Customers and their yelling kids

[chrisistheman]

At least once a day, a customer with a kid will come in. The kid yells and the whole store can hear it. In addition, they bug for toys then cry if they don't get it. One kid pushed his mom in, yelling that he wanted a toy. I mean, c'mon don't the parents have control?

[AFpheonix]

I had one the other day that needed to go to a trip back to the car for a "discussion", and the parents just let him be a brat. It was a 2 year old, standing in the cart, literally screaming at people. Not crying, just screeching at the top of his lungs. Figures, it has to be his mom's prescription that the doctor screwed up on and we were delayed getting it done by having to call and get it fixed. I could hear him from every corner of the store the entire time.

My god, I would be so embarrassed if my child was doing that. There's no way I'd let him go on like that.

[XCashier]

Parents are scared to discipline their children, especially in public. They think if someone sees them giving a swat to their brat's behind, some Nosy Nelly is going to call Child Protective Services and Mum will be arrested and have her child taken away.

Sadly, their fears are not unfounded. I had some harpy in a pickup truck scream at me because I had my then two-year-old son on a safety harness and leash. It is rather disquieting to be scolded for trying to be a good parent.

[ditchdj]

And just think about how "fun" it is to, as a teacher, get them in my class and have to learn on my own how to deal with them within the limits of the law.

Soooooooooo, it's fine when kids like THIS behave in public like THIS, BUT it's a major shock (and it's all because the schools dont have teachers anymore, just lazy and incompetent idiots that dont know how to do their jobs) when they act like this in school. What the hell's the difference! That's how they normally behave in public! I dont get it.

[South Texan]

Parents are scared to discipline their children, especially in public. They think if someone sees them giving a swat to their brat's behind, some Nosy Nelly is going to call Child Protective Services and Mum will be arrested and have her child taken away.

Speaking as a parent who has had a “anyone who spanks is a child abuser” type come over and scream at me in a Target after I gave my daughter a swat on her butt, I can attest that the fear is reasonable. It is exactly what the woman (who happened to have no children) threatened to do to me.

[Becks]

I got spanked a few times as a child, but my mommy assures me that I was usually well-behaved. I turned out just fine. Nowadays, it seems to me that parents don't want to be "the bad guy" or were so strictly disciplined themselves as children that they vowed "I'm not going to treat MY children like that!!!!"...and see what happens? I bet that some of them are also among the first to glare at other parents who having screaming/misbehaving children out in public.

[friendofjimmyk]

This reminds me of the days I was working for my mom at her little retail kiosk in a small mall. The mall had one major store that was the focal point. Our kiosk sat across from that store.

I was sitting there and I started to hear shrieking. Not yelling, not screaming, but pure unadulterated shrieking. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it was persistent. Every 5 seconds - *SHRIEK* *SHRIEK* I couldn't make the word out at first.

Then it got closer and I could make out "MOM", "MOM" in this blood curdling shrieking. Then I saw them. A mother, pushing her cart of purchases out of the store with an older child, possibly age 9 - 12, just screaming unlike any other screaming I have ever heard in my life. "MOM!", "MOM!" "NO", "NO", Mom was paying this child no attention. This noise went on as they walked out of my view towards the exit. The only reason it stopped was, I assumed, they had gotten outside and I couldn't hear it anymore.

As far as I could tell it was some kind of temper tantrum. Maybe he had tourettes. Mom looked as if she was used to episodes like this because she seemed unfazed as they walked out while all the other shoppers stopped and stared in utter amazement at the velocity of this noise coming out of this kid.

I know, if it was me, at that age, my ass would be grass! My mom would spank me, my father would drag me out by the hair - he wouldn't give a rats ass who said what to him. CPS or not, I didn't behave that way.

[BusBus]

At my last retail job, we sold various glass items (nothing expensive, though). They were displayed on a set of glass shelves, the lowest one close to the ground and the highest one about waist height (on an adult). Anyways, this woman comes up to me and asks me to tell her child to stop playing with the glass items. I asked her why she didn't tell him to stop it (in a nice retail way, of course), and she said, "oh, he doesn't listen to me." Last time that I checked, disciplining your kids was in your job description, not mine......

[chainedbarista]

if me or my brother ever did anything even remotely like what's been described in this thread, my mom would have seriously pwned us then and there and people would approve of it, for the most part. we tended to keep our behavior within acceptable bounds for that reason , and we ended up fine.

people want all the benefits, but none of the drawbacks in any given situation; they want children, but don't want the discipline that is neccessary for said child; just like they want to eat whatever they want, sit around and NOT gain weight. right.

unrealistic expectations give us (partially) what we see today; wild children with no boundaries, no understanding (or caring) of right and wrong and people who sue for the most asinine of reasons.

the fear of cps descending mercilessly is a serious issue; we go from one extreme (where beatings were condoned, and in some cases, expected) to a complete 'hands off' approach, where nothing is done, except a bribe or 'reward' is given to the child in the vain hopes that the child will mind.

right.

[Broomjockey]

The sad part is, I'm fairly certain CPS condones a single open-handed swat to the back-side as a form of punishment, so if someone did try and file a complaint, sure, it might scare the heck out of the parent if they actually did anything to investigate, but nothing would happen.

If I had a child and had to adminisiter said swat, and someone said something, I'd ask "ok, how would you punish your kid when you're away from home and leaving the area isn't an option?"
Watch 'em try and answer that one.

[XCashier]

My son knows very well that I won't put up with screeching, demands or standing up in the shopping cart. But if he sees another child acting up, he tries it himself, thinking he can do it as well. And he's learned some less-than-acceptable behaviors from other children at preschool, behaviors that he now has to un-learn.

Training your own child to be a decent person is a very frustrating job sometimes, between his peers allowed to be hooligans by their parents (whether through fear of CPS or just not giving a darn) and nosy nellies who think they have the right to tell you how to raise your child.

[Kitten in the box]

back in the day when I was growing up if a child had a shit fit and started crying and screaming when they didn't get thier way they got swatted in the store....it was the norm back then and no one got all "Im gonna call cps on your ass." Back then when kids cried for no reason other than trowing tantrums then parents gave the kids a reason to cry by giving them a swat. (not a beating just a swat)

On the lighter side I did see this commercial once on the internet on helpful ways to handle a kid throwing a tantrum without resorting to physical contact: this 10 year old kid was throwing a baby's fit because he couldn't get his candy and threw it on the ground and proceeded to rol around screaming and kicking. Mom grabbed the one of the items she was going to get and threw it on the ground and fell to the floor and did the same thing he did...he stoppped and looked at her confused....tantrums stopped, kid embarressed. Mom got up with a slight smile and finished shopping without incident. Below it there was this saying stating that there is no need to loose your cool and hit your child when they don't get what they want.

[South Texan]

The sad part is, I'm fairly certain CPS condones a single open-handed swat to the back-side as a form of punishment, so if someone did try and file a complaint, sure, it might scare the heck out of the parent if they actually did anything to investigate, but nothing would happen.

In my city, it all depends upon the investigator. There are some militants within our CPS who would not hesitate to try to take away a child from a parent who gave a well-deserved swat to a child's rear end. I still give the swat if it is needed despite my confrontation with that vigilante. Judges in my county are not fanatics, so even if CPS tried something like that, it would be doubtful that it would be successful.

(Sorry this thread is becoming another debate on spanking. Let's remember to keep it nice.)

[Erin]

Then I saw them. A mother, pushing her cart of purchases out of the store with an older child, possibly age 9 - 12, just screaming unlike any other screaming I have ever heard in my life. "MOM!", "MOM!" "NO", "NO", Mom was paying this child no attention. This noise went on as they walked out of my view towards the exit. The only reason it stopped was, I assumed, they had gotten outside and I couldn't hear it anymore.

I dont think the kid had Tourettes, it's quite possible he had some form of autism tho. Both my nieces are autistic and my sister does most of her shopping (including groceries) online because if she takes the girls into the store with her, they end up getting too much visual and auditory stimulation that they end up having a meltdown by the time my sister gets to the check-out.

Then my sister has to endure the stares and snarky comments by other customers who only see two children who on the outside look totally normal, while neurologically inside those little girl minds, there's definately a neuron or two that are misfiring, that's causing the meltdowns..

[chainedbarista]

this isn't about screeching kids but two that did two distinctly annoying things to me today when i was shopping.

while i was waiting in line for checkout (an absurdly long line that stretched almost completely around the store's perimeter), these two kids were making annoying noises, the SAME noises, repeatedly; not too bad, until you hear this for >5 minutes, then it gets really tiresome. the worst is that the kid pushing the cart kept ramming into me, even after several glares.

finally, 'dad' comes from somewhere in the store, after leaving these two alone for god knows how long, and takes over, after halfheartedly apologizing for what they were doing; what does THIS genius do shortly after taking over? run into me, then look at me stupidly and apologize halfheartedly, again.

stupid definitely runs in THEIR family...