Tale from a jewelry kiosk

[friendofjimmyk]

CSR Kim's post reminded me of a sucky moment I had while working my mom and stepfathers jewelry kiosk. I believe I may have posted this quite some time ago...but I'm not sure....so forgive me if you have seen this before.

It was a Saturday. My mom and I were working the kiosk. We sold jewelry, mostly watches, wallets, costume (i.e. cheap - REALLY cheap) jewelry, hair accesories, and silly little kid novelty stuff.

One side of our kiosk faced a large store called "Garden Ridge" - it was a large hobbie/home decoration store. Mom and I see this little boy, probably 6 or 7 years old, come running from the store to the side of our kiosk that faced the other end of the mall and was out of view from the big store.

It was close to Mother's Day and he wanted to buy his mom something special. Mom and I were just tickled by this notion. He was so cute. He only had, I think, $3. He was looking at our cheap rings. They ranged from .50 to 1.00. He was all excited! He kept telling us he wanted to surprise his mom and he had to hurry because she'd be done checking out at the store in a minute.

So, he picked out a ring that was $1. At the time, we also had these little gift boxes that were decorated and had tiny bows on them that were ring holders. They were $1. So, we asked if he wanted one and when we showed him what they looked like, he got even more excited because he could put it in a fancy little box!

So, he picked out a box, we put the ring in there, rang him out and watched him as he ran over to his mother all excited with the box behind his back. We watched as he gave it to her and we had to then turn our attention to a couple other customers that came up. It was a bright little, touching moment.

But, it didn't last, or else I wouldn't be posting...

A moment later, mom walks up with the little boy and very coldly states, "He needs his money back, I don't want this!"



My mom and I were just besides ourselves. We stood at the register which was not very far from where this woman was standing and my mom, who is not very customer service oriented, stated in a manner I'm sure this lady heard "I can't believe this!"

The little boy no longer had that look of excitement about him. We gave him his money back and his mom gave it to him and they walked off.

They got some ways away and my mom said, "What a bitch! I kept EVERYTHING you guys (me and my brother) gave me! No matter what it was!"

[air914]

poor kid. that's just sad. I mean I could understand if the kid had spent $50 on some piece of crap and the mom told him she appreciated it, but felt he should get his money back. But to make him return a GIFT that was about $2.00? That's just heartless. I don't care if you don't want it - you can at least appreciate that your little boy thought of you and went out of his way to do something special for you.

Some people just don't deserve sweet little kids like that.

[Blisskat]

That made my heart hurt.

[1756GR2]

That makes me tear up. (She says, wiping a few from her cheek.)

I'm like your mom - I've kept everything my kids gave me, whether it was cheap, or not my taste, or whatever. There might be some things in boxes in the attic, but they represent so much love (and those huge anticipatory grins) that I could never even _think_ to dismiss them so totally and rudely.

I just want to hug that kid, not matter how old he is now!

[Pezzle]

That made me sad. Reminded me of the time my mom smashed the 10 dollar salt shakers I bought her when I was little and I cried my eyes out thinking she didn't like my gift.

Turns out she was fighting with dad on the phone, which is not much better, but at least she liked what I got her.

[Becks]

Poor child. My heart aches.

[friendofjimmyk]

Yeah, it was pretty sad. I mean, if you could've seen the kid when he was trying to hurry to beat his mom coming out of the store. He would keep looking toward the exit of the big store and jumpin up and down saying, "I gotta hurry!" It was the most precious thing...at least to me and my mom...now to his mom...

[Bradester]

That one event will stay with that little boy for the rest of his life.

She sounds like one of those parents whose children can never do anything 'good enough.' B+? Should have been an A.

Very sad.

[depechemodefan]

You know the poor kid is going to grow up not being able to appreciate stuff he is given if it's not what he wanted. Maybe not.

Anyway, one Christmas I had some money to buy my mom some stuff the school was selling for Christmas presents. Fake jewelry, books, etc. So I didn't have enough to buy some fake pearls my mom wanted so I bought something else. My mom told me I should have asked a teacher to borrow some money for what she wanted.

I think sometimes she appreciated what I bought, but not always. Like I would buy her birthday cards and she would say, "Oh that has a butterfly, that is bad luck". Then of course there is "oh, you didn't have to buy me something so expensive."

Of course, one day a co-worker gave me a bd gift of a Garfield treasury. I like Garfield, but I must have given a look because she asked me if I didn't like it. I told her I already had it but thanks, I can keep the copy at work to read. So I think I learned from my mom not to appreciate things if I don't like them.

[Apathy]

"I'm sorry, ma'am. You don't deserve this child, so we'll take him from you and give him into the care of someone who will appreciate him. What a douche you are; gdiaf."

Seriously, what a scum-sucking bitch. She'll probably die alone since her kids won't be coming to visit her anymore, since she wouldn't have appreciated that kind of thing.

[rerant]

That poor little boy. His mother is a monster.

[iradney]

Ya know...I got my Mom and her twin sister a semi identical gift for their birthday - a ring each, a bottle of perfume each and a chocolate each. I was about 7 at the time (Pops gave me the money since I got about 3 bucks a month pocket money).

Now that I'm *cough cough* years old (27 :P) I know that the perfume smelt horrible, the rings were not something they would wear, and chocolate is never wrong. But my Mom and Aunt smiled, gave me hugs and exclaimed how PRETTY the rings are, and how LOVELY the perfumes smelt, and OOOOH chocolate!

That woman doesn't deserve such a sweet, thoughtful child.

[AdminAssistant]

Mom has every card, every drawing, everyTHING that Big Sis, me, and the two grandkids have made her.

Even the really ugly pinecone Christmas tree ornaments we made in Kindergarten. And she insisted on hanging them on the front of the tree.

That poor little boy.

[Thatgirl71]

How sad. I would bet that in few years in time that little boy is in therapy.
My mom would always exclaim how she loved the things we gave her, whether handmade or bought.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I have, in my beautiful, newly renovated kitchen, on my freshly painted wall, amidst my slick steel and glass and newly refaced cabinets, a picture carefully and beautifully framed and hanging in a very prominent spot.

It's a torn-out coloring book page of a smiling banana. There's some yellow paint smudged onto it in places. It's the first thing my child painted and gave me. It's my favorite piece of artwork that I have, and I have quite a bit. There's a big box in my room, overflowing with more of her artwork, flowers she's picked, clay lumps she's fashioned, etc.

I need a bigger box.

This story makes me want to throw up.