Bad Kids...Bad Parents - Would you say something?

They say the apple does not fall too far from the tree.
United States
April 7, 2016 2:52am CST
I was in line at a local dollar store the other day. There was only one register open and the line was about 6 people deep in front of me. The woman in front of me had a 14-15 year old girl behind her and two younger children in front of her. After a few minutes in line, an older boy stepped in front of me and grabbed the hand of the 14 year old girl. "Stop it" he said and I looked over and saw the girl was crushing chocolate bunnies, in the package behind her mother's back. The older boy was then sent off by the mother to get another item from the store. As he walked away, the girl took her fist and again began crushing the merchandise in the display. The mother seemed oblivious and to be fair the girl was doing it behind her back. I simply said in a loud enough voice "you are destroying merchandise". The mother turned around and immediately said "What's your problem?" and I politely replied "this young lady is destroying merchandise". What followed from the mother was cursing, "mind your own business", denial (claiming all of these chocolates were already broken despite the fact her other child caught the girl red handed) and ultimately a threat to "kick my @%#". When I got to the counter the sales girl said "I cannot have outbursts in my store" as if I had done something wrong. She then complained that she was the only employee in the whole store and she could not see the girl breaking the merchandise. As I walked away after my purchase, she began joking with the next customer about having 3 kids and kids break things. I wonder if she thought it didn't matter because the bunnies were on mark down from Easter, or maybe because her kids would be allowed to do the same or simply that because she worked at a Dollar General store it would not effect her job. I really believe the little girl learned a lesson. Not really from me but from her mom's bad behavior. Too bad the lesson she learned was to deny what you do wrong, tell other people off and if that doesn't work resort to threats. The moral of the story is I ended up calling the company customer service line and left my phone number. If the clerk did not care about the merchandise, perhaps announcing she was the only employee in the whole store was not smart for shoplifting or even her own security. No one from the company returned my call. If you wonder why kids turn into lazy, careless, reckless and perhaps criminal sorts...sometimes you have to look to the parents. Not always, but I am sure it is a factor.
4 people like this
4 responses
@jstory07 (139971)
• Roseburg, Oregon
7 Apr 16
The mother was ignoring the child's behavior and was mad that you brought it to her attention.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Apr 16
You may be right there....I would have been embarrassed but I did not think of that. She did get quite defensive when she said basically mind your own business. When they are minors cut loose on the world, I guess they are her business when she's right there. My mom had five of us when we were little and I don't recall us running around like banshees.
@marlina (154130)
• Canada
7 Apr 16
Some parents should never have been parents.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Apr 16
Now that is a thought I have had more than once! I so agree.
@vhpsandi (358)
• Mumbai, India
7 Apr 16
Children are a reflection of their parents. They learn by observation not by advise. So whatever we are so are our children going to be. If we don't like what we see, then a little retrospection is required and some change on our own path.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Apr 16
That is well put that they learn from observation rather than advice. That would explain a lot of the carrying on I see. I do not regret saying something and I think I would do it again. The one thing I left out of the story was a middle aged man in line, let out a cat squeal while she was yelling at me. I thought that was a bit immature, but it was already such a scene, I did not respond to his outburst.
@Dextoi (1845)
• Philippines
7 Apr 16
Hi there, it's great that you were still able to help out. I hate to see a broken merchandise due to neglect of customers and the staff in the store. If I were the owner of the store, I'd probably fire them in no time as I might be dealing with a lot of bad product returns and/or reviews. It will create a problem to the store and end up losing profit as well as jobs for the people who need it. Also, parents who neglect to properly discipline their children are eye sores... I also seen a lot of parents who would sit in the corner while their kids are on the floor eating and getting all messed up. They should not call themselves parents...