Small incident. But I count it as a sucky customer story because of this parent's reply.
A man with his two sons and daughter asked me where the allergy relief pillows were. I took him to the aisle and I even showed him where the protective covers were. Easy enough.
His little girl said hello to me and I said hi back. But before I could leave, she hugs me.
I put up my hands and as professionally as you can imagine said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
"She does that with everyone," the dad says.
"Okay," I said. And when the kid let go I practically bolted. I heard her say something like, "He doesn't like me."
Which really isn't fair. I don't know her and she doesn't know me. When a kid I don't know hugs me, I have no clue why or how it's going to go down. I don't know what the parents are going to say later, maybe in the store, or to friends and how that story might get twisted and turned down the road.
Either way, if your kid isn't related to me, I don't want him or her hugging me.
And for the dad to have had such a nonchalant reaction to his daughter, "Hugging everyone", really just upped the annoyance. It means he'd be perfectly okay with her hugging someone who might prove a little too eager to hug her back.
A man with his two sons and daughter asked me where the allergy relief pillows were. I took him to the aisle and I even showed him where the protective covers were. Easy enough.
His little girl said hello to me and I said hi back. But before I could leave, she hugs me.
I put up my hands and as professionally as you can imagine said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
"She does that with everyone," the dad says.
"Okay," I said. And when the kid let go I practically bolted. I heard her say something like, "He doesn't like me."
Which really isn't fair. I don't know her and she doesn't know me. When a kid I don't know hugs me, I have no clue why or how it's going to go down. I don't know what the parents are going to say later, maybe in the store, or to friends and how that story might get twisted and turned down the road.
Either way, if your kid isn't related to me, I don't want him or her hugging me.
And for the dad to have had such a nonchalant reaction to his daughter, "Hugging everyone", really just upped the annoyance. It means he'd be perfectly okay with her hugging someone who might prove a little too eager to hug her back.
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