Did this really happen!!

[SunkissableOne]

Okay, so I'm a newbie and this is my first post....today I went to the grocery store and usually I'm in and out...no problems whatsoever.  Anyhow...today was different.  I'm standing in one of the isles looking for something in particular when this kid (probably about 9 or 10) comes tearing around the corner and all but knocks me over with the cart.  I was completely stunned and just stood in shock.  The kid never appologized and the dad who was supposedly supervising this monster just looked at me like it was my fault for being in his kids way!  Please...tell me that did not happen.  Is this what society is coming to?  Thanks for letting me vent.

[RuneGuardian]

We live in a culture where good behavior is no longer expected of children, and a culture where parents sometimes find it more convenient to tune their kids out when in public (some parents - not all). I'm sorry you were a brat hit-and-run victim, but the child's behavior is not surprising to me. The so-called parent with him was totally lacking in manners if he did not even acknowledge you, and it seems that his sparkling manners are being instilled in his little demon.

[sammycat]

I was in Toys R Us this week and had a similar experience though thankfully I wasn't a 'hit a run victim'. 

2 brothers, probably aged about 6 and 10 were riding the motorised type car things (quad bikes?) around the shop.  The younger one drove up my aisle and looked at me with a smile that seemed to imply "I am so cute, you will get out of my way".  NO WAY buster!  I gave him the icy stare that I have heard about on this forum (thanks!) and as his smile faltered he  drove around me as it became apparent that I wasn't going to move out of his way.  Another shopper and I exchanged looks as if to say "where are the parents?".  I later saw the parents and from their actions and conversation I wasn't surprised that the kids were behaving the way they were - they seemed as though they wouldn't know right from wrong if it hit them over the head.  This was in the middle of the school day so I don't know why they weren't in school.

This must be my week for this sort of thing.  A week ago I was in another toy store talking to an assistant about the quad bikes and lo and behold 2 young kids came along and tried to drive them away, and all the while their parents were smiling and telling them how cute they looked. The assistant confided in me how often that happens and how much stock they have to sell cheaply or not at all because it has been destroyed by kids running riot, often with the parents' blessing.

Sorry this turned into a rant but I have no patience for this sort of behaviour.

[Suze]

you know it really amazes me that the toy stores put a charged ride toy on the floor.  (If I read your original post correctly)

the small kid powered bikes are bad enough scattered all over the place.

 I saw a kid (about 8ish) the other day trying to rip a toy out of a box at a store. (parent not to be seen) when I told him "you know you are only supposed to take a toy out of the box AFTER you buy it." (the inner Mom in me surfaces at the strangest times)

Well - I should not be surprised by what happened next..............but

he gave me "the finger"  and told me he would do anything he "durn" (not his exact word, but you get the drift) well pleases me.

I had to leave right then, or I would have been arrested. 

Where do some kids get the idea that a toy store is their personal playground?

Suze

[Tabris]

They get the idea from their "parents" who say, "I'm going to go look at shoes. You stay right here and look at the toys, and I'll be back in half an hour." 

[IndianInlaw]

" "I'm going to go look at shoes. You stay right here and look at the toys, and I'll be back in half an hour." 

That's PRECISELY what happened to Adam Walsh, son of "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh.  The boy and his mom were in Sears, in Holly FL.  Mom left him in the toy  department, while she went to look at lamps.   

She never saw him alive again.

And that was 25 years ago!

[mich3554]

Last Christmas, I was walking into a store behind a rather elderly woman.  The store aisles were narrow and there really wasn't room to go around her, so I just stuck behind her towards the exit.

A couple of kids were running through the store and ran flat into the woman.  Since I was so close on her heels, I was able to steady her so she didn't go down.

It doesn't take much to take down an elderly person and a broken hip can be a very real repercussion of such a collision.

[emeraldsage85]

It doesn't take much to take down an elderly person and a broken hip can be a very real repercussion of such a collision.

Especially if it's an elderly person with a disease such as osteoporosis. Kids have no respect for the elderly these days.

[kherbert05]

I had a similar experience a year or so ago. I was not the hit and run victim - but two ladies using canes were. I blocked them from hitting another woman with the cart and said very clearly. "What do you think you are doing and were is the so called adult who should be watching you"

The Dad showed up, he was obviously upset with me - but I didn't let him get a word out.

In my best teacher voice I told him with cell phone out, "I just witnessed these two committ physical assult by running this cart into two women. They hit me with the cart (I did step in front to block them from hitting a frail looking woman but they still hit me), while attempting to knock down this woman. You have exactly 60 seconds to take controll of them or I will call the village cops and have this one (boy older than 10) start his juvie record." (Note the village cops have a rep of not putting up with nonsense from the kids or their parents.)

He grabbed both kids and left. He probably tells the story of the crazy lady at the grocery store. 

[graceh9]

I don't understand why a store would leave motor vehicles sitting around ready for kids to hop on and ride -- if I were a parent and my kid got hurt on one or by one, I'd sue (and I am not inclined to sue -- never have)   This is negligent -- a motorized ride like this should be disabled so it can only be actually driven with permission/supervision by a store employee to 'test' before purchase

[Sirius]

Well - I should not be surprised by what happened next..............but

he gave me "the finger"   and told me he would do anything he "durn" (not his exact word, but you get the drift) well pleases me.

I had to leave right then, or I would have been arrested. 

Where do some kids get the idea that a toy store is their personal playground?

The toy store question I don't know the answer to, but the rest of it I can readily explain by the adult male (can't call him man) I encountered in the grocery store yesterday, who was cursing at the woman he was with.  He wasn't going to "f" wait in line, and she was "f" crazy if she thought he was, etc.  This is either the example of the potty-mouthed kid or the potty-mouthed kid grown up.

[newmomma]

you know it really amazes me that the toy stores put a charged ride toy on the floor.  (If I read your original post correctly)

the small kid powered bikes are bad enough scattered all over the place.

 I saw a kid (about 8ish) the other day trying to rip a toy out of a box at a store. (parent not to be seen) when I told him "you know you are only supposed to take a toy out of the box AFTER you buy it." (the inner Mom in me surfaces at the strangest times)

Well - I should not be surprised by what happened next..............but

he gave me "the finger"  and told me he would do anything he "durn" (not his exact word, but you get the drift) well pleases me.

I had to leave right then, or I would have been arrested. 

Where do some kids get the idea that a toy store is their personal playground?

Suze

Excuse me?  I wouldn't take that kind of behavior from an ADULT, much less a little 8 year old!

Sweet marmalade, it makes me want to look around for the biggest stick I could find.  Probably the thing to do would have been to have the manager of the store take the little "darling" and put him in the manager's office to keep him safe until his mother "found" him.  Would I have had enough self-control to do that?  Probably not. 

[Rei-chan]

**sighs**  It's not just toy stores, it happens at my job too.  I work for a rather large sporting goods chain and I see this daily.  Kids running rampant while the parents ignore them seems to be the norm in my town.  Since it is gift season, we have several air hockey and small pool tables set up near the front registers so that customers can see what they are buying, if it will fit in their house, etc.  Every single day we have 10-20 little monsters abandoned here by their "parents" to play so said parents can shop.  In the process, ALL of these display tables are ruined, customers are dodging pucks and balls that the kids hit so hard they fly off the table, etc.  The kids eventually wander off and here come the parents screaming for the kids they now cannot find.  I'm only 27, but when I was a kid the rule in my house was that you stay with Mom or Dad and keep your mouth shut and hands to yourself until we are finished shopping.  It really burns me up to think that some of these people, who are older than I am, actually have the nerve to call themselves responsible enough to have kids.

[Suze]

Well - I should not be surprised by what happened next..............but

he gave me "the finger"  and told me he would do anything he "durn" (not his exact word, but you get the drift) well pleases me.

I had to leave right then, or I would have been arrested. 

Suze

Excuse me?  I wouldn't take that kind of behavior from an ADULT, much less a little 8 year old!

Sweet marmalade, it makes me want to look around for the biggest stick I could find.  Probably the thing to do would have been to have the manager of the store take the little "darling" and put him in the manager's office to keep him safe until his mother "found" him.  Would I have had enough self-control to do that?  Probably not. 

That was just my problem.  I would have liked to have read him the riot act and marched him up front, but you know someones "precious little darling" would *never* and I repeat *never* had done that to anyone.

so I had to suck it up and walk away (oh - I did get a parting shot in by telling him that he was acting so grown-up --- NOT) Ok not right, but better than strangling him. <grin>

Suze

[sammycat]

[you know it really amazes me that the toy stores put a charged ride toy on the floor.  (If I read your original post correctly)

the small kid powered bikes are bad enough scattered all over the place.

You know, I never gave that any thought until now, but you are right, it is dangerous for the shops to leave these out.  The 1st shop I mentioned is a really big place, but is always a mess as the toys, particularly the ride on ones are just left scattered all over place by brats who leave them wherever they want when they are finished with them.  And of course the idea that mum or dad should make them put them back in the  correct place, or better yet, not let them ride them in the first place, is obviously too foreign a concept for them to grasp.