Organized Chaos

Monday 11 August 2014

To the Cashier Who Called My Child Naughty

fisops.wayne.edu
I’ve wanted to get this out here for a while, but kept putting it off. Maybe I don’t want to risk sounding like an asshole (excuse the language on my normally “family friendly” blog today) or possibly parenting has pushed me into a more passive-aggressive mode. Whatever the case may be, I need to get this of my chest.

What happened in society that we have decided to allow ourselves as adults the liberty to say anything, to anyone, at any time? Do not misinterpret me as I do feel there is a place and time when honesty needs to be addressed. However, at what point did parents stop teaching children to be respectful? When did the phrase “if you have noth
ing nice to say, don’t say anything” become a thing of the past?


Shortly before I moved to our new town, I was in the grocery store with my boys. Lil Mister is now 3 and LJ was around 16 months at the time. It was an evening after work and with Hubby not around, I didn’t have much choice but to load up the boys and view the city lights.
”brothers,

It was May and starting to cool down in preparation for the mild winter our old town is accustomed. The nights were coming earlier and to be honest after 6 weeks without Hubby….my nerves were coming shorter too. My boys can sense this, you know. Kids know when things are…off, even if we do our best to hide it. They see through hypocrisy better than anyone.

After quickly grabbing them up after work and getting to the grocery store, I loaded them in the trolley and did my best to make our trip quick and sweet. I threw a couple of needed items in the trolley and grabbed some bananas and yogurt for the boys’ snacks the rest of the week.

Standing in line at the till, I knew it was already getting late. They are beginning to rub their eyes and the guilt is setting in that I had to take them out in the evening as opposed to our normal routine. That was when the blow came. Lil Mister was crying, not screaming or throwing a tantrum, simply crying because I refused to buy a chocolate. The cashier then felt it her right to say, “yes, but you are naughty” directly to my son.

But you, miss cashier, what made you think you had the right to call my children naughty? Where in your life were you given a pass to tell anyone anything that crossed that narrow mind of yours?

”brothers,Were my children running up and down the aisles of the shop? Were they screaming at the top of their lungs or throwing items across the till? Even if that had been the circumstance, who are you?

Yes, my boys were making a small scene over a chocolate I refused to buy. My boys are toddlers and not aware of the “proper” means of self-expression. And for your information, this is something we, like every other decent parent in the world, are teaching our children!

What would you suggest I do? Must I give them the chocolate simply because it would make your experience as our cashier more pleasant? Or should I have walked out with them very well knowing that we had no bread or milk in our house for them? Maybe you’re an active disciplinary and believe in physical punishment….would you suggest I should have spanked them in the middle of the store for a small crying fit?

Did you for one moment consider the circumstances they were under? Their father, who is their best friend, was currently living away from our home for work. They saw him maybe one night a week! They were plunged into a new routine as Mommy learnt to balance this single life style for a few weeks. Their house, their place of comfort and security, had been turned upside down in the midst of packing and preparing to move. They were taken out of routine for a quick trip to the grocery store when normally they would have been bathed and sitting down to dinner.

Yes, as an adult, it is probably hard for you to understand how upsetting this is to a toddler, but for my boys….the trip to the grocery store was just the icing on the cake in an already distraught situation!

However, my larger concern is that for the next 20 minutes my 3 year old felt the need to repeatedly ask me “I’m not naughty?” He felt confused and quite frankly hurt by your unfitted remark. Caught in the artless mind-set of your self-absorbed world, you failed to realize that he not only heard you but understood and acknowledged what you said.

Yes, his behaviour was unacceptable in my eyes. Yes, it was uncalled for and deserved attention. However, as his mother, it did not deserve attention at that moment! His behavior at that time needed disregarding until I could address him properly and patiently. Honestly, his crying was better than me losing my temper over a simple fit of crying. Sometimes as parents, we have to let it go at that moment in order to make it more than a bit of discipline and rather an instruction for how we act!

Do you even have children? Do you understand that you took an opportunity of teaching away from me and my child? Because of your remarks about his behavior, I spent the next moments consoling him and explaining that you were rude rather than instructing him that his behavior was inappropriate and that next time we do it differently!

The point I am making is that you are not in a place as a community service member to ridicule, pass judgement, or reprimand my child! Obviously, you did not take the time or concern as a young adult to learn the proper respect in public but let me educate you now.

As a cashier, your job is very important. Without your job, I would have to juggle my children and doing it myself. You are a huge convenience to me. There would be thousands of people across our country without jobs and therefore, I’m thankful that our country has not switched to the self-tills as many other. However, your job is to ring up my items. It is not to comment on what I purchase or how much I spend or to pass judgement on whether my children sit as statues or express themselves in a very common manner!

As a person in public, your job is to be considerate and courteous. This applies to us all! If my child had been throwing items, making a mess, screaming at the top of his lungs or any other outburst as such, I would have set my trolley aside and kindly excused ourselves to the bathroom where his discipline would have occurred in a manner both respectful to him, myself and the people around me. Never is it my place to judge another person for any reason! When I see an elderly person, barely able to see trying to reverse….it is my duty as a decent human to allow them room not to judge their situation! When I see a single father, struggling with his two children while trying to decide which nappies he is supposed to buy, my job is to give a nod of encouragement not criticize that his back was turned for 2 seconds!


I feel sorry for you, not my child. Because in life, my son will face ridicule and judgement and will someday have to learn how to deal with this. I feel sorry for you because your verbal diarrhea will one day cost you more than my post. It is going to cost you respect.  

Check out my highlight sponsor this month!!
Heartbeats Soul Stains
Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!
bloglovin, follow me, blog, organized chaos, button twitter facebook, like me, blog, organized chaos, button google pinterest, follow me, boards, organized chaos, button youtube, organized chaos, subscribe, follow me, button instagram, follow me, blog, organized chaos, button linkedin, follow me, blog, organized chaos, button

XOXxx

Shana Danae..

22 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness. I would have lost my s*it. Shame on that woman!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly! I'm surprised I kept my cool, but my focus was on my kids at that point! She's lucky I hadn't seen her again in the store when I was calm! Somehow she was just never there anymore!

      Delete
  2. People can be so rude. I also would have said something nasty in return.. lol

    http://www.itzybellababy.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really wanted to! But I knew then I was just showing my kids the wrong way to react. I paid and left and have luckily not seen her again!

      Delete
  3. I can't believe you didn't say anything to the cashier! I would've totally called them out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It took a lot of strength not to freak out but I really didn't want more of a scene and knew I was going to say things I'd regret! It was just a better solution to walk away!

      Delete
  4. This is awful, ever since having kids, I can't believe the things some people say to other people's children. I've had a similar situation like this happen to me and at the time, there were so many things I wanted to say but I was just more concerned with getting the kids home and have them stop crying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was my thought process exactly! There was probably a few words I could have used at that moment but getting my children out of the shop was just more important!

      Delete
  5. Oh my goodness! How totally disrepectful! Poor lil guy. I guarantee I would have so lost my mind and gave her a piece of it! Then I would have likely spoken to her supervisor! Especially considering the way many children act here in the States! When Dally worked as a cashier at K-mart, he would come home and tell me the antics of children that came in to the store, and he was so flabbergasted at their behaviour! LOL! Hugs to the lil guy and hugs to you to darlin!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is scary how some children act in public! Hubby and I were discussing it the other day! But overall, even if a child is being ridiculous it is not our place to comment! As a mom, I try to be sympathetic when I see a parent having a hard time with their children! It's good though that D got that experience! ;-) Thanks for coming by! Miss you!

      Delete
  6. SOME PEOPLE!!! I don't understand how people have no patience or filters, especially around children!
    Hugs to your little man <3
    XOXO
    http://www.mrsaokaworkinprogress.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is my point exactly! I'm glad you could relate! Thanks so much!

      Delete
  7. I hate this for you and especially your son. My personal opinion is that the more time people spend on social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr etc, the less sensitive people are to others. They just don't get the things we were taught. Words hurt. I'm sorry you experienced this, but maybe someone will read your post here and it will make them think before they speak in the future. Blessings to you and your family. Thank you for linking up to Tips and Tricks. We hope to see you again. Kathleen @ Fearlessly Creative Mammas

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree wholeheartedly! Social media is taking away some of our tact with person to person experiences! Our words have a huge impact! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your opinion!

      Delete
  8. People are stupid! Pinned. It is always a pleasure to have you be a part of our party! Please join us tonight at 7 pm. http://loulougirls.blogspot.com
    Happy Monday! Lou Lou Girls

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kim! It's so great to have you stopping by again! Yes...that is what it comes down to! People just don't think sometimes!

      Delete
  9. The older I get, the more I realize that you don't know what's going on in people's lives and I really try to block judgmental thoughts from my mind. (I only have to worry about bad thoughts because I am not the type of person who would say something like this cashier did out loud.) As you showed in your post, there was a lot more going on than children crying over chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly Megan! I think the more we experience in life the more we understand this concept! I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt. We can't always help what we think but the point that we keep to ourselves and rather give a reassuring smile makes all the difference! Thanks for sharing!

      Delete
  10. I don't think i could have held my tongue there! How rude of her
    AliceMegan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It definitely wasn't easy but in the end it was better for the boys that I kept my mouth shut!

      Delete
  11. It was rude, but I think sometimes think they are being cute when they say things like that. They aren't, but I think that's their motivation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly! I don't know her intentions but she didn't consider the consequences of her words!

      Delete

AddThis

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...