6 year old thief

[EmilyRose1982]

This was a new one for me.

Two mothers came in with three kids between them. They ordered from me, amidst whining from the kids. This one wanted this, mom said no, etc. Then I see the 6 year old girl pulling at our tip cup. Her mom pushes it away, saying in a gentle voice: "No sweetie, don't touch that." Of course, the girl threw a mini-fit and began reaching for the cup again with all her might. I silently pulled it completely out of her arm's reach. Her fit got worse, but I ignored her.

Fast forward about twenty minutes. The mothers and kids are in the kiddy corner, where the toys are, and the kids are being obnoxiously loud. Then I notice that girl back at our counter, pulling on the tip jar again.

I pulled it from her hands, telling her not to touch it. She whines and runs back to the corner.

Fast forward another ten minutes. I'm helping another customer, ringing up his order, when I see that girl duck under his arm and pull at the dollar bills in our tip jar. Now I'm just irritated.

Me: "I told you NOT to touch this!"
Girl: "Waaaahhh!" *runs back to the corner*

The customer I was helping just shook his head at the kid. The mothers and their kids finally left, and that's when one of my CW's was just about to leave for the day. So she grabbed the tip cup to split the contents between us.

CW: "Um, I could've sworn there was at least another dollar in here..."
Me: "Are you sure?"
CW: "Yeah, there was just one in there, and then I saw a lady drop two more dollars in there. But now there's only two dollars here."
Me: "I bet that damn brat got one of them while I wasn't looking!" *tells CW about the entire exchange*
CW: "WTF is with people these days??"

It may have been one measly dollar, but stealing is stealing, and that pissed me off. As I told my friends on facebook, apparently the delinquents start early nowadays.

Oh and the best part was, when all three of the kids were acting up, being noisy, running around, etc., one of the mother's, I swear to you, said this: "I am very disappointed in you right now. We are in a public place, so start behaving like it."



Sorry, but when I was their age, (not THAT long ago!), if I had been acting like that, I'd be in the car already with a red butt. Those kids should at least have been removed to the car and taken home. Sigh.

[Gawdzillers]

At least she was upset about it. She could have been ignoring them, or worse, encouraging them to be wild.

[Megg]

That's true, but apparently, there was more to be done! My daughter gets one reminder, then she gets told, then it's to the car. We rarely get past the reminder stage, only twice I can remember I had to get all Mommy on her, and only once did I have to remove her from the store. The problem is with parents being more interested in being friends with their kids. They want to teach them, but don't want to be the "mean mommy". I'm okay with being the "mean mommy" if it means my kids are humans and not animals.

I am afraid for when all these kids grow up. It's already starting, too ... *cue cheesy horror music*

[aurelemsrealm]

Actually, most animals are better behaved than some of the brats roaming around with their parents in public like was mentioned in the OP.

Had my sister or I acted like that in public with our parents, we would have been severely punished when we got home.

[AnaKhouri]

6 years old is quite old enough to know that taking money that isn't yours is stealing. I wonder if her mother discovered she had it and put the pieces together. And if she did, I wonder what happened.