The other day at the music store I saw a little boy go behind the counter and grab a new pair of drumsticks from the rack and pull the sleeve off so he could use them to go beat on the drums. I stopped him {I work there} and told him to not do that unless he was going to buy them. I then foolishly gave him a pair of demo sticks to use. He and his brother played on the drums a while but I saw they were not being careful. There Mom was at the other end of the department looking at a keyboard and not watching them. I told him now play time was over and asked them not to play on any of the instruments anymore. He began to walk away with the sticks which I then took away from him. Moments later he was with his Mom playing too hard on a keyboard. Fortunately another salesperson came over and told him to stop. Mom was silent.
I’ve seen it over and over in stores and resturants. Kids misbehaving and parents just oblivious as they go about their business. I’ve had parents get mad at me for correcting their children. Guess what folks. If you made them mind I wouldn’t have to speak to them. A store is not public property. It’s private property. And the merchandise is not there to entertain your kids while you shop. I’ll let them them try something if they know how to use it carefully and ask respectfully.
And guess what…if your kid breaks something then you are responsible for it. Twice I’ve seen kids open packages and render it unsellable and the parents just respond oops sorry. One was asked to pay for it and just said no. One just walked out. What the hell?
So parents. Be good to your kids and teach them some fucking manners and respect. Stuff in a store is not for them to play with. They should ask permission before touching. If they are misbehaving and making it hard for you to shop then you need to teach them to behave. If that means leaving that day and coming back another day fine. I’m glad to help amuse them if you’re making an effort but if you’re letting them run rampant and screw with my exspensive stuff just to amuse them, then please, just get the fuck out and go buy yourself a fucking clue about parenting you inconsderate twit.
At the local supermarket a woman with 2 kids was doing the shopping.
She picks up a packet of cereal and kid #1 screams “You can buy the stuff but I’m not fucking eating it”…kid was about 7 years old!
Kid #2 chirps up " No and neither am I, so there"…he was maybe a year or two older than kid #1.
Mummy puts cereal back and asks both kids “OK what cereal do you want then?”
I felt like smacking the little buggers round the chops.
He wasn’t “disciplining” someone else’s children. He was protecting the merchandise HE’S responsible for. Huge difference. He was completely within his rights.
Now…in a restaurant, it’s none of his business. If he’s in a grocery store, it’s none of his business. But this was a completely different scenario and they were being destructive.
So when I had kids running around putting water all over the walkway, breaking glasswear, and were so noisy I have to sit everyone outside from where they were, I was not meant to say anything?
I actually didn’t say anything. But it was 2 hours of hell. And it’s the biggest tip I have ever gotten.
That’s not what I said. If you’re an employee at the restaurant, yes…you should say something (the same way the OP did at his place of employment). And you were wrong not to. Not only to keep the atmosphere for others at an enjoyable level, but so the kids don’t hurt themselves and you end up getting sued. The OP was also speaking of “kids misbehaving”, which is a far cry from them running around like assholes wrecking the joint. If you’re dining somewhere and they’re just being noisy or generally misbehaving, you’ll probably cause a bigger scene by getting into it with the kids and/or parents. Sucks, but that’s the reality of it. Eat at restaurants where the clientele is mostly adults and you won’t have that problem.
Ah ok, I misunderstood.
It mostly is adults, but some parents decided they were going to treat their daughter and 13 of her friends to a ridiculously expensive birthday party.
Call mall security or the police. Sometimes the police know its just their job to scare parents so they don’t need to haul the future hoodlums to jail. They aren’t REALLY responsible if you let them walk away.
I agree to a very limited extent. Often the parents are somwhere else and we’re not sure who the kids belong to. Once it was two very young boys, I’m talking three and four, who pulled a guitar down to play with {several hundred dollars} and their adult was nowhere to be seen. We had to page him.
I try to be polite to the kids and say “please don’t play with that” and “thank you, I appreciate it” when they cooperate. I understand when they don’t cooperate. I’m a stranger and we don’t want kids being to cooperative with strangers these days.
One parent got mad at me because I spoke to his kid three times. I didn’t know the Dad was standing right there watching his kid play with a thousand dollars worth of gear. Why did I have to speak more than once dip shit?
One lady got huffy when she asked if her kid could play with our computers while she shopped elsewhere in the store and got a absolutely not answer.
I know we have rush rush schedules to keep but dam, when your kid is 7 or 8, I expect him to know that he’s NOT to touch the merchandise without supervision. If he does you should be glad someone is keeping him honest. It takes a village and a grumpy old salesman to raise a child, don’t cha know.
Well yes they are, but I get your point.They were asked to pay and just refused. Even if no one in the store sees it they are still responsible. They just have a way to avoid responsibility. I’m not sure how police would respond to being called over a twenty dollar item but it’s a good idea. Personnally I’d have no problem just assuming the parent was paying and putting it on a bill. If they objected I’d tell them “Of course you’re paying for it. Your child broke it and that makes you responsible” if they still refused I’d just ask them not to bother to shop here again.
Unfortunatly big chains are so afraid of offending any shoppers that they’d rather just eat it.
Look, an accident is one thing. Adults have them too. When you let your child play with merchandise to keep them amused and they break it or tear it open just to see whats inside, then be a responsible adult and pay for it.
"This whole “it’s not really their fault they’re just kids” shit annoys me. No dumbass…it’s your fault. We don’t expect your kids to be perfect. We do expect you the adult to take responsibility for them.
I watched a Dad spend 20 minutes trying to gently convince his 6 year old to put something back. He eventually just paid for it and I had to bite my tongue to not tell him he just gaurenteed the kid would do it again.
I threw a hissy fit in a store once as a youngster. My Dad just picked me up with one hand and carried me out of the store. That and the look on his face was enough to keep me from doing it again.
The short story: a lovely cafe in my neighborhood, which I like a great deal, posted a sign reading “Children of all ages have to behave and use their indoor voices when coming to A Taste of Heaven.” For some reason, certain parental types think is is mean and nasty to their poor little children, who should be able to run around and yell and scream at the cafe as much as they like! How dare anyone interfere with their civil rights!
The best part is one mother said: “It just seems he’s trying to cater to a certain element of Andersonville that doesn’t include kids.”
Andersonville is a fairly gay neighborhood, and the owner of the cafe is gay. Oh, lady, you think you’re being subtle, but we get it. Those darn gays hate your kids because they want them to shut the fuck up when they’re having a cup of coffee and a pastry.
I had heard of this and was going to mention it. Thanks for bringing it up. I had a friend who would say he and his wife can’t take his kids out to dinner because they behave so badly. I never figured out why it seemed up to the kids to choose how to behave.
How did it turn out in your neighborhood? I hope enough parents sided with the guy to validate the intent of his sign.
Of course that also depends on where the line is drawn. I expect kids to be kids and curious and want to touch things and laugh out loud and yell once in a while. I expect parents to correct them and teach them about consideration of others.
I feel bad when I see parents being mean to a three year old for touching something.
Two best case scenarios I wirnessed was a Mom who took three minutes to hunker down and explain in a soft but clear voice to her son why certain behavior wasn’t appropriate. It was a beautiful sight.
The 2nd one was a wonderful fellow employee who sat down with two energetic youngsters and talked to them and played with them for 5 to 10 minutes while their parents and I finshed the paperwork of a transaction.
See…it can be done.
from your link
I agree completely. Thats over the line. The article goes on to say some parents were concerned becasue they didn’t know where the line was drawn. Are they too afraid to have a simple conversation with someone?
To be honest, I can’t say. Last time I was there I didn’t see the sign, but I also wasn’t looking for it and didn’t think about it until after I had left.
Tell you what, when I am out running errands today I’ll try to stop by and ask about it.
Seems like the message is not so much “No kids allowed” as it is “No Bad Parents Allowed”. There. I said it. Parents who don’t control their children are bad parents.
Exactly. I am pretty strict with my kids because they are young, and these behaviors, right now, are the ones that will stick the most. You can’t wait until they’re 12 to teach them manners.
We took my then-5 year old son to Scala’s in San Francisco (at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel). Veeeeeeery nice place, and one of our favorites. I saw a few apprehensive looks from patrons and staff alike when we walked in with a little kid, but I wasn’t worried. By the end of the meal, two servers and two customers had come over to compliment our child on his great behavior! Same thing happens everywhere we go. His little brother is going to behave in public the same way. How do I know? To paraphrase Dr. Wu in Jurassic Park- “It’s because we engineer them that way.”
Oh, and the next time I’m in Chicago, I will hit A Taste of Heaven every single day for my coffee-and-whatever. I wanted to send the guy an email praising what he did, but I couldn’t find a website or email link…
If you know your kid has behavior problems, get him/her some help. Don’t inflict them on the rest of us and then shrug your shoulders like there’s nothing you can do.
You have my sympathies. I saw a lot of this when I was selling RVs. You would think that when your child is attempting to destroy something in a vehicle costing over $100K, you might put the smackdown on the little fucker. The funniest thing I saw was when a couple of kids were in a pop-up trailer, jumping up and down on the front slideout bed. There was no problem until they decided to switch to the rear bed. Unfortunately for them, whoever had set the unit up had forgotten to lower the rear stabilizers and had not secured the canvas. Up went the kids, down came the kids, the trailer overbalanced and tossed both their miserable asses out onto the asphalt. Justice!