What would you do?

I am listening to an Oprah rerun on tv and they are showing social experiments where they hire actors to do something in public that causes passersby to either react or not. Just to see what people would do. For instance they have a couple argue in public and the male gets physically abusive. For 5 hours people passed by until finally one woman stepped in. (A few people told them to take it elsewhere! Like the privacy of their home! OMG!)

But the one that got me was the experiment where a mom and her two little girls were about to get in a car along the street in a shopping area and the mom (actress) was pretending to be drunk. Thankfully, people stepped in immediately and took her keys. But it reminds me of a recent trip to the French Quarter. We were waiting for valet at the Ritz-Carlton and there was this woman standing (er . . . well . . . trying to stand there) with her male date/partner/hubby whatever - whom seemed to be more steady than she. She was so obviously drunk! The valet brought there car and she got in the driver's seat and drove them off! I about died right there. I was loudly objecting. In fact, when she was getting in I said to the valet, "Surely, she is not driving?" He just looked at me. I was so angry! I was in such shock I didn't think to the get license and car description so I could have called 911 and given them the info and which way they were heading. I couldn't stop talking about it the whole ride home. I kept thinking about whom she might hurt on the road. What if it was me? Or me with my kids? Anyone! I kicked myself all night and to this day for not thinking on my feet faster!

I remember someone else stepping in once in a similar situation. It was my first job at age 16. I worked at a restaurant. A woman arrived very drunk with her kids. The waitress would not let her leave and called the police. It was a real scene and the woman pitched a fit, but I just remember thinking that waitress may have saved the lives of those two kids.