Little Shit

[IscreamUscream]

AIBU to be a bit cross that a member of staff at Tesco called a school boy a Little Shit. Granted the Boy was messing around at the self service till and he should have known better. But the reaction from the staff member was rude and unprofessional towards a year 7 child.
Member of staff grabbed some receipts boy was messing around with and said to him aggressively "think your funny do you, you little shit". Yes the boy was in the wrong but it didn't warrant the reaction.

unprofessional in a customer service role, where you just have to suck up the behaviour of the customers unless it justifies calling security.

somewhat OTT for the incident, but probably showing someone at the end of their tether with ill-brought-up kids making work for others.

He is entitled to think the boy is a little shit but to call him that and also saying it infront of customers is unprofessional. Imagine the crap Teachers have to put up with day in day out, they can't just snap and start realing off expletives at the class. As much as they would like to!
Maybe this young man is in the wrong job. I doubt very much he would have said this if the child's parent was there.

A year 7 child is just as much a customer or potential customer as any adult. I think the OP should have reported the staff member to the Line Manager / Supervisor. The boy will (I hope) go home and tell his parent and the parent will complain.

OK he was playing with receipts. What receipts? Receipts that customers had left behind? If so, they were rubbish anyway.

I think the customer is ALWAYS right attitude is why so many members of the public believe they can get away with speaking to service staff in a manner that they wouldn't speak to anyone else.

I firmly disagree with 'the customer is always right' attitude that customer facing staff have to adopt. However, i firmly agree that an employee should always maintain professionalism when faced with a horrible situation. To take the attitude of 'well he swore first' puts you on the level of a sulky 5 year old and not how a business that depends on face to face interaction should be run. Not if it expects to maintain a professional image with a reputation for providing good customer service, as Tesco should. Be as angry as you like in the staff room or at home later on but you really shouldnt lower yourself to that level with the customer.

I will add that this boy was not abusive.

But maybe the staff member has to put up with kids day in day out behaving like annoying brats and just snapped.

Would this defence be acceptable for a teacher or childminder, two professions which arguably have to put up with kids more than retail workers?

Either swearing at kids is ok or it isn't. Swearing at and in front of customers is ok or it isn't. There isn't really a grey area depending on how wound up you are.

It's not just this child that the colleague swore at - it is the other customers who will have been subjected to that language which they might not approve of, and that is another good reason why the colleague should have held his tongue.

The poor lad is probably still crying now.

OP you were unreasonable not to stand up for the boy at the time by speaking to the staff member directly. As I see it the only way to rectify the situation is by writing in very strong terms to Tesco and sending them a link to this page or else we're all going to hell in a handcart.

every thing is so PC. If he was being a little shit then he deserved to be told!

It's not okay.
Posters on MN have very weighted views about older boys.

Not acceptable to call customers 'little shits', no.

It is not OK for an adult to talk to a child like that.

Fine to think it, but thoughts are not actions (obviously)

It's a bit strange that children are expected to show levels of self control that some adults don't seem to think is required of them (adults)

Some people seem to imply that if the level of crossness is high enough, speaking that way is OK.

Maybe the little shit was the Tesco worker's own son.

Sometimes my teen is a little shit and I have no problem telling her

I doubt hed call an adult being annoying a shit

I'm really upset by how many people think this language is ok. The child was behaving like a little shit, yes. To say so is not acceptable. Telling him off would be fine, best done age-appropriately (kindly to a younger child, with more explanation for an older one). But using language like this is horrible in anyone, totally unacceptable in a customer facing role. To give an example I was waiting in Tesco recently when the man in front of me started being totally horrible to the lad on the till. Basically pissed off cos he'd has to wait like a whole four minutes or something, and took exception to being asked if he had anything nice planned for later (something along the lines of 'how can you ask that, can't you see that waiting four minutes here has ruined my whole day if not weekend!'). I and any other bystanders would have agreed he was being a miserable bastard. But the server carried on being unfailingly polite and cheerful for which I complimented him when making my purchases. It would have been totally unprofessional and wrong if he'd called the man a miserable bastard. The difference is that miserable bastard would have complained/not come back etc. the child in this story had little power of this sort which makes it worse that he had abuse yelled at him.

that's the thing havana, staff should never call any customer a little shit, even when customers are being shitty. you sort of sign up for dealing with stuff like this appropriately when you take on a role in customer service.

There's no reason whatsoever for an adult to call a 12 yr old a little shit.

It's rude, unprofessional and inappropriate and if any adult said that to my 12 yr old I'd be very unhappy indeed.

I don't think I'd be too happy if i knew a Tesco employeehad called my son a little shit.

But I'd be even more cross that my son had behaved like one in the first place.

Tesco woman should have saved it for her colleagues later or even muttered under her breath, but sometimes we say things without thinking, I'm sure the 7 year old isn't too scarred by it.

If a supermarket employee is getting that stressed by a year 7 kid that he or she simply cannot stop themselves calling said child a little shit, I would imagine they are probably in the wrong job.

I say that as a teacher who is sometimes driven to distraction by a class full of 9 year olds. But I don't call them little shits to their faces

monkeymamma Noone really thinks it is acceptable really. In real life they would be dumbfounded if they witness this happening in front of them. People adore playing contrarian on AIBU just for the sake of it.

How unprofessional. Why is it ok to call a child a 'shit?..there are rude adults in stores too and staff like this person who namecalled wouldn't dare call them a shit. Theyd be way too scared of getting a mouthful back, or getting their lights punched out. This boy was naughty, yes thats irritating but doesn't sound as if he was abusive in any way. I guess most adults were living saints when they were youngsters then, halo intact.

I find that whenever adults are rude to young people, an excuse is made "oh well they are probably stressed, had enough, other youngsters must have got on their nerves in the past" blah blah blah. As if a young person isn't a person and it doesn't matter what you say to them or call them, just because you are an adult - an adult presenting a bad example, too. & talking to a young person like that as more likely to get away with it. Rubbish attitude.

The employee definitely shouldn't have done it but if I'd seen and heard it and thought the kid was being a little shit I would have thought you got what you deserved and maybe next time you'll moderate your behaviour. He'll get over it but he won't forget it. I wouldn't be happy if someone had called my DS it but I wouldn't complain if I heard what he'd done and I would tell him tough. You act like that you expose yourself to being spoken to like that and need to take the responsibility for that.

I agree she shouldn't have called him that name.

told him to stop messing around, fair enough

The fact she would have been called in to see the manager and "spoken to" if anyone had complained, shows how unreasonable she was.

A clip round the ear would have been a far better response

She could have pretended her hand just slipped. Far better defence and highly satisfactory.