Sticky hands, bad parenting.

[Labby]

I work in a little bakery, and I was making coffee while this man and his daughter waited for my cw to return. She was putting her hands at the top of the glass and smearing them down to the bottom to leave a dirty mark and laughing. Her dad didn't stop her so I said (very politely, because you've got to be careful with other people's kids) "sorry sweetie, would not mind not putting hands on the glass?". The dad said nothing and she stopped. But 5 minutes later she was doing it again and he did nothing so I said a little more firmly "please keep your hands off the glass sweetie'. The man grabbed me, turned me around and yelled 'HOW DARE YOU TALK TO MY DAUGHTER SO RUDELY! We've spent so much money here so you'd better speak respectfully to me, now what do you have to say?
I was shocked, but not upset and told him 'look, I'm sorry' ('yeah you're sorry!' he interupts), but when children mess up the glass it just means we have to clean it again'. So he yells at me 'THEN CLEAN IT! Go on! do your job!'. When I didn't respond he pointed in my face and yelled at me to go outside and do my job and how dare i be so rude. I was shaking with anger, but I didn't yell at him (something i regret now...).
What's perhaps even more infuriating is that my cw sided with him. I don't understand why. Do you guys think I'm in the wrong? What should I have done?

[Ree]

I don't think you were in the wrong at all.

If a kid is smearing up the front of the display case, you have every right to ask them not to do that.
If you get too busy to clean it right away, it looks disgusting for other customers who then can't see the goods behind the yucky smeared glass, and it turns people off.

I would have worded it a bit differently, possibly going for the safety factor: "Please don't lean on the glass display case, sweetie. It could break and cut you very badly."
Something like that, rather than wording it in a way that says it makes more work for you.
Customers don't care about you and whether they're making more work. They feel you're being paid to do that job.
They do care about their own safety, so making it about them might get better results. (Of course, we're always going to have those customers who let the little ones do whatever they want without considering the safety aspect of it, even when it's pointed out to them.)

[fireheart]

I would have worded it a bit differently, possibly going for the safety factor: "Please don't lean on the glass display case, sweetie. It could break and cut you very badly."
Something like that, rather than wording it in a way that says it makes more work for you.
Customers don't care about you and whether they're making more work. They feel you're being paid to do that job.
They do care about their own safety, so making it about them might get better results. (Of course, we're always going to have those customers who let the little ones do whatever they want without considering the safety aspect of it, even when it's pointed out to them.)

I do this as well.

If I get kids climbing up onto the bag racks, sitting on them, playing with the trolley tether cords we use to close off our registers or playing with the EFTPOS machines, I'll ask them "Can you please not do that for me?" and they usually comply. At that point I'll explain to them that "it's for their safety....we don't want them to fall/strangle themselves/mess up our EFT machine and delay your shopping trip..."

Works every time.

[Soulstealer]

Once he put his hands on you then you had a reason to kick him out and call the police if he won't leave. For all you know he could have tried to hurt you.

[AtDIelement]

Once he put his hands on you then you had a reason to kick him out and call the police if he won't leave. For all you know he could have tried to hurt you.

Agreed, no one has a right to lay their hands on you.

And I hate the "We spend so much money" line.

[elsporko]

At none of the jobs I've had I've ever told somebody to not touch the glass. I've never thought of it as enough of an issue to bring it up with a customer and potentially upset them.

[flutes_and_fabric]

I think you were perfectly right in what you did. The father obviously isn't in to disciplining his little princess. I've seen the results of that parenting attitude way too many times at my school. And you did the right thing in being polite the first time, and then a little sterner the second time. At my old job I had one experience very similar to that. The child was digging through the candy rack, unwrapping them, eating stuff. The mother wasn't even watching the kid, so I leaned down and said, "Hello sir (nice voice), you might want to ask mom before you eat any more candy." Mom turns around and just completely flips on me. "My son can do anything he wants." So I gathered up all the candy the kid had eaten/smushed/unwrapped and placed it on the counter. "So I can count on you to pay for all this?" Woman said no, I let her know that in that case she might want to keep a better eye on her kid next time, and either she pays for the candy or leaves. She paid. Like, $30 something bucks in crap.

[Exaspera]

No offense to a bakery but how do you "spend so MUCH money?!" Are they coming in every week to buy a giant wedding cake or something? And what is this little princess going to be like when she grows up having Daddy save her from all of those meanies who won't let her do whatever, whenever she wants?

I see a future show for Dr. Phil.

[LillFilly]

He assaulted you! That was so uncalled for, I'm so angry for you! Should have called the police right away!

[chainedbarista]

you had every right to ask the child to stop what she was doing; he was in the wrong for not corrective her behavior and to try and cover his lackluster parenting with the bs reasoning that he 'spends a lot of money in here' is proof that he knew he was wrong. i'm wondering what 'a lot of money' is, btw; most think that a single measly purchase once per week constitues 'a lot of money.'

aside from that, he crossed a serious line by grabbing you; that's a battery and needs a call from the police. he needs to learn anger management and understand that touching others is a serious no go at all times.

your coworker is just plain stupid; there's customer service and there's customer servitude-when someone turns ugly and physical, that's the time they need to visit the local authorities to explain their actions. this coworker owes you an apology and if your boss sides with them, it may be time to have a chat with hr to file a serious complaint about hostile work enviornment.

[ZedOmega]

You were right. You were polite to the guy's daughter when you asked her to not touch the glass. The second Daddy put his hands on you, though, you should've at least told him to get his hands off of you. And CW siding with him? Why wasn't he, oh, I dunno, calling the police? I'd have a talk with him next time if I were you. Probably the manager would love to hear about this, also.

For what it's worth, though, I'd have kicked the father's ass in your position. There's rude and there's outright threatening behavior.

[Andara Bledin]

aside from that, he crossed a serious line by grabbing you; that's a battery and needs a call from the police. he needs to learn anger management and understand that touching others is a serious no go at all times.

The touching is actually assault. The waving a finger in her face and talking smack is battery.

Regardless, nobody should ever think that laying hands on an employee is an acceptable action.

^-.-^

[Kristev]

Yes, you did quite right, and should have called the cops the moment he put his hands on you.

[Ree]

At none of the jobs I've had I've ever told somebody to not touch the glass. I've never thought of it as enough of an issue to bring it up with a customer and potentially upset them.

I guess having had a child who slipped and fell through plate glass, I'm a little more wary of a child leaning on glass display cases.

In her case, it was a door, but when I worked at the deli, I recall we had one particularly fragile case that was always needing to be repaired.

Recently, I was in a store with a glass display case, and I noticed a woman leaning on it, looking inside.
The next thing I knew, the whole case started to shift and the front caved right in. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but that's how quickly things can happen.

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

The touching is actually assault. The waving a finger in her face and talking smack is battery.

You got that backwards. Assault is intent. Battery is contact.