Idiots!

[blas]

Ok, this thread involves my friend and her child and myself today. I put it here because it could be a sighting, but it directly involved sucky customers.

Now this is a totally different take on fellow customers and clerks getting pissy with a kid throwing a fit, so give it a chance and read it thoroughly, and let the suckiness bedazzle you and confuse you!

My friend's 4 year old was getting restless. We were at the Deb store I used to work at. There are some Spongebob candy crabby patties and lollipops by the counter.

My friend was in the middle of her transaction when her child yelled "Mommy mommy, can I get a lolly?"

"No I'm already done paying for this stuff, honey," my friend says.

"But MOMMY..." the kid starts on the tantrum.

Now, at this point, most people would be annoyed or say something to my friend along the lines of "shut her up". But no. Guess what the clerks and other customers in line did? THEY ENCOURAGED HER TO GET WORSE!

"Aw that poor kid, how mean!" some dumb little tween said as my friend's kid put the lolly back.

Her daugher then grabbed some crabby patties and said "Mommy can I PLEASE have these?!"

My friend of course said "No, you aren't getting anything, honey" and then a chorus of "Awwwwwwwww"s echoed from the clerks and other customers.

"Why don't you give the little girl a treat?" another idiot young girl asked. My friend ignored her.

My friend's daughter then started pouting and nearly breaking into tears and saying "WHY CAN'T I HAVE ANYTHING?"

That's when there was a chorus of laughter! They were flat out encouraging her to act more bratty!

Of course she reacted and started the next line of "NO ONE EVER GIVES ME ANYTHING!"

That's when I stepped in and said "Lisa, you're being a drama queen. If no one ever got you anything, first of all, you wouldn't have came with us today, and second of all, you wouldn't have this Adidas track suit and Nike tennis shoes. So get over it."

It was probably harsh of me. But then again, my friend's kid is a super smart 4 year old. The smartest I've ever seen. You can use relatively large words with her and she understands what they mean. You can be blunt with her and she won't ask anymore questions. I was down to earth, no bullshit tolerated with her, and she stopped.

She pouted a bit, but we left in peace. And the idiots probably thought my friend and I were the biggest bitches alive and were ruining this poor child's life. Oh well. Let them think that way. We did our best, and it worked. What didn't work was the encouragement from the damn clerks and customers!

I did not get embarrassed once. Not when I realized what the other customers and the clerks were up to.

[allniter]

We of course know this means that when those girls grow up to have kids of their own, they'll always be left to wonder why their kids are such brats. Maybe because you gave into them everytime?? Nah, they're not smart enough to think that me thinks.

[bigjimaz]

"Lisa, you're being a drama queen. If no one ever got you anything, first of all, you wouldn't have came with us today, and second of all, you wouldn't have this Adidas track suit and Nike tennis shoes. So get over it."

That is so much better for the child than my fathers archaic but painfully equal in effectiveness method. He used the back-of-hand-to-the-face method. You did absolutely nothing wrong and the child was only doing what she was being encouraged to do by the twits in the store. Congats on handling the situation with just the right remedy.

[Listerfiend]

I could never see why people do that. It bugs me enough already that people act like any kid within a 20-foot radius is okay to socialize with, much less encouraging nasty behavior and undermining any speck of authority the parent is trying to enact.

[Bright_Star]

Back when I was that age & I had acted like that, then as soon as we got home my mom would have spanked me. BUT that doesn't happen anymore...lol.

[MamaMootz]

"Aw that poor kid, how mean!" some dumb little tween said as my friend's kid put the lolly back.

My friend of course said "No, you aren't getting anything, honey" and then a chorus of "Awwwwwwwww"s echoed from the clerks and other customers.

"Why don't you give the little girl a treat?" another idiot young girl asked. My friend ignored her.

You have no idea how much I detest people who do this and try to undermine my parenting skills when we are out. You guys handled it much better than I would have, because I probably would have told the people to mind their own business.

Besides, how do they know that the child isn't a diabetic or something?

And it especially irks me when I'm trying to correct a behavior in public and someone says, "Oh, it's OK". NO it's NOT OK - I'M TRYING TO TEACH HER SOMETHING, HERE! Do NOT get involved with my parenting, please!

You and your friend did the right thing.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Oh yea, you were awesome, Blas. Not enough people use simple logic on kids anymore. Kids love simple logic, it makes sense to them!

Once I was in the Wal-fart in Santa fe, and a small boy, maybe 3, sitting in his Mother's cart said "Hi!" to me as I stepped past him in the aisle. I'm very social, so I smiled at him and said "Hi!" back. His Mom looked over at me, sized me up as not a threat, I believe, then looked back at whatever she was examining. The boy then asked 'What's your name?" I said "My name is Taz. What's yours?" and he said "My name is John." So I smiled and said "Are you helping your Mom shop, John?" and he said very proudly "Yes!"

Another lady in the aisle, who the Mother apparently did not know from Adam, proceeded to give this boy's Mother a lecture on how dangerous it was to let her children interact with strangers right in front of me.

Now, this boy was sitting inches from his mother, who was standing right in front of the cart. I was at least 2-3 feet away. At no time did I move in closer to them, try to touch the boy, or say anything in the slightest bit inappropriate. The boy had spoken directly to me, so it did not seem weird to me to speak directly back to him. His Mother was awesome, though. She looked the lady in the eye and said "My son spoke to her first. He's been taught to answer when he's spoken to, so he would have considered it rude if she DIDN'T answer him."

The kid smiled real big and you could see the comprehension in his eyes. (meanwhile the lady huffed off.)

Simple logic is the one of the most effective ways to parent a kid. They understand logic and they respond to it.

[Jacen]

"Why don't you give the little girl a treat?"

WTF? What if she's just finished a McDonalds icecream and whatever else. Some parents may spoil their kids. Some don't, I don't see what the f*** that has to do with other people through.

His Mother was awesome, though. She looked the lady in the eye and said "My son spoke to her first. He's been taught to answer when he's spoken to, so he would have considered it rude if she DIDN'T answer him."

Awesome mother :P Regarding this one, kids ARE taught about stranger danger and all that... but the mother was right there in front of the trolly. In front of it. Stalkers, predators and all those kind normally (with exceptions) would not snatch a child from in front of his parent(s). And the mother already figured you weren't a threat to her child.

[blas]

She got a treat at the next store for being good and not throwing another tantrum. I can understand that she was really bored and restless and hungry. That was our last store, after that we went to the foodcourt and she got some food (but she couldn't have her treat until she finished her chicken nuggets) and she was pretty normal again after she'd eaten.

Yes, I remember being 4 and having to go shopping with my mom and getting angry because I had to look at boring clothes and mommy stuff and stand bored while mommy chatted away with all of her friends she ran into, and all I wanted to do was go home and play.

I'm willing to bet money those annoying girls from Deb were probably the same types of girls who go on Maury when the topic is "I'm 12 and I wanna get pregnant!"