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Had to share this....
I went away this weekend with my husband for a friend's wedding out of state. We took some time off and spent some time shopping. We went into a department store and there is a mother, father and three kids. The youngest child was probably around 4 years old. In the clothing store the child had a large dodge-ball type ball that he was drop kicking into the air as it bounced down aisles, off displays and the ceiling. Where were mom and dad? Who knows...wandering around the store as the 2 "older" sisters (probably 6 and 8) chased little boy around and screaming. We left...fast.

Went to another store called Harry & David which is any of you have been there, is an upscale, gourmet food store. Jams. Dips. Coffees. Gift baskets. Not cheap but interesting. Guess who comes in. Yep! Mom, Dad, 2 girls and the little out of control boy. By this time my DH and I are checking out buying some dip and an overpriced nutmeg grinder and next to the register is a display of gourmet carmel-type popcorn and some tongs to use. The little boy, of course unsupervised and running around, stopped by, shoved his dirty little kid hand into the popcorn and shoved some in his mouth. Tongs? What tongs? Of course, a 4 year old doesn't get that he should use tongs...that is what PARENTS are supposed to be showing him and monitoring him for. The woman who was ringing us up saw it too. It was hard to miss!

I looked at DH and he looked at me and I said "And that is why I will never sample the popcorn on display! Who knows where his little kid hand has been." Ick. Maybe those parents should have 3 more kids to not supervise. Shame on those parents.

That's nasty. I would have thought the woman at the register would have said something, but the parent I mean customer is always right and she probably would have gotten her head taken off.

"The customer is always right" was actually a misquote, the guy who was quoted as saying it was actually being sarcastic. (I believe he was an automobile maker)

Wow I never knew that:)

Ewww. Thanks for sharing. Now I'll think twice before I sample any food at a store. I'd never even considered that a parent would allow their child to stick their dirty little hands into the sample bin, but I guess when you don't watch your kids, you can't see what they're doing wrong to correct them.

Gross.....That's why I never sample food at a store like that..AND why when I buy candy in the candy stores with the help yourself bins, I get it from the very TOP ones -- the bottom ones have had who knows what kids' hands in them! AND, also why I don't eat food from a buffet...I've actually watched kids stick their hands in the lettuce, rolls, and other food items on the buffet bar....EW! Needless to say I didn't eat much that night! ha ha

We had a lumpia sale the other day, it was cooked by a volunteer to help raise money for a local charity. We had a 5 year old come in with, who knows what all over his hands and just grab handfulls of the lumpia out of a pan, take bites, and then throw it back.

Of course mom shook the lumpia out of his hand and appologized, she then picked three pieces from a different pan (they are three for a dollar) and then came to see me at the cash box.

I am still smiling when I think about asking her for $33.00, she instantly choked and demanded to know why I would charge her this much. I let her know that her child just ruined 100 pieces of Lumpia, and it's not fit to be sold, so i'm charging her. The instant response was, that she shouldn't be held responsible, kids will be kids, but I wouldn't relent, and she was forced to pay for it.

Which is what should happen in stores. If those grubby hands go in the candy container, make the parent pay for the whole tub. If they go into the popcorn, charge them for the bin (whether it's given away free or not, just for the inconvience of having to make more). Parents shouldn't be allowing their kids to pull stunts like this.

Maybe if more inattentive parents were made to pay for their childrens' indiscretions while being unsupervised, they would be inspired to keep an eye on their kids? Might work....

Cindy

If you have a product and a person destroys it, they have to pay for it. You're not able to support the cost of peoples' destruction of goods!

Never mind that that was a charity function! She should have *offered* to pay for it since that was money explicitly lost to the charity now ...

Undoubtedly she is off ranting to her friends that it is "unfair" now though. Maybe it will make her think twice in the future though about what her child is doing.

Exactly... it wasn't even so much that the child did the action (was just a 5 year old) it was just that mom brushed it off without caring.