I have so many of these stories I could tell but there is one that still infuriates me to this day. Many years ago I worked in a video rental store. In addition to renting DVDs and video games we also sold new copies at slightly inflated prices.
In walks a mother with her son who was maybe 10 or 11 years old. They part ways- mom is looking for a movie, son heads to the new video games. The kid picks out a couple and heads back over to his mom.
Kid-“Mom! BUY this for me!!”
Mom-“sorry sweetie, I only brought enough cash to rent a movie.”
Kid-(death glare) “That’s not my problem.”
Mom looks at the games the kid picked out and tells him they were all rated M and looked too violent anyway.
Kid-“I said BUY THEM!!!” And then he punched her in the arm. Hard.
(Please note that at this point I was ready to tell this lady that if she felt the need to slap prince Joffery here, I swear I wouldn’t call child protective services.) Instead…
Mom-“I guess I could put them on my credit card.”
This was the exact moment my faith in humanity began to die..
What are your bad parenting stories?
Kids like this annoy the shit out of me. But it’s the parents that let them get that way that annoy me even more.
I wouldn’t be surprised if her husband was abusive toward her, and the child is learning from that.
Yes, she might just be a shitty mother, there are definitely plenty of those, but I knew a woman in an abusive relationship who’s kids acted like this.
I used to work at a movie theater. The largest popcorn we sell is larger than a bucket of paint. It’s big. This three-ish year old girl was handed said bucket of popcorn by her mother. She, being three, tripped and spilled a few handfuls of it on the floor.
Her mother proceeded to scream at her, “LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID! NOW SHE (pointing at me) HAS TO CLEAN THIS UP!! YOU APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW!!” The little girl starts bawling like crazy and sobs out an apology. I was mortified, and wanted to say something to her, but I couldn’t. Not without pissing off mom.
I mean, come on. She’s three. It’s your fault for giving a small child a bucket larger than her torso to hold.
I was up a ladder shifting some stuff around a top shelf when I hear a very annoyed sounding woman say, “Go ahead, cry! JUST LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO!” Startled, I look down. She was talking to her son, who was older than a toddler, but not by much. He wasn’t throwing a tantrum or anything, just some minor tears and sniffles. She was berating this small child for squirting a few tears. I could just hear the therapy bills ringing up.
I work in a big box electronics store. It was holiday time, I was working in my department when I spot the cutest little girl, maybe 2 years old, standing in the middle of the aisle looking lost and upset. I approached her and asked her if she lost her parents, and she nodded yes. So I called a code Adam over the radio, and as per company policy, stayed where I was with the little girl. Ten minutes later, someone radioed back saying they found her parents and to bring her to the front of the store. Once we got there, her parents grabbed her and started blaming HER for running off!
“Oh my god you are making us look like bad parents! This is the second time you’ve done this today!” Then, to me and my manager: “She does this ALL THE TIME, a few times a week at least.”
WTF? You are bad parents… KEEP TRACK OF YOUR KID IN A STORE. When will you learn? When your toddler is kidnapped?