Shopping with children is not always a fun thing.
Unless you are buying them something, they really don't want to be dragged around from shop to shop.
It's kind of like Russian Roulette when you think about it.
How many stores can you fit in before your kid blows a gasket and has a melt-down?
With babies and infants you shop in between feedings and hope that they will nap while you browse.
Toddlers are little ticking time bombs...you can only say: "Don't touch that." "I said NO!" "Just one more shop honey and then we'll go home I promise," or "Just one more shop and we'll get that ice cream/toy I promised you two hours ago.."
I am usually sympathetic to parents who shop with kids and generally speaking most kids are fairly well behaved.
Then there are the parents who are so self absorbed that they don't pay attention to this loaded gun that they are dragging around with them.
One slip and BAM!
I had one Mom come in with her daughter who was about 6-7 years old. Mom loved jewelry and she was looking for something new.
Daughter scuffed behind Mom as they walked in. She looked up and leered at me. I looked down and gave her my best: "I'm watching you kid" looks.
She was not phased by my look.
I actually think she took it as a challenge.
Oh shit.
Mom got busy right away checking out different necklaces that caught her eye. Completely ignoring her daughter who would fall back about 3 or 4 feet away from Mom.
This is generally NOT a good sign - to me this says: "I'm done with this and I will soon make it be known I will not do this anymore."
Luckily for me though, something in one of my display cases caught her eye and she kind of parked herself in front of it staring.
Still...I kept her in my sights.
Mom called me over to ask a question. I went over to assist her and when I looked back over at her daughter she was smooshing her little face on the glass of the display case.
Ugh...thanks kid. I just cleaned that glass.
Mom wanted to see more jewelry and was trying to decide between two necklaces...a minute or two passed by and I checked on the kid again.
Now she is licking my glass display cases.
But she's not just licking...she is full out French kissing my display counter and creating a two foot long slobbery spit dripping mess all over the glass!!!
I took a breath and said as politely as I could: "Sweetie, please don't do that."
Mom finally snapped out of her jewelry induced haze, looked over at her daughter...dropped the necklace she was holding and in three big steps reached out and grabbed her daughter by the arm and started screaming at her: "I told you NOT to do that...what is wrong with you?"
Meltdown to begin in 5...4...3...2...1
Daughter threw herself on the floor screaming.
Mother standing over daughter screaming.
Me wishing I was anywhere else by in my own shop at this point.
As the mother struggled to pick up the screaming kicking child off the floor, her pocketbook swung off her shoulder and smacked her in the face and her designer sunglasses went flying across the floor which made her even angrier.
Daughter was reaching critical mass and started to sob uncontrollably making sounds like..."eee...aaaa...eeee...aaaa...ohhh...eeee...aaaa...eeee.....eeee."
Mother finally managed to pick the daughter up off the floor while I went over and got her sunglasses for her.
"I just wanted to do a little shopping for myself...is that too much to ask for?" She half screamed at the ceiling.
They left my shop and I grabbed the windex and cleaned off my display case thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't her.
