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I'm writing this on Wednesday. Was on a shift yesterday and it was one of those annoying shifts where a LOT of the customers are annoying (although *not* sucky) for a variety of reasons.
Then comes Mom and 3 kids: two daughters and a son. All are pre-teen; somewhere between 8-11 would be my guess. Son, who looks to be about 8 or 9, wants candy. Mom says okay, pick something.
Kid looks and looks and looks at the Point of Sale candy display.
Meanwhile, I am continuing to ring their groceries through.
Kid is still looking, picking up this and that and putting them back.
Mom encourages him to "Pick something; we need to pay and leave." It has no effect on him at all.
The two daughters are loading up the buggy with the rung-up groceries. Son does not help with this at ALL.
I get to the end of the order. Mom stares at son and keeps encouraging him. Nothing happens.
Mom finally tells me she will pay for the groceries and he can pay for the candy once he's picked something.
Sounds good. So she does so.
Kid has lost interest in the candy display and is leaning over the belt, trying to heave himself up *onto* the belt so he can reach the "blockers" (the things that are put between various orders).
Me: "DON'T TOUCH THOSE."
Kid gets a bit wide-eyed, backs off, and goes back to the candy display.
Meanwhile there's another customer who's unloaded her stuff and is waiting to bring her buggy down to the keypad.
Which she can't do because Sonny is blocking the aisle.
Me (to mother): "Ma'am, he's got to get out of the way."
Mother (to her credit), tells him to squish himself up against the candy display (Customer #2 is also encouraging him to do this) so Customer #2 can get up to the keypad. After some shuffling, she manages to do so (she was using a mini-buggy, it's about 1/3 the size of a full buggy, which helped).
I ring her stuff through, she pays and leaves.
Kid is still perusing the candy display. Still picking stuff up and putting it back.
One or two more customers come through. Mom finally gets Sonny to move to the candy display at the next register, which is not staffed.
Meanwhile the two girls are still standing there, waiting, while the family's frozen food slowly unfreezes.
Kid ponders. And ponders. And ponders.
At one point I look over and Mom has picked the boy up and appears to be comforting him for ... ??
I think it was a good 30 minutes, if not longer, before he FINALLY picked something and went through somebody else's line and paid for it.
Now, before anybody asks, yes, it did occur to me that it might not be a simple case of "golden child"; the boy might actually have some "issues". But if so, I'm wondering if Mom is doing him any favours by making it clear that the whole rest of the world will come to a halt while he spends 20 to 30 minutes over something like a decision on candy. At some point I would think any friends he's got will start to just walk away ... and/or stop hanging out with him. And the sisters, once they hit adulthood, will also start spending as little time with him as possible, for the same reason.
Then comes Mom and 3 kids: two daughters and a son. All are pre-teen; somewhere between 8-11 would be my guess. Son, who looks to be about 8 or 9, wants candy. Mom says okay, pick something.
Kid looks and looks and looks at the Point of Sale candy display.
Meanwhile, I am continuing to ring their groceries through.
Kid is still looking, picking up this and that and putting them back.
Mom encourages him to "Pick something; we need to pay and leave." It has no effect on him at all.
The two daughters are loading up the buggy with the rung-up groceries. Son does not help with this at ALL.
I get to the end of the order. Mom stares at son and keeps encouraging him. Nothing happens.
Mom finally tells me she will pay for the groceries and he can pay for the candy once he's picked something.
Sounds good. So she does so.
Kid has lost interest in the candy display and is leaning over the belt, trying to heave himself up *onto* the belt so he can reach the "blockers" (the things that are put between various orders).
Me: "DON'T TOUCH THOSE."
Kid gets a bit wide-eyed, backs off, and goes back to the candy display.
Meanwhile there's another customer who's unloaded her stuff and is waiting to bring her buggy down to the keypad.
Which she can't do because Sonny is blocking the aisle.
Me (to mother): "Ma'am, he's got to get out of the way."
Mother (to her credit), tells him to squish himself up against the candy display (Customer #2 is also encouraging him to do this) so Customer #2 can get up to the keypad. After some shuffling, she manages to do so (she was using a mini-buggy, it's about 1/3 the size of a full buggy, which helped).
I ring her stuff through, she pays and leaves.
Kid is still perusing the candy display. Still picking stuff up and putting it back.
One or two more customers come through. Mom finally gets Sonny to move to the candy display at the next register, which is not staffed.
Meanwhile the two girls are still standing there, waiting, while the family's frozen food slowly unfreezes.
Kid ponders. And ponders. And ponders.
At one point I look over and Mom has picked the boy up and appears to be comforting him for ... ??
I think it was a good 30 minutes, if not longer, before he FINALLY picked something and went through somebody else's line and paid for it.
Now, before anybody asks, yes, it did occur to me that it might not be a simple case of "golden child"; the boy might actually have some "issues". But if so, I'm wondering if Mom is doing him any favours by making it clear that the whole rest of the world will come to a halt while he spends 20 to 30 minutes over something like a decision on candy. At some point I would think any friends he's got will start to just walk away ... and/or stop hanging out with him. And the sisters, once they hit adulthood, will also start spending as little time with him as possible, for the same reason.