Today I was witness to parenthood failure. In my day, I was taught to respect people and their things. People love themselves and their things so, this always made sense to me. Some parents are not teaching their children this very integral lesson. I watched as a mother shopped while her three children roamed a very busy aisle freely. By freely, I mean the mother was so engrossed in her shopping that she ignored the fact that one little brat was removing product from the shelves and throwing it under the shelving, another was stabbing holes in boxes with a ten inch galvanized nail and the smallest of the little twerps was running in circles in the middle of the aisle. Three kids can be a handful. Especially with an inattentive mother that either gives no fucks, or is so overwhelmed with her life choices that she can't escape her brain long enough to manage her offspring.
The chaos went on for some time until I had had enough of the one little bastard, gouging holes in things. Politely yet sternly I said, "Please stop doing that." It was crisp but by no means rude. In my brain I thought, 'There. I just helped out that poor overwhelmed mom deal with her shitty kids doing shitty things.'
I was mistaken.
She comes barreling over to me and says, "You need to work on your people skills. You. Have. Upset. My. Son."
"He should be upset. I caught him doing something he shouldn't have been and he got in trouble." I said matter-of-factly. Clearly her 'Son', was not accustom to being told no. She decided to take this simple exchange way too far as she screeched up and down the aisle about how upset her son was and how she was going to the manager...you know, the nonsensical emotional stylings of someone clearly in the wrong but unwilling to sacrifice their ego for a moment to admit it. She started to get all puffy and red in the face. Another woman came up and attempted to ask me a question while the rant went on when the unstable lady started in on the other guest! Then the two customers began a screaming match at one another, about nothing, for some time. It was nuts. The lady with the now traumatized children...although, I bet they see this shit once a week, stormed off. Later I found out she found a manager and bawled like a petulant child, demanding an apology.
So apart from the truly psycho people who decide to procreate, I feel very strongly that the majority of people are waiting to be offended. Like, they are hanging on every word, every crooked look, hoping for the opportunity to pounce on someone and spread their vitriol like peanut butter on bread. So quick to anger we all seem to be. So quick to defense. So quick to emotion. If my mom ever caught me doing what those kids were up to, discipline would have come my way. Not unnecessary scolding, but I would have learned right then and there that wrecking someone else's stuff was not cool. This woman was teaching her kids that if you kick and scream and cry enough, you'll get...I don't know, something? I don't know if she was having a bad day, needed some validation, or knew deep down that she was a shitty mother raising shitty kids and doing a shitty job. Furthermore, I shouldn't have been the one who saw her childs actions as going to far and put a stop to it. That was her fucking job and she failed. Now her shitty kids will grow up to be shitty adults and commit the same act of cruelty on their own shitty brood. The circle of shitty life.
