That's not how kids used to act

[Bright_Star]

EVERYDAY at Wal-Mart I see kids being loud, obnoxious & being totally bratty. They act in a way that when I was a kid would've have garnered me a beating not only in the store BUT also when I got home. BUT that doesn't happen anymore.
You see kids DEMANDING that their parents give them a toy or candy & they won't stop till they get their way. Even if it involves throwing a tantrum of huge proportions. I've seen kids screaming at the top of their lungs until the parents give in & give the brat whatever it is they want.
What amazes me is that they won't say a word to the kid while the kid is being obnoxious BUT let a Wal-Mart worker say something like..."could you please stop running through the store?"...then they get all mad at the worker who's only intent is to prevent the brat from injuring themselves.
I was checking out a customer who had his son along with him. The kid was about 6 or 7. So as I'm checking them out, the kid keeps playing with the bag carousel(sp?) making my job harder. So I said to the guy..."Could you have him stop playing with that?"......He said..."Why? He's not hurting anything". That's when I got upset & said in a loud tone..."LOOK, IF I DON'T SAY ANYTHING & HE HURTS HIMSELF ON THE CAROUSEL YOU'LL END UP BLAMING WAL-MART FOR NOT SAYING ANYTHING! SO PLEASE HAVE HIM STOP PLAYING WITH IT!!"
So the guy had his kid stop messing with the carousel & I checked him out all the while he was giving me a nasty look.
I don't care if they get offended or not. When a kid is doing something that may injure themselves then I speak up. Cause if something were to happen & we didn't say anything they they'd sue Wal-Mart for indifference.
You say something-they bitch. You don't say something-they bitch. Damned if you do & damned if you don't.

[iradney]

I dunno, if I were a parent and my kid were running amok like that, chances are I'd never exercised discipline with him anyway, so therefore someone else doing it would make me mad *sigh*
This is why I doubt I'll have kids. I'm a firm believer in discipline. But what with society being what it is...

[BookstoreEscapee]

I had a parent like that once. Her daughter (about 2ish, very cute) kept playing with the velvet ropes that mark the cashwrap line. These are the kind that are attached at either end to a very heavy, metal stanchion. (I much prefer the tension kind that roll themselves back up into the post. They're lighter and they have some give before they'll get pulled over onto a kid's little head.) Anyway, mom was asking a question of my other cashier, and kept telling the little girl to stop, and of course she wasn't listening. But mom was about 10 feet away and would not go over and pull the kid away. I didn't have any customers so I was just watching the girl. When she started pushing/hanging on the rope a little too hard I said, very sweetly, "Please don't play with that, sweetie," and mom turns to me and says "Why?" Why the hell do you think?! I was speechless for a second, then said I didn't want her to get hurt and she finally pulled her away from the thing. What is wrong with people? If you keep yelling at your kid to stop something, don't challenge the employee when they tell the kid the same thing!

[MadMike]

I was at Wal-Mart late one night, fairly recently, and I saw one of the employees get yelled at for telling some kids not to bounce the balls in the store. Apparently they weren't listening at all, because I wandered into the area just in time to hear he say, "I told you three times not to bounce the balls in here!"

Then their mother snapped at her with, "I can see you don't have kids."

The employee was having none of it. Without missing a beat, she told her, "If I did, they wouldn't act like that!"

I think after that, they did stop bouncing the balls, but damn, what a bitch!

[Legal Eagle]

i had something like this happen an hour ago. In my local morrisons i'm stood at the checkout and the guy two places before me has a little (2-3) girl. He sits her on the counter whilst he packs his bags. Right next to her are a load of plastic bags, so she starts playing with them.
Daddy ignores her.
"look daddy, a toy".
Daddy ignores her.
She puts one over her head.
Daddy ignores her.
Cashiers says, "don't do that sweetie".
Daddy ignores her.

notice the pattern?

[Bright_Star]

There's this CSM that as soon as she sees some kid running through the store she says..."PLEASE WALK!!". She says it loud enough for EVERYONE to hear. But of course the "little darlings" keep racing through the store.

[derangedperson]

And here's a spot to tell my story.

I was in Wally World to pick up the necessary items for an oil change; while I was in the automotive department, I began to hear this ear-splitting SCREAMING coming from the register. I shit you not, you could hear it all around the store, and the one in question is a SUPERCENTER.

Think about that for a second.

So anyway, I go up to check out my items and I see a crowd of about ten people (dead serious here) gathered around in the aisle behind the register and just staring at this kid, who couldn't have been more than five or six, making a complete ass of himself. And I mean complete--he was screaming, yelling, climbing over the cart, and was just screaming "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" at his mother over and over again. His mother, God bless her, kept her head even though I could tell she wanted to smack him a good one.

I wanted to follow them home just to see what the hell she was gonna do to him. Further remembrance is that this was around Christmastime and the little bastard was more than likely pissed that his mom didn't get him an $80 toy. Kudos to her, though, for not giving in and keeping her head on straight. If that were me...

[mrtauntaun]

I was at the supermarket this weekend, and these three kids were running around grabbing coupons out of those automated coupon dispensers. I must have seen them 5 different times in different aisles, and never a parent to be seen.
So you just let your kinds run around unsupervised while you grocery shop? WTF?

[customersruinmylife]

The way some kids behave is appauling. I did have the odd temper tantrum when I was a kid, but my God, if I did, I regretted it so bad. My parents never hit, but they could shout, and they wouldn't be afraid to give me a good telling in a public place.

Today, parents let their kids away with ANYTHING. Kids running around our bar area (we have a strict policy of NO CHILDREN anywhere near the bar) chasing each other, throwing things and weaving their way around dozens of drunk people. When I go and inform their parents, they say

SC: So what if they're at the bar area! They're not exactly gonna order a beer off you are they?

Then they go on the gambling machines, while angry people stand behind them waiting to get on. I tell their parents.

SC: What harm are they doing? They're only having a game.

It's this little thing called THE LAW that states that no children under the age of EIGHTEEN may go on these machines.

[blas]

Don't these stupid parents understand that leaving their child unattended anywhere puts them at risk for being napped? Look at all those sick pedophiles out there! I don't want to give anyone ulcers or heart attacks from worrying, but there are some real sick f*cks out there who will nap a child in 3 seconds flat. They aren't just homely looking middle aged men that look like helpless bums......they can be ANYONE, ANYWHERE. Too many sex offenders don't register and do not follow the rules of their freedom.........don't alert the law if they move...

Not only that, but no one wants to hear children screaming at the top of their lungs and throwing things and raising Holy Hell.

People are too afraid of CPS and busybodies.

[customersruinmylife]

Don't these stupid parents understand that leaving their child unattended anywhere puts them at risk for being napped? Look at all those sick pedophiles out there! I don't want to give anyone ulcers or heart attacks from worrying, but there are some real sick f*cks out there who will nap a child in 3 seconds flat. They aren't just homely looking middle aged men that look like helpless bums......they can be ANYONE, ANYWHERE. Too many sex offenders don't register and do not follow the rules of their freedom.........don't alert the law if they move....

EXACTLY! That's all it takes, 3 seconds and they're gone. People should realise that, but customers are so wrapped up in their own world that they don't notice anything that is going on around them

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

Here's what I can't stand about society's 'we need to butt into everyone's business and make sure there's no injustices abound' attitude:

If you don't dicipline your kids, you end up with stories like these where the kid obviously deserves a spanking (I believe a swift, firm swat on the butt is all you need to get their attention-no need to go buck wild).
If you do, you're charged with child abuse and go to jail for trying to raise your kid to be a decent effing human being because some nosy cunt takes offense to seeing you handling your child.

Parents these days are really put into a tight spot with a very thin line to walk. Some would just rather not bother I guess.

[blas]

I've never been on the other side of the spectrum but I can only imagine being out in public with a child and the child throwing a temper tantrum........knowing if I intervened, I'd be dubbed a child abuser.......if I ignored the child.....I'd be a bad parent.

There is no winning.

[Lace Neil Singer]

And of course, after the parents go to jail for so called "abuse" of their child, said child ends up in care; possibly being sexually or physically abused there. Yeah, that's so much better.

[powerboy]

Yeah that is what I do not understand. I beleive in spanking a child, but not going wild, and spanking them until they are blue. I believe spanking them just about 2-3 times, with a firm spank. But no, cannot even do that, because of some bitch that will cry child abuse. And no I do not have any children yet.