Kids – Loving and Sometimes Heartless | From Within the Dragon's Den

…From Within the Dragon’s Den…

Image of the highly-recognizable water tower in Florence, Kentucky. Photo taken by C. Matthew Curtin of Columbus, Ohio. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This post may be a bit of a shocker to some, especially with the fact that most of my friends know that I deal with minors on a daily basis while working at Kings Island Amusement Park in the Summer. These are the accounts and my opinions from a fur meet that I just returned from down in Florence, KY. A meet I am not afraid to call, ‘The Meet from Heck’.

This particular meet was at a Florence hot spot (or at least it used to be in its hayday). The Florence Fundome is a skating facility that has been around sine most in the group have been alive. This attraction can be similar to The Skating Place in Colerain Twnshp or Skatetown USA. Some friends of mine agreed to host the first ever NKYFurs meet since 2009. Great fun was on the horizon.

After checking into the hotel that was down the street from the fundome, and also having some dinner at a nearby Wendy’s (not to mention the traditional mingling and mischief) we made our way to the fundome. The staff at the facility where very welcoming of our group and super excited. We also where excited too, since this would be the first time some have skated since they where younger.

The meet started off without a hitch, some went and got their skates and started on the floor while others put their fursuits on and began to play around that way. Things where alright, until the night began to wear on, things began to get a little off key as the night progressed.

At one point all the suiters had their costumes on and where making their way around the building. Suddenly, as if it was a full moon, all the kids (ranging everywhere from young age (7-9) to teens began thinking it was a bright idea to begin pestering us”. The 13 year old girls where the worst of the bunch, and I about ripped into them for insulting my friend Bethany for essentially making fun of her suit. One of the brats asked if I was her body guard. Before I could come up with a remark, my friend left.

That wasn’t the only issues, we had kids touching the suiters without permission, hitting them and almost causing damage to them. At one point it got so bad that management was involved. When one of the administrators within the group mentioned to management that the suits where expensive pieces of art, the manager felt horrible. They proceeded to promise that the next time this was to be done, we’d get the full works; security guards to keep unwanted spectators out of our areas and to also assure there was a floor guard on site.

Sadly, the damage was done. I remember mentioning in one of my earlier posts that these suits aren’t cheap, ranging from 350 to nearly over 1k and more. There was also something else that learned last night. It’s true, you can break a fursuiter’s spirit. After my friend was insulted by the 13 year old jackwagons, I noticed she literally threw her suit off, tried to go skate again, then stopped. She sat there for the rest of the night.

To the parents of the children who caused us so much grief… teach your kids some manners.