I wondered into a Kroger’s today in my home town to get the makings of my not so famous monster sub sandwich for dinner. My wife was kind enough to drop me off at the front door and circle the parking lot to amuse our daughter. Let’s just say, thank God that we did.
While making my rounds up and down the isles, I saw a small crowd of about 6 people coming my way. It appeared to be a mother with several kids ranging from about 5 to 19 years old. The thing that made me notice them was the loud and degrading mouth of the mother towards her children.
“Did I leave a mark?” was repeated over and over in a mean and hateful voice towards one of her children. As it continued, it seems the oldest daughter had smacked one of the younger ones in the mouth. Mom was furious! She was yelling that the only one allowed to smack her children was her. You don’t smack on the mouth says says but on the butt and she is the only one allowed to smack them on their a@@#@. At first I thought this was all brought on because she was upset about this incident. Oh no….as her trip continued around the store, through checkout and out into the parking lot (my wife noticed the mess from the exit door to their car from outside)….it appears this is normal vocab in her family. Whoever has the largest voice wins….
What do you do in this circumstance? I have had people in my store ask this way from time to time. However, at my store, I own the place. You are not going to treat any child that way in my store. I have confronted people in my store and they either back down and feel ashamed or they get mad and leave.
But what about when you’re in public? I so want to just take those kids out of that house and give them a chance but where are the lines? I am just thankful my daughter was not in the store with us. It’s amazing how people think it’s ok to use foul language, be verbally abusive, and to act less than human in public.
