“I worked at a trendy store in one of the wealthiest zip codes in America. Many of the people I served could probably buy my whole store with their pocket change. So naturally, I saw quite a few rude, entitled, and generally bratty customers. And worse than those bratty customers were their brattier children.
As a result, it wasn’t uncommon at all for me to deal with some incredibly impolite behavior from kids, whose parents did absolutely nothing or even encouraged it.
One day, I was on the cash register. During the slow time, a little girl rushed up to me (no more than seven years old), waving around a balloon animal on a stick in my face, throwing some product down, and screaming ‘Make it snappy, I have places to be! Chop, chop!’
Being in retail, you develop a thick skin for these kinds of people so I just smiled at the kid and began ringing her out.
Then her mother appeared, as if by magic, behind her. She crouched down beside her child and explained calmly that such behavior was unacceptable.
She continued, ‘You should be polite to workers like her. If you don’t behave better, mommy won’t buy you anything at all.’
Then she made her daughter apologize to me and also apologized profusely for her daughter’s behavior.
I’ve gotten so used to children being disrespectful with no intervention from parents, that this woman made my day. I really appreciated the empathy she clearly demonstrated, and the simple actions she took to appropriately correct her child. Everyday heroes do exist!”
