Raising your children is not in my job description.

[iloveasunflower13]

One of my pet peeves is people who allow their children to act like hellions. Oddly, this was an opposite case. This customer had two kids, about 5 and 3, boy and girl. As she was making her return at my counter, Her little boy stepped over to the water fountain next to the register for a drink. his mother, FLIPPED OUT. She grabbed his arm, yanked him away, and screamed "I TOLD YOU TO STAND STILL! DO YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DISOBEY ME? I'LL BEAT YOUR ASS! AND THEN THAT LADY (meaning me) WILL CALL CHILD SERVICES! AND tHEY'LL TAKE YOU AWAY FOR BEING SUCH A BAD KID!" She shoved him back over to the register, and continued her transaction. At my counter there is a phone that auto dials the catalog center. The little girl picked up the phone, and the boy gently took it from her and hung it back up. again, mom FLIPS OUT! she turns to me and DEMANDS that i call the security guard to arrest her son for touching things he shouldn't touch. I told her that i was not going to do that. "Well, you aren't being very helpful! I'm trying to discipline this brat!" (her words, not mine!) I told her very firmly that her children were her own problem and that i was not about to waste the Security guard(who we don't have)'s time by calling him over something like this. And that she could leave and go have herself a nice day .


bonus dumb person of the day. A guy came in with a $50 Anthracite's cash. he says, i quote, "like, it says cash so that means i can like, use it anywhere right? like.... uh... at a gas station?"

[Pixilated]

Wow. I feel sorry for those kids. I can't imagine what goes on at home if Mommie Dearest behaves like that in public! She certainly seems to have it in for the boy; I notice she didn't flip out on the girl for touching the phone.

I'd have been tempted to say after her first threat that I wasn't about to call CPS, but heaven knows whether that would've been a wise idea, given her extremely short fuse. (Would've loved to see her demand a manager at that point, though, to complain about your lack of helpfulness.) Kudos to you for saying as much when she demanded you call security.

I'd have loved to confound her even more by saying the "brat" was actually behaving very well. Might've caused her head to explode, and better yet it might've given the kid something to think about when she's yelling at him for no reason.

Sadly, somewhere down the line, at least one of those kids is probably going to run completely wild and she's going to have no clue what went wrong. "AFTER ALL I DID ..." Yeah, lady, after all you did ...

[PepperElf]

I'm not sure what's worse... that she was trying to "discipline" her children over very small issues ...or that part of her plan was making you out to be the bad person who's gonna call the cops/security on them.

and sure he can use the A-Cash at a gas store. Just like you can spend Monopoly money anywhere too. I mean it's called "money" right?

[taxguykarl]

I'd say both are equally sucky, Pepper. Though I would lean towards the later only because it involves more people, most of whom have more important things to do.

[XCashier]

"...AND THEN THAT LADY (meaning me) WILL CALL CHILD SERVICES! AND tHEY'LL TAKE YOU AWAY FOR BEING SUCH A BAD KID!"

Oh HELL no. You do NOT use me as your bogeyman to make your children behave!!! I will not stand for that. I even told one mother that when she told her children to behave or "that lady (me) will have you thrown out of here!"

Worse is when there's a police officer nearby and the parent tells the kid, "you behave or that policeman's going to arrest you!" Real clever of you, make the kid terrified of the police, then if he's ever in danger, he won't go to the people who can help him!

[Shalom]

AND THEN THAT LADY (meaning me) WILL CALL CHILD SERVICES! AND tHEY'LL TAKE YOU AWAY FOR ME BEING SUCH A BAD KID MOTHER!"

Fixed that for you. And I probably would have said that to her face.

[Mr Hero]

bonus dumb person of the day. A guy came in with a $50 Anthracite's cash. he says, i quote, "like, it says cash so that means i can like, use it anywhere right? like.... uh... at a gas station?"

You mean just like how I can use my U.S. cash anywhere? Even Siberia?

[Seshat]

Worse is when there's a police officer nearby and the parent tells the kid, "you behave or that policeman's going to arrest you!" Real clever of you, make the kid terrified of the police, then if he's ever in danger, he won't go to the people who can help him!

Oh, I know! If I ever actually see that, I'll probably step in and personally tell the children otherwise - and tell the parent exactly that!

Thankfully I've never actually seen it myself: just heard people say they've seen it. But it's such a STUPID thing to do.

[bainsidhe]

Some while back a guy wrote to Dear Abby, saying how he was waiting for a flight when a woman told her kid to behave or the man would take the boy away from his family. Kid got so upset and terrified of the man, he had to take a later flight just to avoid the boy. Some parents. *shakes head*

[Josh]

When I was younger and hell lot less patient, I had a 'mom' use me as the boogeyman to get her kid to behave, loved it when the woman said it loud enough for me to hear while giving me a smart-ass snicker. Kid recoiled in angst really bothered me, I'm sorry to say I wasn't the best man and approached them, gave the kid a large friendly smile, then looked straight at the mom and said 'dont worry, you are safe, I don't steal ugly kids' then walked away, mom was speechless.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

I like to speak kindly to children when I hear parents being toxic like that. I'd like to believe a kind word will help them along.

[Pixilated]

*snip*

Worse is when there's a police officer nearby and the parent tells the kid, "you behave or that policeman's going to arrest you!" Real clever of you, make the kid terrified of the police, then if he's ever in danger, he won't go to the people who can help him!

A friend of mine who is a cop has heard that on (fortunately VERY rare) occasions. It angers her for exactly that reason, and yet she has to be careful how she responds (or whether she responds at all) lest the twit complain to her superior officer(s).

[Skelly]

8-12 years from now, that kid will finally snap and shoot, stab, beat or strangle Dear Mommy to death.

[Shalom]

"Don't worry, kid, just remember that in 50 years you get to choose her nursing home..."

[taxguykarl]

When I was younger and hell lot less patient, I had a 'mom' an egg donor use me as the boogeyman

8-12 years from now, that kid will finally snap and shoot, stab, beat or strangle Dear Mommy Dearest to death.

Corrected for your convenience.