctor!" and stormed out, making a big scene in front of other patients? He'd have had NO idea what went wrong, and I would have come off as a bit reactionary, no?
That term bothers me, and I'd be pissed at anyone who told me to get over it or lighten up, etc. I am entitled to my feelings, as was this woman. But there's a way to go about things, a way to use sense to interpret situations, and she was way off base.
And no, it's not always our job to educate the public. It shouldn't be our burden. But if I'm going to take offense to a term, I make the choice to be proactive in irradicating the usage of said term. IMO, it's more beneficial than leaving in a huff.
Now, if someone is using a term to knowingly hurt someone, or just because they refuse to accept that the term hurts others, then that's a different story.
Kae
PS-I'm thinking the manager offered the tickets in part because this carnival worker way overstepped her job description as someone who gets paid to do something pretty simple--Collect a ticket, Assist the child on the Ride. There's no judgement involved, no deciding who goes on and who doesn't (unless the person were drunk, under or over the height limit, being abusive, etc). She was way out of bounds, threatening a child/mother with that, trying to pull rank and use her "power" to punish a child who didn't know any better. Because of that, the OP was right to accept the 20 tickets gratis.
Please don't give me extra work to do tonight, I have tons of school work to do 
Luckily everyone understood she was just a little kid who didn't understand what she was saying.
