Tori Redfield made a promise to herself as a kid. She was like any normal eight-year-old girl that dreamed about getting married and having kids one day. But while most kids would forget about the childish names they thought of giving their fantasy children, she would settle on a name that she would stay true to through the years.
But she could never have known what consequences it would have one day.
When Tori finally gave birth to her baby girl she remembered the name she had thought about as a young girl. She decided to keep her promise and name her ABCDE. On paper, Abcde appears quite strange but it isn’t pronounced how you’d think.
Her daughter’s name is pronounced AB-City.
But the road ahead for Abcde wouldn’t be an easy one as it turns out. Tori would take her daughter home from the hospital unaware of the complications that would surface. It wouldn’t be until she turned 3 years old that she first showed worrying symptoms.
It was at this age that Abcde was diagnosed with something that would change her life forever.
Little Abcde would be diagnosed with epilepsy by doctors and Tori couldn’t believe the burden her daughter would have to go through. Life certainly wouldn’t be easy but she would make sure she would get everything she needed.
But she had no idea that people wouldn’t be as understanding as she was.
Fast forward a few years and Abcde was five years old. She hadn’t had an episode for a few months but unfortunately, she had a scar on her arm from where she had hurt herself during her epileptic fit a year prior.
Tori would make sure something like that wouldn’t happen again. But she had no idea that it would be other people she would have to watch out for.
Tori decided she would treat herself and her daughter to a small weekend getaway. They had to fly to their destination which made Abcde nervous. Tori reassured her and told her there was nothing to worry about.
But in her head, she kept her unique condition in mind. She had flight attendants that understood before. But she would be shocked by the behavior of the next one to cross their path.
The two got to the airport early in the morning and rushed through the entrance to confirm their booking. The lady behind the desk smiled at both of them and told them to go board the plane.
But the next woman would be anything but friendly.
Tori and little Abcde went to get their boarding passes checked before they would be allowed to go forward into the plane, but the flight attendant at the checkpoint was anything but friendly.
She took one look at Abcde’s ticket and took a photo to post on social media. But the reason would have Tori fuming.
The flight attendant laughed loudly at Abcde’s name and even posted a photo of her ticket to social media. Tori couldn’t believe how she could be so insensitive. There was nothing wrong with her daughter’s name.
What shocked her the most was how unprofessional she was being. But she wasn’t done yet.
The rude staff member continued to point and stare at her daughter. Even laughing at her small doll she kept with her all the time. Abcde looked confused and asked her mother, “mom, why is she laughing at my name?” Tori felt tears well up in her eyes as she calmly said “You know honey, not everyone is nice and not everyone is going to be nice, it’s unfortunate.”
But Tori wouldn’t take this incident lying down. She would make the woman in question regret ever messing with her daughter.
After their flight, Tori decided to file a complaint with the airline in question who quickly took action. They gave her daughter a formal apology and said that “The post is not indicative of the care, respect, and civility we expect from all of our Employees”.
They even explained what further actions they would take.
The airline explained what they had in store for the employee in question
“We have followed up with the Employee involved, and while we do not disclose personnel actions publicly, we are using this as an opportunity to reinforce our policies and emphasize our expectations for all employees.”
Even though her daughter’s feelings had been hurt Tori wanted to teach her to be the bigger person. The apology was more than enough and the two let it be water under the bridge.
And besides, they had a weekend getaway to look forward to.
Tori and Abcde ended up having a wonderful weekend getaway. Tori surprised her daughter by taking her to none other than Disneyland! There Abcde was beyond cheerful with a grin on her face the entire time.
She even spoke to Minnie Mouse, who told her she had a wonderful name.