Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The real reason for the downfall of civilization

While quietly folding disheveled piles of shirts, my peace was shattered by two boys throwing a football and dodging between the racks of women's clothing, knocking things around and yelling.  They looked a bit young to be there by themselves so I scanned the area for a woman who might be their mother.  I saw only one woman, her back to the boys, staring mesmerized at a wall full of jeans.  I glared at the back of her head until she turned around, psychically willing her to do her job as a mother.

I'd been doing it all night for other people's kids and I was sick of it. 

Please, don't make calls on the store's telephone... didn't your mother teach you not to touch things that aren't yours?!

Please, don't throw the hats on the floor and then stomp on them... we're still hoping to be able to sell them.

Please, don't clomp up and down the shoe aisles in women's high heels that you've ripped the tags off of and you're obviously not going to buy since you are a five year old boy.

All these happened with the mothers just yards away but completely oblivious or simply not caring about teaching their children proper conduct in a public place.  I'm not talking about perfectly behaved little automatons but simply teaching them some basic skills for functioning in society!

This particular mother finally turned around and our eyes met. I gave her my best glare. She slowly turned and addressed her brats. Finally a mother was stepping up and doing her job! "Boys, remember what I told you. Only underhand."

I give up.

4 comments:

  1. wow.

    I let my girls prance around in high heels while I'm browsing the shoes, but they must keep the tags on, stay out of the way of the grownups who are shopping, get one pair at a time and always, always put the shoes back where they got them from.

    Maybe it's because I'm only in the store for 30 minutes or less, but I don't observe that kind of behavior in our stores in MD.

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  2. Marianne, if all moms were like you, working retail would be a piece of cake.

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  3. Unbelievable! Sounds like both the mothers and their kids are ADD/ADHD and manic depressive. Inbreeding?

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  4. I was shopping in a store at the outlet mall in Park City when a couple of kids crawled under a round of dresses on hangers and tipped it completely over. Where where the moms? I soon discovered them in a dressing room trying to decide if their skirts were long enough to cover their garments...

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