crying babies/kids-whats your worst(loudest) story?

[Tanasi]

About 4 years ago I and my daughter (4 at the time) was in the big orange box store and I heard the most God-awful screaming, shrieking that I've ever heard. Most adults know that scream when a kid is being hurt or scared, so respond to see what's killing this kid. I find my 4yo nephew having a spell screaming, yelling, kicking, slinging snot, and banging his head against the floor. I grab him up thinking he's having some sort of fit or something, he promptly shuts up and I ask him where his Mom (my sister) was and that set him off again. My sister having heard him stop comes a running to find out what's wrong. It turns out my sister had filled the buggy and she needed him to walk and he didn't want to, so he laid down the in the floor and started having pitching a fit and she left him. I ask her if she wants me to solve this problem? Yes. I pick him back up by the arms and put us face to face and tell him if he doesn't shut up now we're going to have a "Come to Jesus meeting". He doesn't and then we do. To this day if I so much as look at him he turns white and gets that trapped animal look on his face.
Later I asked my daughter what she thought about her cousin, she didn't have much to say, I then ask what I'd do if she acted that way? She just shuddered. My kids learned fairly quick, Dad don't play.

[DesignFox]

...in my area, a man opened up an icecream shop. Just one of those small ones. It had really good ice cream too. There was a sign on the door. I can't remember the exact wording, but it was to the extent of this. "Children are welcome, but I ask them to behave like grown-ups. If they scream or throw tantrums in the store, they need to leave."

I went to a museum shop in Ocean City, Maryland- They had a sign up that said "Unattended children will be sold"

I sooooo want one of those!

[Jester]

I went to a museum shop in Ocean City, Maryland- They had a sign up that said "Unattended children will be sold"

I sooooo want one of those!

I saw one in a shop in Lynchburg, Tennessee (home of Jack Daniel's) that read "Unattend Children Will Be Sold As Slaves." I tried to buy it, but they didn't have any to sell, so they let me photocopy it, which was damn cool.

Here in Key West, we have a funky sign store that has that very sign. So yes, I can get that for you, if you are very nice to me.

[DesignFox]

I have worked at lots of kid oriented places- in retail, you can't post signs that aren't corporate approved, though... That sign certainly falls into that category
I've always wanted to post one in the back room, though, so at least my co-workers would have something to laugh about... I hate when parents dump their kids off and expect us to "babysit." Not to mention the fact that said children tend to completely trash the place....

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the garden centre, I always wanted to put a sign saying "If you expect me to babysit, you will be forced to pay me the going rate" in the pet unit. Sadly, the IM vetoed that and I had to settle for a sign saying "The pet unit is not a creche" instead. And yes, that was my second choice... I just liked the monetary possibilities of the first one. *sigh*

[ArenaBoy]

At the garden centre, I always wanted to put a sign saying "If you expect me to babysit, you will be forced to pay me the going rate" in the pet unit. Sadly, the IM vetoed that

I've always wanted to put that on my vest when working kids shows but management thinks it's disrespectful to parents despite the fact that it has happened to some of my coworkers.

Working the Disney on Ice shows, I got quite a few parents wanting me to babysit. The first few times I had supervisors around so I had to watch. When I was by myself and in charge of the lot, I made some smartass remarks ranging from "you're trusting a complete stranger who may have to move soon." to "Okay, there are a few charges though that I should tell you in advance. " Then I'd list them, they got the point instantly that I don't babysit.

[friendofjimmyk]

Yeah, on here somewhere, I forgot which thread, but I posted one about an older child (somewhere between 9 - 12 I'm guessing) who was screaming bloody murder on the top of his lungs from some point in the main store at the mall this was at all the way out the door. I mean, SCREAMING unlike any screaming I have EVER heard before. Mom seemed completely unfazed by this as she calmly strolled out of the mall with the screaming banshee in tow. I never figured out what the heck he was screaming about! He just kept screaming, "MOM!" "MOM" "MOM" and "NO!" "NO!" over and over. I MEAN SCREAMING! It was awful!

[Becks]

Later the cashier tells me that his mother had indeed bought him a toy. He was actually holding it. The reason why he was screaming and throwing a tantrum was because his mother wouldn't buy him TWO toys. I say he was lucky that he even got one. If he was MY kid I would've snatched the toy out of his hands and taken it off. The cashier said that the mother mentioned that he was spoiled rotten. Yea...we could see that.

Nah, he was merely spoiled. To be spoiled rotten, he would've gotten both toys.

[Zombi]

There's a family that's come in once or twice - they have a couple of kids, the oldest being about 10 or 12, the youngest about 4, maybe one in between. The 4-year-old's name is Olivia. How do I know her name, you ask? Simple. The kid's squawking her head off, for no reason other than to make a noise, and the idiot father is just repeating "Stop it please, Olivia" "STOP it, Olivia". The other kids had a go, but she ignored them.
Please note, this was about 5pm on a Sunday. My shift on Sundays used to be 10-7, and it's the busiest day of the week. I do not deal well with crowds at the best of times, and when I'm tired, hungry, pissed off and terrified, a screaming hellspawn is the last thing I need. I think I might have been a bit snippy with some of the other customers, which I regret, because it wasn't their kid that was driving me nuts.
Looking back on that now, I can only laugh as I think about what my mother would have done if I'd even thought about trying that. My butt hurts just thinking about it.

Every child that comes near me reinforces my decision to have a plastic plant instead of a child (except for my niece, but she's only a year old, and hasn't learned how to really piss people off yet - she just chews things. )

[Lackwit]

Oh dear. As I was stopping at the drugstore to pick up my customary pack of smokes, this child (about 3-4 years of age) behind me in a trolley apparently did not get his way, as he set up a chorus of:

YOU'RE MEANnnn, MAAAAAAAA!
YOU'RE MEANnnn, MAAAAAAAA!
YOU'RE MEANnnn, MAAAAAAAA!
YOU'RE MEANnnn, MAAAAAAAA!


It was like a damned klaxon! It was loud, repetitive, and consistent, and I could swear that I'd heard the "tune" of his litany from a disaster siren before!

[irateguy]

I may have posted this before but at a Burger King near my house they had a sign that said " All children left unattended will be reported to the police as abandoned"

[Jester]

When I used to do walkaround table side magic at the one restaurant, I would often get parents who would see how good I was with kids and ask if I babysat. They weren't being SC's, but it was still entertaining. Especially because I would generally respond with "Yes, I DO babysit....but I am very, very expensive!" That generally did the trick.

[RogueOne]

Saw one at the theme park where I worked. Think it was about 10 years ago or thereabouts. Little hellion starts throwing a tantrum. I mean the laying down on the floor kicking and screaming kind (literally). Dad has had enough, reaches down and picks the kid up by the waistband of his pants, abd says "Time to go home"


We (and a few 'guests') applauded.

[protege]

One of my late grandfathers was ex-Secret Service/former MA state trooper, and the other was ex-Air Force. I could get away with some silliness with my mom's dad (the state trooper) and he rarely admonished me as I wouuld snap to by myself, but my dad's dad (ex-Air Force) put up with no shit whatsoever and I learned that quick.

My father (ex-Navy) was like that too. He'd tolerate a bit of crap...but once you crossed that line, well, you didn't want to go there. Trust me, he was *not* someone you wanted to get pissed. I remember him getting in my face and being picked up by my shirt...only to hear "look you little shit...." more than once while growing up. My mother was pretty much the same. She didn't pick us up, but she would break yardsticks (or spoons, which hurt worse!) while spanking us. Usually, that was enough to do the trick.

However, my brother still does things to upset her...and he seems to enjoy listening to her scream. Thank God I moved out, and no longer have to deal with that. 30 years of it was enough.

[Dips]

My absolute loudest and most horrifying story involved my own daughter. She was about four.

She rode the T with me to work. We had on site daycare. I had a rule. If she misbehaved on the train, she got one warning. After that we would exit the train at the next stop and would not get back on until she was ready to behave.

It doesn't sound like much of a punishment, but it worked. Eventually.

The very first time, of course, she didn't have any data to tell her that my threat wasn't empty and that I had no intention of caving in if she was unhappy about it.

So she did something on the train. I don't even remember what it was. She got the warning. She continued the behavior and without ceremony I bundled her off the train at the next stop. I told her that we left the train because she forgot how to act on a train and we would get back on when she remembered how to act on a train.

To say she was pissed was an understatement. She began screaming. I removed her to a remote corner where the noise would bother people less and tried to get her to calm down. A train came in. The poor people on the platform entered it and we didn't. My daughter got even louder and threw herself on the ground.

I was beginning to wonder what my next move should be. If the girl was prepared for a loud siege then I needed a backup plan. Caving in was out of the question; screaming tantrums are not to be rewarded. But letting my kid's screaming become an echoing serenade along the entire orange line tunnel system for God knows how long wasn't looking so good either. People were staring and I couldn't blame them for not liking the god-awful racket. I was also on my way to work. My boss would understand, but I'd rather be there (or anywhere) than standing in a smelly T station with a screaming child.

It was a real pickle and then it hit me. I got down, took her head between my hands and very quietly changed the subject, "You know what, honey? People pee on these floors."

It stopped her dead and the look on her face was so priceless. So we went over to a bench and had a talk about how to behave on the train. She promised she was ready and we got back on with no further incidents.

She is sixteen now and STILL remembers that station as the one where she learned I follow through with my threats.