To be embarrassed about being an idiot in M&S today

[Dontfencemein]

Paying for some tights in M&S today. DS2 asleep in pushchair. He is 8 months. This is a rare treat (the sleep, not the tights).

The lady on the till sees a queue forming and naturally calls for colleagues to open another one. She picks up a bell, not a little tinkly thing but a great big one like they have in schools. She rings it with gusto. I hush and rock the pram as baby now waking up. I pray for a speedy transaction.

The colleague duly appears and then she too picks up the same bell to ring it AGAIN. At this point I crack and loudly beg the women to stop ringing the bell. The poor women apologise and look at me like I have taken leave of my senses.

Now I feel totally mortified. I didn't mean to be rude or come across as an uber-entitled mother who expects the world to revolve around her (sleeping) children. They were just doing their jobs. Going back to apologise would make it worse
I fear.

What would you do?

I work for a supermarket (though not the one in question) believe me a parent with a pram begging for a cease in a loud noise we were making should certainly not be cause for embarrassment for you op. Personally I know sometimes you are so single minded in your job you don't notice a problem you could be causing and speaking for me and my colleagues we would just be glad you told us of the problem rather than making a complaint without letting us solve it. If those cashiers feel any different then I would call into question their work ethic, a customer who begs instead of getting aggressive is a godsend!

You were not unreasonable to beg for them to stop, and as for what to do about it? Nothing! You did nothing wrong! Please don't be embarrassed for trying to keep your dc sleeping

She got off lightly in my opinion to OP, I Can tell from this thread we all share the same species of sleep evaders.

I once waited like a ninja at the living room window for the postman to scare the shit out of him by swiping across the blinds and giving him a death stare as he lifted his hand to throw open my squeaky gate and slam it into my wall... yet again. every day ds would wake up at this loud explosion and asking him to stop hadnt worked so I was forced with nothing else but the death stare!!

The lady with the bell probably realised why as soon as you'd asked and will feel more mortified than you, so dont think anymore about it.

I understand, I can totally relate to this! My dc hardly ever fell/fall asleep in the pushchair. So on the odd occasion that they did it was so important that they stayed asleep for a decent amount of time. I would inwardly get the rage if anyone did anything to risk waking them.

I once cried at the poor Postman when he rang the bell to deliver a parcel that I'd ordered.

You're fine; forget it.

Every Monday when the Tesco food shop arrives (9-10pm) and the children are asleep I sellotape a note to the door. It used to say 'please knock', now it says 'please knock GENTLY' as they thump on the door assuming the bell is broken.
I would do the same as you in M&S.

Is it just me who desperately needs to know whether your baby woke up or not? I hope not! I am seething for you.

You don't need to worry You won't be the worst customer they've ever met, not by a very long way!

Jesus, people really ring bells like that in shops?

You did well to remain so polite OP.

OI, Quasimodo. SHUT THE FUCK UP!!

This ^^ would also have been acceptable under the circumstances.

I would have shussed them too, and also probably felt bad about it afterwards, so i feel your pain!

For the first year of my reluctant sleeper DD's life the Hermes delivery woman rang the bell of our flat every single time she came to deliver something to any one of the 11 flats in our building (she would just press all 11 bells at once in the hope someone would buzz her in and she could dump it in the foyer. )

She always came at roughly the same time, when DD was asleep, and woke her every time. This meant she woke her up 3 or 4 times a week.

After about a month of this I wrote a note and sellotaped it to the front door instructing her not to do this again or I would be making a complaint.

I saw her come up the drive, read the letter and then she came round the side of the house to my kitchen window and started banging on it. When I opened the window she said "sorry, can you buzz me in, the stupid cow upstairs has got her knickers in a twist about me ringing all the bells"

I unloaded about 5 minutes of invective at her and never heard or saw her ever again.

I'm not a mum but bells and unnecessary loud sounds in shops piss me off too. They trigger a migraine for me so YWNBU, keep up the good work

Oh blackcherries, I used to work in the aforementioned orange-branded popular supermarket and I had just as much hatred for the ridiculously noisy stock trollies! We don't have any choice but to use them I'm afraid and they're all so old that they rattle like crazy, I promise I always tried to dodge any aisles with prams with sleeping babies!

I love LurkyLurkerMcLurkface's post near the top

I remember when my eldest was a baby - he finally went to sleep! I went to make myself some lunch and realised I had no matches to light the hob, so I texted my lovely neighbour, 'do you have any matches?'. A minute later she rang the front door bell with matches! I near enough burst into tears when I opened the door (ds did stir, but luckily went back off and I got my beans on toast). A precariously sleeping baby makes us all a bit crazy I think!

Oh look.... another thread to bash retail workers!!

Tannoys get complained about
Walkie talkies get complained about
Loud voices get complained about
And now.... bells

Op you were totally reasonable. Don't even give it a second thought.

I've been there more than once with my baby who wakes up at a pin drop.

My first was a horrendous sleep evader. During a particularly bad week I shouted at our window cleaners who were both up ladders at the back of our house, when they decided to start a shouty conversation five minutes after I had finally (after 45 minutes of trying) gotten him DS down for a nap. They got huffy with me, so I presented screeching DS to them and told them to spend the better part of the next hour trying to get him back to sleep. They soon quietened down, but we never saw them again! A few days later a delivery driver decided to hammer his fist on our front door, just after DS had gone down for a nap, ignoring my note to just leave the parcel in the porch. I whipped the door open and growled at him that I would tell his mother what he did, while DS wailed in the background. He looked terrified. I feel bad about it now, but at the time I was too sleep deprived to give a shit.

DS2 loves his sleep though, could sleep through a pneumatic drill in his room. I like to think he's my reward for having two years of sleep deprived torture with DS1.

I understand about unnecessary noise and politely asking someone to be quiet is totally reasonable. Sometimes retail workers can't really help it though, sometimes they're so busy overworked that they simply don't notice things like this. I would be very happy if a mother nicely asked me if I could try and be a little quieter rather than complain to a manager.

Although once a woman brought a tiny new born baby to order some food from me at the till and complained the cars in the drivethru (about 15 meters away through a tiny window) were being too loud and could we ask them to turn their engines off when they got to the window

elornaelephant that's very thoughtful of you! I know people don't really have a choice when that's what they've got to do their jobs!

marks staff resent helping oyu
dont take any pride in what they do
SULK as they shove your clothes into a bag
on the returns counter they take ages rehanging the previous customers shit before serving you

It happens forget about it. I remember when my son was a sleeping baby I'd feel incensed about people driving past on motorbikes or church bells ringing. It happens.

Not aimed at you OP, but a general comment: It's not the people at the till who have decided the company policy of ringing a bell. The bell is supposed to be helpful in requesting more assistance if there's a queue of customers etc. People soon get annoyed if they're waiting too long. Email head office if you really want to see it changed.

I once ran outside and shook my fist at a jet plane that flew low over my house when I had just got my baby to sleep. It was like I was possessed.