Friday, May 22, 2009

Self Esteem and Rudeness

I was buying some tea in Target yesterday and in the aisle with me were an attractive young mother, her toe headed 4 year old boy in a pair of overalls and a red button-down oxford, and an older employee of Target who was busily “fronting” the products in the aisle. Anyone who has done merchandise sales knows that “fronting” is a pain in the posterior – bring the boxes to the front so that customers can better see/reach them. It is a thankless, endless, tedious job since even as you finish it some yahoo comes along and ruins your work. This elderly lady had obviously been at it for some time since most of the row was fairly neat. Meanwhile the little 4 year old was busily pushing every box within grasp of his grubby little paws back to the back, haphazardly, mindlessly, perpetually. The mom, who was obviously hell bent on getting something for junior, kept up a witty banter of “So, Melchizedek, do you want hot chocolate?” “no” ...push... “with marshmallows?” “no” ...push... “what about Quick? You like Quick?” “no” ...push... “Now stop that, Melchizedek, stop it. Do you want Strawberry Quick? or Vanilla Quick?” “no” ...push... I just wanted to slap them both. Instead I just got my green tea and left.

If the mother were to have slapped the boy's hand and told him "Melchizedek, either you knock it off or I'm ..... (taking you home, calling the manager, bending you over my knee and tanning your behind) then the kid might stand a chance of not growing up thinking old people were stupid employees of Target whose work was meaningless and deserved to be ruined by their so smart and talented ass.
As George Carlin said, "kids these days don't hear those vital words 'Johnny, you failed!'"

3 comments:

  1. Man, I can't believe some of the kids I see at Breadsmith. Some are just young kids being young kids- bouncing off the walls and such, but others throw horrendous fits because their parents don't buy them a cinnamon bun. What makes things worse is the parents, with honorable exception, cave in. My God! If little Billy's being a little shit, then the last thing he deserves is a cookie. I almost wanna say
    "No, ma'am, I won't sell you that muffin. I hate to intervene with your parenting, but your kid is acting like a jerkwad and needs to learn that that behavior is unacceptable. Go home and spank him/give him a time out/take away his video games/etc. but for the love of GOD, don't give him what he wants."

    One of these days...

    For the record, most kids that come in are nice, polite children, and some parents DO lay down the law when their kid is having a meltdown.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You work at Breadsmith? If you cut me a deal I promise I want start shrieking and kicking my legs in the air...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm sure we can arrange something. I've been there so long I've become kind of a big shot with waaaay too much self-esteem.

    ReplyDelete


There be dragons!