Naughty children and bad parents

[Evannah]

I work in a clothing/home decor store situated within a large garden centre.

I was manning the home decor part and this woman, her two children (a son and daughter) and I assume the woman's mother came in and started browsing.

The son was acting up from the word go. He was 12 years old. He was running about, yelling and just being a general pain in the arse.

The garden centre supplies wheel chairs for the elderly and disabled. The boy sat in one and started wheeling it around the place at a fast speed, making this stupid racket that sounded like a cat being strangled.

His big sister was trying so hard to keep him under control but actually got told off by her mother and grandma to leave him alone, that he's 12 years old and can play up if he wants to

No WONDER the kid is playing up!

Anyway, a worker at the garden centre took him to one side, probably telling him that the wheel chairs are reserved for the disabled and the elderly and also that it's dangerous (when the worker talked to him, he was at the other end of the garden centre tills so he'd wheeled all the way down there on the wheelchair and his mother and grandma didn't say a bloody thing).

He came back to my shop with a sheepish look on his face. The mother obviously saw the worker talking to him because she said, "What did she say to you? What did she say?" The kid replied "Nothing" and then she said, "Yes she did! She better not have told you off!"

WTF?

Again, NO WONDER he's acting up. I mean... really. Sorry but that is some bad parenting, from the mother AND the grandmother. It seems like the most mature person out of the lot of them was the kid's sister, and she was about 14.

[rose_metal_nz]

His big sister was trying so hard to keep him under control but actually got told off by her mother and grandma to leave him alone, that he's 12 years old and can play up if he wants to
"Yes she did! She better not have told you off!"

This really pisses me off. I swear, some parents make the rest of us look bad. This probably goes without saying, but MY 12 year old would never expect this kind of a response. /shakes fist.

To anyone who works in anything customer-facing job, I swear not all parents are like this. You just probably don't notice the rest of us because our kids aren't uber-brats

[Bright_Star]

At 12 years of age they should know better!

[siskaren]

I wonder if his parents are showing favoritism because he's a boy.

[bainsidhe]

She better not have told you off!"

Absurdity and entitlement attitude aside, I hate customers who automatically assume any conversation is a personal attack.

[mathnerd]

I wonder if his parents are showing favoritism because he's a boy.

My parents have 5 daughters and 1 son. Guess who gets away with murder all the time?

Now, my 12 year old has been known to get into a little wheelchair trouble, but it's *his* wheelchair. And I correct him when he uses it to steamroll over his brothers, and teach him how to maneuver tight corners in stores (sometimes that doesn't go so well). I only wish people around him would stop giving him as much leeway as he gets because "oh, cute disabled kid". Ugh. He can still be held to basic behavior standards people!

[cindybubbles]

Gender-based discrimination

I wonder if his parents are showing favoritism because he's a boy.

That's gender-based discrimination. If those parents and children were managers and employees, respectively, those managers could get into BIG trouble with the law!

[notalwaysright]

Arg. I don't do well with kids. I have clear memories of confusion and irritation regarding kids as far back as I can remember. Even back when I was one. When I really absolutely have to tell them not to do something (usually when they have come around behind the cutting counter), I use the same tone I use when speaking to a dog. "NO. OUT." Being nice "you can't be back here, sweetie" accomplishes nothing.

[XCashier]

When I really absolutely have to tell them not to do something (usually when they have come around behind the cutting counter), I use the same tone I use when speaking to a dog. "NO. OUT." Being nice "you can't be back here, sweetie" accomplishes nothing.

My biggest problem with kids at the cutting counter is the ones who insist on putting their hands in the cutting guide or putting their faces to the table and looking down it. If these sharp pointy scissors slip, guess what will happen?! Yeah, I've had to warn kids away from the cutting guide and most of the time, the parents will see the danger and pull them away. (One memorable idiot did not see it my way.) And yes I do have to be super duper nicey-nice when I warn them or they claim I'm being "rude".

[notalwaysright]

My biggest problem with kids at the cutting counter is the ones who insist on putting their hands in the cutting guide or putting their faces to the table and looking down it. And yes I do have to be super duper nicey-nice when I warn them or they claim I'm being "rude".

Okay, yeah, kids do this a lot. I guess I say something like "I need to cut there..." And look helplessly at the parent. If they don't do anything, or act like it's my job to make their kid move, I wait and eventually tell them I can't continue until the kid takes a step back. On certain occasions if there is another counter open I will just move over. I do this with adults who pull on the fabric, too.

If I try to act super duper nice, 99% of the time I come off as snotty or worse. So I just go with "stressed but still helpful college girl." Although I'm a bit older than that, I'm told I look younger, which is funny considering I feel 80 most of the time.

[fireheart]

That's gender-based discrimination. If those parents and children were managers and employees, respectively, those managers could get into BIG trouble with the law!

Sadly, a number of cultures are male-oriented. Females tend to be somewhat overlooked for various reasons.

[sms001]

It seems like the most mature person out of the lot of them was the kid's sister, and she was about 14.

From your description, it sounds like the boy isn't actually too bad either. He was "sheepish" and didn't immediately throw the coworker under the bus when questioned. Seems like he's testing boundaries and took his reprimand with relative good grace. So extra 'boos' on mom and g-ma.

I wonder what worker said to him.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Reminds me of my time at the pet store. I constantly ended up with brats being left in my section, despite the sign stating "This is a pet store, not a creche" in a prominant place. But as we all know, SCs don't read signs. However, the good bit was when the brats gravitated, as they nearly always did, towards the parrot.

Said parrot was an African Grey who, as well as knowing a considerable amount of interesting swear words, also had a bit of a sporting streak. There was a large sign on pink card on his cage stating "Don't touch the parrot". Brats would normally disregard the sign, and stick their hands into the cage. The parrot would wait til the hands were almost touching him, then attack. Cue brats screeching in pain, and running to their parents. Which would end in me pointing to the sign on the cage and inwardly dancing in glee.

[Evannah]

Haha! Win! Parrots are awesome. I bet you got some angry parents though even though there was a sign up. And what is it when there's a sign and they've just been too blind to see it, and they say, "Well it's very misleading!" or "You need to make it more noticeable!"

I swear, if you put a sign on neon coloured card and made if flash bright colours, they'd STILL say it wasn't noticeable

[Lace Neil Singer]

I swear, if you put a sign on neon coloured card and made if flash bright colours, they'd STILL say it wasn't noticeable

Yeah, it's like when the petrol station is closed for any reason, like the time we were having building work done. I swear, we could have a massive billboard with "CLOSED" on it in neon letters, surrounded by flashing lights and dancing bears, and a troup of majorettes marching across the forecourt singing, "The petrol station is closed!" and customers would still try and come in.