Screaming children. I get the earache from kids screaming...and not just a normal reaction, I'll have to get up and leave, and plug my ears as I'm leaving. The parents sometimes give me nasty looks.

I was in a restaurant a few months back. (the kind of place you have to get dressed up to eat at) Already had an earache because of a cold, and the darling little kids at the table next to us were screaming. (have they never heard of "inside voices"???)

Everytime one of them would scream/bark/throw a fork while screaming, it would startle me. Even if I can see the kid and can tell they're about to let loose, the scream is loud enough that I'll startle, or I'll have to cover my ears and start to curl up into a fetal ball. I cant help it.

Well, I guess the mother saw me startle a couple of times and then put my hands over my ears to try to hold my brain inside because the screaming was setting off a migraine.

She suddenly started to grab children, and told them they were leaving because **I** was being rude. (umm...I wasnt the one screaming, and I was trying to ignore it)

After she left in a huff, screaming kids and embarassed husband behind her, a few people a couple of tables over said "dang, about time she left..." or something like that, and a ton of people in the restaurant started to giggle. Our waitress said that she didnt think I was rude, just reacting to the screaming like I was in pain. She was actually about to send the manager over to ask them to be quiet or leave when the lady took care of the problem for her.

I wasnt trying to be rude, I just wanted to keep my head from exploding and having brains go everywhere. I cant help it if I'm sensitive enough to loud voices that I'm starting to carry earplugs with me when I'm in places with screaming children...the library...when did it become ok to allow small children and teenagers to run like wild dogs thru the library? I always got "shhh-ed" by the librarian if I even just whispered when I was a kid.