to have said this in the supermarket?

[NoseyNooNoo]

I took DD (4) and DS (2) to Waitrose today. DS has turned into a monster in the last month. For the first time today he had reins on to give me some control but he well and truly lost it in the store.

When we got to the check-out he was winding himself up into eventually the worst tantrum of his life. The couple in front of me had about 3 bags worth of groceries but took so long that the baskets only queue next to us went from having about 12 people in it to just 1 person queuing. The couple were chatting away s l o w l y to the cashier who they knew. They intially glared at me with each ratchet of DS's tantrum. Then I realised the glare had become rather smug. They then had everything bagged up but chatted some more before contemplating paying so I said to the cashier, 'Could we move things a long because I'm keen to get him (gesturing to DS) out of here'. The woman of the couple said to the man, 'I see the mother's as bad tempered as the boy'.

I rose above this comment but then our paths crossed on the way to the car park so I said to them, 'I heard what you said and it was equally rude'. They were really put out saying I shouldn't have joined their queue if I didn't want to wait. He continued to rant on but I walked away. However, DD says he gave me the finger when we were queuing to leave the car park.

I don't think this was my finest hour. I wish I could have kept my mouth closed. Was I unreasonable?

"The cashier would sympathize and tell you that her eldest (of 6), Darren"

Your snobbery is misguided actually, HTH.

The eldest would be called Tyla, Kyle or Asbo nowadays. Daren is quite eighties.

There are lots of tantrumming toddlers/screaming babies in my Waitrose, but I live in Nappy Valley. The staff are unbelievably helpful. I even had one ask me if I would like a bottle of water when I sat down to BF DS2 on a bench just after checking out (he had been screaming whilst checking out).

YANBU to be pissed off with them, I am a chatter, but I always move right along once we are done.

No one mentioned the cashier's age, cupcake. How ageist of you to neglect to consider that she might be over 50.

Was not a slur on cashier's name, was a slur at your pikey name knowledge

On the contrary you were extremely restrained. I just would not have been able to contain myself at overhearing the woman's remark - she would have rued the day she ever set foot in Waitrose

OMG . YANBU. Customer service in this country can just be SO LOUSY. The till operator should have moved them on long before you felt you had to say anything. I honestly cannot believe it sometimes (have lived here 19 years).

It is true, Cupcake. I cannot understand the modern naming way. I hear of children named Destiny, Armani and even Memphis and my heart just sinks.....

HTH, now if pregnnt woman says that she wants a Lambrini, I'm never sure whether I am doing cat's bum mouth about drinking during pregnancy or name choice

M&S is the worst culprit of the over-chatty till person. Don't get me wrong, I'd stand and chinwag all day given the chance but when I went in the other week to buy a card, the till lady was quizzing me about my holiday. I felt rude just ending the chat abruptly because she waas nice but I could feel the eyes of queuers lasering the back of my skull

YANBU - I had something similar happen to me in Sainsbury's earlier this year when stuck in a queue behind a woman who was taking forever, constantly running backwards and forwards to get something she'd forgotten, or to swap something with damaged packaging for one with pristine packaging.

We must have been held up for about 15 minutes, which on a busy Saturday with two screaming toddlers in the trolley was unbearable.

So when for the umpteenth time she dashed off to get something I snapped at her, she accused me of being aggressive and impatient, I said are you oblivious to the fact that my DC have been going increasingly demented while you've been replacing half the items on the conveyor belt and can't you just get a move on, she burst into tears and told me that I was a terrible person and her best friend was dying and how could I do this to her, and the cashier was giving me evils (they had been having a lovely chatty time while the DC were melting down in the trolley), and another customer came over to comfort her, and DH began panicking that the manager was going to be summoned to ban us from every Sainsbury's in the country.

Not my finest hour, but I can't stand people who are so wrapped up in themselves that they can't show some consideration for those around them - and that goes for those with a monster shop who don't let someone with three items through in front of them.

ttalloo I am grrrin on your behalf. I hate people who continue their shopping when they have decided already decided that they have finished and would like to queue up.

It happened to us in Aldi the other month (classy bird, I know) Some snooty bint decided that she absolutely needed some feta stuffed-olives so off she went to get them, but ambling along at a leisurely pace, perusing the other goods, whilst a queue of irritated shoppers tutted and folded arms. DH piped up in the end and asked if there was any chance the checkout girl could get on with serving the rest of us. She did, to be fair. She hoyed all of the bint's stuff into a basket on the floor Then she came back and tried to barge her way back to the front and some ballsy woman behind was all "don't think so, love. Get to the back" Loved it.

*grrrring

Oh crap ttallo - I hate it when you are perfectly in the right but perversely and incomprehensibly everyone sides with the other party

YANBU

I have extra sympathy today as I literally had to drag DD all the way home from nursery (over a mile) while she screamed bloody murder - "I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME YET" repeat ad infinitum! thank fuck nobody said anything.

I must've looked a right evil cow but was I going to give in? no way!

YADNBU.......people can be so rude. Especially to Mums with mid-tantrum DC's.
Was shopping with my DS one day, when he also had a tantrum at the tills. Another customer sneered "what he needs is a good smack", which made my blood boil. But to top it off the cashier laughed and agreed!! Talk about bad customer service!
You sounded very calm and controlled..........v. envious of you. I demanded to see the manager and made an official complaint. Didn't get me anywhere, but helped me calm down and stopped me chasing after rude man and getting myself into trouble

What total fuckwits. I find it hard to believe that people are so self obsessed. Love a good chat with the cashier, me, but not if there's anyone in the queue. Quite feel like turning up en masse at your local Waitrose and letting my little angels let rip.

and the male shopper gave you "the finger" .....how lovely of him eh, esp as you had 2 & 4 yr old kids with you - im back orf to asda me.
i wld have done exactly the same as you.
yrnbu

or UANBU even
(smile)

Honestly when confronted with screaming toddler, I'm not surprised they got a bit grumpy.

If your toddler was kicking off the best thing to do is abandon the cart, hopefully finding someone who you can say "I'm coming back for that" and remove toddler somewhere else for 10 mins to calm down.

Supermarkets are busy, full of people and not the place to try and enforce discipline because there are loads of breakable things within grabbing distance.

You can come back and hopefully reclaim the cart after toddler has calmed down.

northerngirl41 pmsl

northerngirl41 - are you serious?!

You're standing in a queue in the supermarket, you're desperate to get out with your shopping and your sanity still intact, and you then remove said screaming toddler from the trolley, having given up your space in the queue that you've been stood in for an eternity, so that screaming toddler can calm down after 10 (more like 30 in the case of my two) minutes and then go back to repeat the whole miserable process all over again?! Because IME once a toddler comes out of a supermarket trolley they aren't going back into it without a major fight.

And cupcakes' cashier in Aldi deserves a medal.

northerngirl, you are the grouchy, intolerant waitrose customer of tomorrow

Or northerngirl has exceptionally beautifully behaved children who never throw tantrums in supermarkets (which accounts for her strange advice to abandon your trolley and remove your tantrumming child to a quiet place where it won't annoy the customers).

Could you imagine the scale of the tantrum your child would throw if you removed them from the queue (which is what they want), calmed them down, and then took them back to the back of it?! No fucking thanks. If I'm going down, you're all coming with me

What do people expect from supermarkets? People silently and graciously floating around the isles, with some light classical music playing in the background? Kids are kids, they will throw tantrums, especially in these situations. Hell, even I feel like tossing myself about on the floor and screaming when I have spent an hour in there to find that they haven't restocked the Tiger Baguettes.

would complain about the cashier. Their job is to work quickly not stop & chat when she sees you need to get through the business of paying quickly.