Sticky hands, bad parenting.

[Ree]

Let's get back to the actual topic and stop the hairsplitting and nit picking over what constitutes assault and battery.
Thanks.

[Rantsylvania 6-5000]

Do you guys think I'm in the wrong? What should I have done?

You were most definitely NOT in the wrong. It's not his property, you have every right to expect customers to respect it. That was sucky of your coworker to take his side. I hope your manager backs you up on this.

As for grabbing you? Hell yes, you should call the cops! I know you were too shocked to know what to do this time, but please, if anything like that happens again, don't hesitate to get the police involved!

[elsporko]

I guess having had a child who slipped and fell through plate glass, I'm a little more wary of a child leaning on glass display cases.

In her case, it was a door, but when I worked at the deli, I recall we had one particularly fragile case that was always needing to be repaired.

Recently, I was in a store with a glass display case, and I noticed a woman leaning on it, looking inside.
The next thing I knew, the whole case started to shift and the front caved right in. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but that's how quickly things can happen.

I thought the kid was just touching the glass. Leaning on it would definitely not be good

[Ree]

I thought the kid was just touching the glass. Leaning on it would definitely not be good

My point was that glass is unpredictable.

You don't really know how much pressure needs to be put on the glass for it to shatter. In a busy store, it may have been bumped numerous times with shopping carts, and that one final bump may be the last straw.

In my daughter's case, her thigh only bumped the glass, and she wasn't a big child.
The glass shattered instantly.
The door had probably been bumped and banged numerous times before and nothing happened.

The child in question may have only been touching the glass, but she was touching it hard enough to leave sticky handprints.

Regardless, my own experience has made me cautious enough that I have no problem telling a child not to touch glass display cases.

[Julesy]

You were absolutely in the right to not want sticky hands on the glass.

The customer was very rude. You were not impolite to his child and he should not be proud of making your job harder by allowing his child to smear the surfaces you have to keep clean.

He was most definitely in the wrong to speak to you like that, let alone to touch you.

[Crime Scene Scarf]

When I worked in the dress place, we had a glass cabinet of jewelry, and tiaras. This woman came in with her brood of children, and the oldest girl, who was about six, was tall enough to rest her chin on the top of the counter.

This was annoying enough. When she started licking the counter top, I was surprised. Her mother gave me a dirty look for using disinfectant spray, and cleaning it up as soon as her disgusting child was done slobbering all over it.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

No suck on your part at all. Glass display cases are not a plaything.

Guy should just be lucky it wasn't me behind the counter. I'd have slapped him when he grabbed me. And if I got fired--oh well, an employer that's going to let the customers get physical with the staff isn't one worth working for.

[Soulstealer]

I'd have slapped him when he grabbed me. And if I got fired--oh well, an employer that's going to let the customers get physical with the staff isn't one worth working for.

Indeed Irv, especially after your lawyer serves the company the papers on how you're suing them for a hostile work environment.

[Labby]

Thanks guys, It's nice to hear support. Thankfully the whole thing has sorted itself out, my cw called to say sorry, my boss isn't worried, the customer will no doubt never come back so I can go back to liking most of the lovely old people who come in for a slice of cake!

[blas]

I also hate the "money" line to excuse bad behavior and hostile treatment towards employees.

When he started on his "I spend so much money here" routine, I would have said "Well, it appears you're proof that money doesn't always buy manners."

From experience, I heard that line more times than I care to recollect at the gas station. Yeah, you buy a coffee and a pack of cigarettes every day, and probably $20 a week in gas. Wow, that's really a lot, compared to people who buy hundreds of dollars in fuel a day for their companies or cartons of cigarettes for their bars. You lose.

[Magpie]

It wouldn't have helped, because the parent was a complete jackass, but sometimes you get better results if you talk to the parent instead of the kid the second time. But that tends to assume things like decency on the part of the parent. Oh, and that they didn't hear you in the first place.