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Oh I fucking WISH I did!
[rant]
I tell you, more than one of my colleagues feel the same way I do, that working at our store has put us right off having children. I can't bloody wait for the little bleeders to go back to purgatory, err, I mean school
Well, sometimes though, it does occur to me, actually, its not the children really. Its the bloody parents!
I have lost track of how many times I have asked a child not to do something stupid/unsafe/etc and had a parent verbally rip me a new one for DARING to speak to their child in a manner that is disagreeable to them. I can tell you that I have only snapped at a child once- 3 days ago when one little fucker decided to shine a laser-pointer into my eye from across the shop floor. I suffer from headaches at work, and the shining of the light in my eye actually hurt, so I snapped "Do you MIND!?" to which the little bastard just grinned at me, while his mother remained oblivious.
Most of the time however, I don't raise my voice past the slightly simpering, high-pitch little tone I use when I speak to kids. I won't lie, I'm not great with kids and I have been known to just ignore them to avoid awkwardness, but some kids are cool. I'm actually surprised that what i'm about to recount (after my rambling ranting) hasn't happened more this summer, but generally, so far this summer, the parents have been either supporting us staff when we tell a child to do something/not do something, or else just ignore us. Which is something I guess
Kids climb into our stands sometimes. It happens everyday, and I always say in the sweet high-pitched voice I just mentioned "Can you come out from under there please!" Its just automatic. More often than not, the child comes out by themselves, or else is snapped at by the parent who has been alerted by my polite request. Rarely do I have to go over to them and tell them off properly. I don't feel comfortable with telling off other people's children- I have been snapped at by some fucking awful parents over the years that I rarely will use a lower tone or more brusque language. The kid in question has to be REALLY fucking about for me to say "Get out now!"
There was a young girl of about 7 running about the shop. I could hear a woman yelling "LILY WHERE ARE YOU!" but I didn't presume immediately that this was her mother as there were other kids and women in the shop. I saw this little girl climb under a stand and start trying to hide behind trousers. I called over the previously mentioned sweetly-called mantra, and she glared at me from behind the trousers, but refused to get out. So I walked over.
She was still looking at me, and knew full well I was speaking to her, so I said again "Come on, out please!" She finally relented, but knocked off some of the stock as she did so- some trousers. I sighed and picked them up (lets face it, the little brats never pick up after themselves). She was just standing there watching me, so I said, sweetly once more, acting as though she perhaps was just naive and didn't know better "See, thats why." I see the woman who had been shouting for her come around a corner with a pushchair, but she didn't say a thing or even look at me, so after I replaced the trousers, I went back to the till.
Shortly thereafter, my manager was called out- it transpires, on the request of this bitch. I was serving so I didn't get to hear until a little bit after, but she had a good old bitch about me. Apparently, I told off her daughter harshly, and I really "scared" her with my telling off, and then something fell on her daughter. God I wanted to smash my head on the locker when my manager mentioned the last part. IT DIDNT FALL ON HER ANYWAY. It was a pair of TROUSERS and SHE knocked them down because she was fart-arsing around when i told her not to!
I actually sighed, rubbed my forehead, and after recounting to my manager what really happened, I said "You know what, we just can't win with these people." Fortunately for me, my manager COMPLETELY agreed with me, saying how we now even have a sign on the door stating that parents have to pay attention to their children in the store. You know, it just drags me down, they suddenly decide to be attentive to their child when someone else has to step in, and then its just get them in trouble.
I was not in Goth attire, due to being at work. In fact, I was wearing a loose, white blouse, with a sort of 70s/80s style to it. Scare children do I? I would love an excuse to come in dress as the Crow or the Red Death...THAT would scare them
Other instances have included a woman who was admittedly very tired-looking suddenly finding the energy to launch into a nasty little rant about how out of order I was for "picking on" and telling off her small son everytime he fucked about with our equipment. Of course, I only repeated the whole "Can you come out from under there please?" line and somehow this was telling him off. The kid was terribly-behaved and she seemed sick of trying to control him, so when I said something, she decided to waste her energy berating me, even snapping "YOU'RE NOT HIS MUM!"
Another was when a tall toddler came behind our counters and I shepherded him out, only to be met by his mother he snapped that he was only 2 and didn't know better, and that I didn't need to "shout" at him
.
And the worst by far was probably when a candidate for the Jeremy Kyle show was pointedly ignoring her son as he kept filling his mouth with Wotsits, chomping them up and then declaring "LOOK!" at me and opening his mouth to show me the contents. I ignored him as well, as it was disgusting (for those who don't know, Wotsits are cheesy corn snack things, kinda like cheetos or other cheezy snacks, and make a bright orange mulch in your mouth, so you can probably imagine what the kid's tongue looked like). He started shouting at me to look the more I ignored him, and so eventually I said "No I won't thank you, close your mouth please, I don't want to se that." It was a bit firm, but I still said it in a high-pitched voice. His mother flipped. "DON'T FUCKIN' TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT! HE'S ONLY A FUCKIN' KID!" *hugs her son* "Everyone keeps getting fuckin' shitty with ya, don't they?"
I rest my case.
Closing comment: I am on contraception for a reason, yet despite the fact I don't work in childcare, I am still required to put up with little brats everyday because someone else didn't want to be as responsible as I am
[/rant]
Thank you, I really needed to get that out!
[rant]
I tell you, more than one of my colleagues feel the same way I do, that working at our store has put us right off having children. I can't bloody wait for the little bleeders to go back to purgatory, err, I mean school
Well, sometimes though, it does occur to me, actually, its not the children really. Its the bloody parents!I have lost track of how many times I have asked a child not to do something stupid/unsafe/etc and had a parent verbally rip me a new one for DARING to speak to their child in a manner that is disagreeable to them. I can tell you that I have only snapped at a child once- 3 days ago when one little fucker decided to shine a laser-pointer into my eye from across the shop floor. I suffer from headaches at work, and the shining of the light in my eye actually hurt, so I snapped "Do you MIND!?" to which the little bastard just grinned at me, while his mother remained oblivious.
Most of the time however, I don't raise my voice past the slightly simpering, high-pitch little tone I use when I speak to kids. I won't lie, I'm not great with kids and I have been known to just ignore them to avoid awkwardness, but some kids are cool. I'm actually surprised that what i'm about to recount (after my rambling ranting) hasn't happened more this summer, but generally, so far this summer, the parents have been either supporting us staff when we tell a child to do something/not do something, or else just ignore us. Which is something I guess
Kids climb into our stands sometimes. It happens everyday, and I always say in the sweet high-pitched voice I just mentioned "Can you come out from under there please!" Its just automatic. More often than not, the child comes out by themselves, or else is snapped at by the parent who has been alerted by my polite request. Rarely do I have to go over to them and tell them off properly. I don't feel comfortable with telling off other people's children- I have been snapped at by some fucking awful parents over the years that I rarely will use a lower tone or more brusque language. The kid in question has to be REALLY fucking about for me to say "Get out now!"
There was a young girl of about 7 running about the shop. I could hear a woman yelling "LILY WHERE ARE YOU!" but I didn't presume immediately that this was her mother as there were other kids and women in the shop. I saw this little girl climb under a stand and start trying to hide behind trousers. I called over the previously mentioned sweetly-called mantra, and she glared at me from behind the trousers, but refused to get out. So I walked over.
She was still looking at me, and knew full well I was speaking to her, so I said again "Come on, out please!" She finally relented, but knocked off some of the stock as she did so- some trousers. I sighed and picked them up (lets face it, the little brats never pick up after themselves). She was just standing there watching me, so I said, sweetly once more, acting as though she perhaps was just naive and didn't know better "See, thats why." I see the woman who had been shouting for her come around a corner with a pushchair, but she didn't say a thing or even look at me, so after I replaced the trousers, I went back to the till.
Shortly thereafter, my manager was called out- it transpires, on the request of this bitch. I was serving so I didn't get to hear until a little bit after, but she had a good old bitch about me. Apparently, I told off her daughter harshly, and I really "scared" her with my telling off, and then something fell on her daughter. God I wanted to smash my head on the locker when my manager mentioned the last part. IT DIDNT FALL ON HER ANYWAY. It was a pair of TROUSERS and SHE knocked them down because she was fart-arsing around when i told her not to!
I actually sighed, rubbed my forehead, and after recounting to my manager what really happened, I said "You know what, we just can't win with these people." Fortunately for me, my manager COMPLETELY agreed with me, saying how we now even have a sign on the door stating that parents have to pay attention to their children in the store. You know, it just drags me down, they suddenly decide to be attentive to their child when someone else has to step in, and then its just get them in trouble.
I was not in Goth attire, due to being at work. In fact, I was wearing a loose, white blouse, with a sort of 70s/80s style to it. Scare children do I? I would love an excuse to come in dress as the Crow or the Red Death...THAT would scare them
Other instances have included a woman who was admittedly very tired-looking suddenly finding the energy to launch into a nasty little rant about how out of order I was for "picking on" and telling off her small son everytime he fucked about with our equipment. Of course, I only repeated the whole "Can you come out from under there please?" line and somehow this was telling him off. The kid was terribly-behaved and she seemed sick of trying to control him, so when I said something, she decided to waste her energy berating me, even snapping "YOU'RE NOT HIS MUM!"
Another was when a tall toddler came behind our counters and I shepherded him out, only to be met by his mother he snapped that he was only 2 and didn't know better, and that I didn't need to "shout" at him
. And the worst by far was probably when a candidate for the Jeremy Kyle show was pointedly ignoring her son as he kept filling his mouth with Wotsits, chomping them up and then declaring "LOOK!" at me and opening his mouth to show me the contents. I ignored him as well, as it was disgusting (for those who don't know, Wotsits are cheesy corn snack things, kinda like cheetos or other cheezy snacks, and make a bright orange mulch in your mouth, so you can probably imagine what the kid's tongue looked like). He started shouting at me to look the more I ignored him, and so eventually I said "No I won't thank you, close your mouth please, I don't want to se that." It was a bit firm, but I still said it in a high-pitched voice. His mother flipped. "DON'T FUCKIN' TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT! HE'S ONLY A FUCKIN' KID!" *hugs her son* "Everyone keeps getting fuckin' shitty with ya, don't they?"
I rest my case.
Closing comment: I am on contraception for a reason, yet despite the fact I don't work in childcare, I am still required to put up with little brats everyday because someone else didn't want to be as responsible as I am
[/rant]
Thank you, I really needed to get that out!
. Made a kid cry recently in my check out line because him and his brother werent listening to their mom and were running around in store. When they got to pay at my register I looked him in the eye and lowered my voice and told him he should listen to his mom and be a good boy. Lol I am just glad the mom laughed when he started crying.
Problem is, too may parents today were themselves raised by permissive, laissez-faire parents who couldn't be bothered to teach right from wrong either. Those kids grew up to be worthless parents, and their kids will grow up to be even more worthless parents. And the cycle continues.
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