Friday

don't push my button ~

Okay ... I did something today that probably wasn't the nicest thing; but don't push my buttons.  I have one good nerve left and this kid hit it.

I'm in the Dollar General store ~ there's this little boy there, probably around the age of six or seven.  I was thinking to myself, what a cute little bugger he was and why wasn't he in school.  Any hooooooo ... he's running all over the store, his parents yapping away with each other and seemingly oblivious to his actions. 

I was pushing my cart through one of the aisles and he comes past me and says, "Hey lady, get out of my way," in a very rude and sassy manner.   Now I was in no way in his way.  I said to him, "You shouldn't talk to people like that."  He says, "I can do what I want." I said, "So can I.  Do you want me to tell your parents about the way you talk to people?" He says, "I don't care.  I won't get in trouble." 

Off he goes on his merry little way. 
I still see him though out the store, running around and being a little stinker. 
I'm thinking to myself ~ what is wrong with the parents letting him run about like that, and if I would have heard one of my kids talk to an adult like that I would have had them by the ear and would have been marching them right up to that adult and having them apologize ... but that's me.  Mercy, if I would have acted like that in a store when I was a kid ~ I know I'd be punished and probably wouldn't have been allowed back in the store until I was in my thirties!

Well ... as luck would have it ~ I get to the checkout line and who's behind me ... rummaging through the candy display, mixing them up as he's "innocently" looking?  His parents are standing back a bit ~ yapping away, still oblivious to his actions. 

He gives me this look ~ like ... yeah I'm mixing them up, what of it.

Okay ... I admit ... this kid was really getting to me.  Now my actions probably weren't the best here; but here's what I did:

I then said to him, "Would you like me to buy you a piece of that candy?"  Awww.... such a sweet face.  He looks at me and says, "yeah, do it".  I proceeded to tell him, "well ... you should have been nicer to me, I probably would have bought it for you." He says, "I'm telling my Mom."  I said, "Go ahead, I'll tell her how you talk to me."

Then -  he starts ripping off the price tags and labels on the display!!

I said, in a voice loud enough to get his parents attention, "Hey, don't rip off the price tags and labels.  You're gonna get in trouble."

Finally his mother grabs him and puts him by her side and tells him to behave.

If looks could kill .... I'd be laying dead on the floor of Dollar General.


I must admit, I had a smirk on my face as I walked away.



Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

14 comments:

  1. That would have pushed my buttons also.

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  2. Unruly kids are a huge pet peeve with me... and I'm scary looking. Sometimes, all it takes is my glare. If not, I have no problem sharing my displeasure with words!

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  3. So much of this going on now. It just makes me sad and mad. Good for you.

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  4. you held your cool a lot better than i would have.

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  5. You held your cool pretty good there, Mel. It's down right bad and sad. We can always hold out hope that little stinkers get it right someday, apparently without the help of Mom and Dad.
    Little rascal!
    BlessYa

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  6. Hooray for you, Mel! The kind of behavior displayed by that kid was/is in-excusable and deserves stern discipline (that is if anyone loves the child at all! If we love them we will attempt to correct them. We a professor in Seminary who had a saying I love which is a take-off on the words "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." His saying was - "Whom the Lord loveth - He buggeth!"

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  7. Good for you!!! Scary part, is in ten years or so, he'll have a drivers license. Pray his parents wake up and change that attitude or it could get ugly!

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  8. Behavior like that bugs me to no end, but I have to say it makes me really angry with the parents. How is a child to learn what is appropriate and right if the parents don't teach it?

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  9. Muffy is right.
    You were more than right. You are right most thinking people would have taken care of their kid, but it seems no one really cares, makes you sick.

    But anyway good for YOU!
    Love from NC

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  10. I could just picture this whole scenario unfolding! OMG where did you grasp the patience when you were already on your last nerve?! Did you also picture yourself in jail for bad behavior? LOL
    'love you so much Sis'

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  11. And that is why I go to retailers during alternating leap years on second Sundays of the months that don't have an R in them.... I probably know the kid's name. Oy. REmember that kids really do want to be told how to act, and this child's parents did him a huge misservice by allowing him to run unchecked.
    Does it help if I tell you that the vast majority of the kids I teach are sweet hearts who would never have acted like that? I have to remind myself all the time! Happy November!! :)

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  12. I could feel my blood pressure increasing with your story! What a way to raise their kid!

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  13. I bet his teachers have a time with him too! People need to be taught BEFORE they have children that it's hard work and you need to be consistent and you have to always be teaching and correcting!

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  14. Definitely would have pushed my buttons as well. My friend is a teacher and the stories she tells ... you would never need a perm again! Ha

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