Today was the first time I have ever felt truly embarrassed as a result of the actions of my child. I was browsing around a health food store; it was really small with two narrow aisles and a small area in front of the check-out counter. To me, a health food store is roughly the equivalent of a Barnes & Noble bookstore: I can get lost in it for hours, lose track of time, and apparently lose track of what my child is doing at every moment.I was weaving up and down the aisles, pushing Joshua in a stroller, not really planning on buying anything, and pleasantly dreaming about the day when I will have my own arsenal of herbs, supplements, and other remedies in my home. A lady standing in the front of the store said, "Oh! Somebody get a paper towel!" I looked down and saw a large puddle of clear liquid and a broken bottle. Joshua looked up at me innocently-- the obvious culprit. The woman behind the counter ran over and I handed her the broken bottle. "I am so sorry," was all I could think of to say. She didn't say anything; she was obviously upset. I just stood there and said "I'm sorry" a few more times as she mopped up the liquid in cold silence. Joshua had chosen a rather expensive item to destroy-- a bottle of potassium water. It doesn't sound like much, but it's quite pricey. There was no way I was about to offer to pay for it, so I waited for the woman to pull out the "You Break It You Buy It" card. I figured it was her job to fix situations like this one, so I said nothing more except an additional apology, and I continued my browsing.
The woman was watching my every move now. Feeling slightly guilty about the accident, I decided I had better purchase something. I picked up a bottle of organic peanut butter (that stuff is delicious) and headed down the last aisle to check out a few more things before deciding what to buy. The moment I stopped the stroller, Joshua's little hands went flying to the nearest object, which happened to be a small glass bottle of an herbal extract. I saw it as soon as she did and went to grab his hand away, but the woman dashed out from behind the counter with lightning speed and stood protectively in front of the items on display. "I'm sorry," she said, in a tight voice that was choked with frustration, "but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the aisles."
Leave the aisles? There was nowhere else to go in the store! As she stared me down, still standing protectively in the aisle, I realized she was asking me to leave. I looked at the floor and walked up to the counter. I handed her the peanut butter and my debit card, but she rolled her eyes and pointed to a hand-written sign on the cash register: "No credit cards for purchases under $10." I fumbled through my wallet for a small eternity and handed her the cash. Wordlessly, she shoved the receipt toward me without giving me my change. "Thanks," I mumbled, and hurried out the door.
Maybe I was feeling particularly sensitive today, but for some reason I felt so awful about the entire experience. I know it's not really a big deal. Heck, if she really wanted me to pay for the broken item she could have asked. I would not have protested. At least it wasn't something truly valuable, like, I don't know... an urn filled with a loved-one's ashes or something. But I'm beginning to understand why my mother taught me not to judge other moms because of their children. As I grew up the oldest of 5 children, she taught me that nothing is ever really perfect or predictable after you have kids. How right she was.
5 comments:
Obviously that clerk has no children, and has little to no interaction with them. Any adult with half a brain understands that children have minds of their own, and that little hands try to grab everything in sight. She could have been more understanding--obviously it was not your intention for your son to play destroy and conquer, and it was surely plain on your face how mortified you were at the situation. The situation was amplified by her horrible reaction, and it sounds like you handled it just the way you were supposed to.
I had the exact same thought: "This woman obviously has no children." It was kind of surprising how cold she was about it, which also made me think she hadn't even been around kids much. It was so weird. At least other mommies who read my blog are understanding. :)
Totally understanding Katie. The clerk seemed like she didn't like people, big or small. Davey peed in the middle of the check out stand once-huge yellow puddle -and before I could figure out what to do, people started pushing their carts through it spreading it all over. I couldn't wait to get outta there. It's tough being a mom and feeling judgements.
WOW...what a witch! As you were walking out the door YOU should have knocked over a bottle of something and gone "oops!". haha. I've been pretty lucky so far with people and Ethan. When I was at the airport for our trip I was waiting at our gate and the bag I was using for a carryon was pretty cheap and it busted open and spilt everywhere. Of course I had a 26 pound baby on my front and my hands completely full. Two grandmothers ran over and helped me stuff it all back in the bag. And then like 3 minutes later, once I'd gotten Ethan out of the baby bjorn and onto the floor to play he totally spit up all over some business guy's dress shoes. He didn't notice at first so I almost wanted to just run off and hide instead of getting down on the floor and polishing his shoes for him-which was what i did while continually apologizing profusely! And then on the airplane he knocked my water all over the lap of the lady sitting next to me. hahaha. at this point I was like, you can tell who the moms are because they just....understand. Good luck in the future. Hopefully you don't run into her again!
I haven;t seen joshua in so long. He is so handsome!! Anyhew, I'm sure we have many more embarrasing momnets ahead of us as mothers. Thanks for you comment on my blog! It's always so good to hear from you!
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