Ask:
Night before last at Walmart Dh and I were walking around with the boys. Jayden (3) was walking beside us and these 2 boys (around 13ish) were throwing basketballs at each other in a different aisle. Well, one of the balls came over the shelving and almost hit Jayden in the face. Then these same boys were RUNNING through the aisles like mad people and one of them PUSHED Jayden out of the way, knocking him into a shelf. At first I was just going to let it go, since I'm a very non confrontational person. Something inside of me snapped though (call it Mama Bear instinct) and I went looking for a manager. I couldn't for the life of me find one, when one of the little terrors came zooming by me nearly knocking me down. I called for him to stop and told him to come here. Then very polietly, I told him " I know you're having a lot of fun, and I don't know where your parents are. However, you hit my little 3 yr old and knocked him down, and if he would have gotten hurt there would have been problems. PLEASE stop running before someone gets hurt." During all of this (talking) there was a police man standing a few feet from me. The boy said "sorry" and walked off to get his friend, who he then told what happened and I over heard the boy tell his friend I was a b*tch. I saw the police man walk in their direction, but after that never saw them again in the store.
Was I wrong to confront him without having someone there, or did I do the right thing? What is sad is when the boy knocked Jayden down, Jayden looked up and said "Excuse me, I'm sorry" because he thought it was HIS fault.
Answer:
My Mama Bear instincts just emerged and you ds is not mine! Yes, you did the right thing. However, if it were me and I heard him using the B word, it would have gotten a little uglier. I would have approached him again and taken him over to the police officer and let him talk to him. Hopefully that is what happened with the police officer and the boys. OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH, that makes me very mad.
Answer:
This is just me, but I would have grabbed the little sucker by the nap of his neck and marched him to the police officer and demanded that the parents be found immeadiately. I'm not very good about holding my tongue when it comes to unsupervised kids in a store, I don't care what the age is. And I especially get angry when the toy section of a store becomes a parents babysitter so that they can get their shopping done in peace. I also know the stores do not enjoy it either, but most times the employees feel too awkward to say anything.
Out of line? Not on your life. Too nice? Maybe! But again that's just me.
Oh and as for the comment about being a b***h, you really want to see some kids run scared? You should have casually strolled up behind them and leaned over and said "That's Ms. B***h to you, and don't you forget it". Then kept walking like nothing ever happened. I kid you not when I say the kids will scatter worse than roaches when a light is turned on.
Answer:
I think you did well by not addressing them in a hostile way (not that they didn't totally deserve it) Yelling at them may have started an argument with the parents if they were there - laying hands on them would surely get you in trouble with the police.
Answer:
Shoot, no, you were not out of line! I would have continued looking for a manager AFTER I had talked to him, too. That is the only thing I would have done differently.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Claire
Shoot, no, you were not out of line! I would have continued looking for a manager AFTER I had talked to him, too. That is the only thing I would have done differently.
Yup, I agree with Claire!
Answer:
you were right, I would have gotten much more aggressive if I had heard the b word too!
Answer:
You did the right thing.. I admire your calmness!! I have a VERY agressive personality!! I would have grabed the little F%$#@E, and YELLED and I garrentee his parents would have heard me!! !
Answer:
You did the right thing, those kids were outof line and could have really hurt someone!!
There were some punk kids one day in my local Walmart throwing oranges over the racks!!! One hit a guy(30ish) and splattered all over his shoulder and made a big mess on his shirt, these kids got escorted out of the store by security, some kids are so ignorant, what if that orange would have hit a baby, in the cart, or something!! grrr!!