Woman having a go at children in shop

[Funatunsh]

2 children were in the store and I'm guessing they were being a bit hyper as they were buying some sweets. They were about 11.
However, I was quite uncomfortable with the way the children were spoken to by other customers.

It started off with the security guard asking the children where their parents were to which the girl explained she was with her friend (she seemed quite intimidated), the security guard thne started raising his voice at her about how her mum should not let her in the shop on her own and next time her mum must be with her.

Her friend then came from the checkouts after buying sweets and an elderly lady came up to both children and pointed her finger at them saying "I can't even bring my husband to shop with me yet here you two are in the shop together"

I understand the security guard warning the children if they were misbehaving or whatever but AIBU to think the elderly lady should not have got involved with two children who already looked quite shell shocked?
Covid rules are reducing now what with indoor restaurants and pubs opening that I couldn't believe the woman had a go at 2 children over the fact she doesn't bring her husband shopping with her

[LindaEllen]

[quote Funatunsh]@BackforGood sad times we live in when we can now have a meal in a pub but 2 children are scalded for being together[/quote]
They're being scalded? Pouring boiling water over them does seem a bit of an overreaction.

[Flaxmeadow]

I’d have told the old lady to fuck off

This is what's going wrong. No respect whatsoever

[Guavafish]

That’s horrible

But I do remember being treated like this as a kid when my parents were around.

[PyongyangKipperbang]

I work in a shop and the fucking covid police really get on my nerves. I am mask exempt, I wear one when I am shopping but an 8 hour shift with one break is too much, I really struggle.

One regular comes in and has a go at me every single time. My exemption card is prominent and work has provided me with a badge as well. He always says "Well I am exempt and I wear one, if you cared about anybody but yourself you would too". I just have to smile and say that my doctor supports my decision and we should all do what we feel is best for ourselves. I wouldnt mind so much but he takes it off as soon as he is out of the shop, a moments thought on his part would help him realised that 5 minutes is a lot different to 4 straight hours!

[MarjorieBouvier]

Fgs, if you are really that thick you can't work out what the OP meant, then you really can't get all high and mighty about misspelling/autocorrect fail.

[MarjorieBouvier]

Quote fail @lindaellen

[Funatunsh]

God forbid a human makes a spelling mistake. I notice a lot of errors in my posts but i'm typing quite fast. Not the end of the world really is it?

[ClareBlue]

Covid has sucked the joy out if life and given excuses for inadequate bullies to be what they are, inadequate bullies.
Children were told to give up all their rights of passages, social life, sport and much more to, in effect, protect adults from a virus that wouldn't generally be a serious issue for the children.

And the thanks they get is this shit when going to buy some sweets. FFS

[Flaxmeadow]

Covid has sucked the joy out if life..

Especially for the elderly

[ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere]

@PyongyangKipperbang

I work in a shop and the fucking covid police really get on my nerves. I am mask exempt, I wear one when I am shopping but an 8 hour shift with one break is too much, I really struggle.

One regular comes in and has a go at me every single time. My exemption card is prominent and work has provided me with a badge as well. He always says "Well I am exempt and I wear one, if you cared about anybody but yourself you would too". I just have to smile and say that my doctor supports my decision and we should all do what we feel is best for ourselves. I wouldnt mind so much but he takes it off as soon as he is out of the shop, a moments thought on his part would help him realised that 5 minutes is a lot different to 4 straight hours!

Next time tell him there’s no such thing as “exempt but I wear one anyway”. The only grounds for exemption from wearing a mask are “cannot wear a mask” or “wearing a mask will cause you severe distress”. If he is wearing a mask and doesn’t seem in any way distressed then he’s almost certainly not exempt, unless he’s (ironically) masking a panic attack unusually well. Being asthmatic/autistic for example may lead to you being exempt but most asthmatic/autistic people are not actually exempt. I don’t know who’s more annoying, the “I’m exempt but I wear one anyway because I have moral fibre” brigade or the “I briefly had a ventolin inhaler when I was seven therefore The Man can’t make me wear a face nappy” mob.

[Notthemessiah]

@Flaxmeadow just because you're old doesn't mean you automatically deserve respect or should be able to be rude to anyone else, even (or especially) children.

[Flaxmeadow]

I'm not old

[ClareBlue]

@Flaxmeadow

Covid has sucked the joy out if life..

Especially for the elderly

Of course,
So why take it out on children and make it even more joyless.

[Flaxmeadow]

So why take it out on children and make it even more joyless

Because they're scared? Because they're nervous about leaving the house after more than a YEAR

Look, the woman was rude yes but come on, it's not like she walloped them with an umbrella. They are not tiny little kids at 'about 11' and maybe she thought they were older. All she did was wag her finger and tell them her circumstances. Maybe she thought they were breaking the shop rules

I couldn't get worked up about this and if it was my children at that age then I'd have just took it on the chin and I'm sure my children would have too

[Emmelina]

Sounds like the poor kids were just popping in for sweets on their way home from school. Most kids that age walk home alone or with a friend!

[Flaxmeadow]

...and I can think of a hell of a lot worse dangers for 11 year old girls where I live.

You might see her as an interfering old bat, but where I live, those interfering elderly ladies can be real pillars of the community, and when push comes to shove and real dangerous shit is going down, you might be glad they interfered one day

[PyongyangKipperbang]

@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere

I have bad hay fever that triggers asthma, so while I am ok from October to about the end of Feb, as soon as the tree pollen starts, I am buggered. I know that there are people at work who didnt believe me (lots of pass agg "Oh, thats come on suddenly, you were ok last week") so I emailed the area manager and my boss a letter from my doctor confirming this. Some days I feel that I should wear a T Shirt with it on! A mask makes my breathing so laboured that I take my ventolin too much and my heart rate goes barmy.

But HE can wear one for five minutes at a time, therefore so should I for a full shift....

[baroqueandblue]

I couldn't get worked up about this and if it was my children at that age then I'd have just took it on the chin and I'm sure my children would have too

And two wrongs don't make a right

[Flaxmeadow]

And two wrongs don't make a right

No but I was brought up to respect my elders, old fashioned maybe, but they are the ones who have taken the brunt of this crisis. Give them a break in shops. Walk away

[baroqueandblue]

The elderly are resilient, that's how they got to be the age they are. Children are learning resilience, and even then it's relative. Those girls did nothing to warrant being scolded by a grown (strange) man and an old lady, who each spoke to them like they were delinquent objects. I'm not having it, I don't care how old that woman was, she needs to grow up. And don't get me started on that security guard. His own dangerous insecurities are at the root of his attitude - to children. If you think them being 11 somehow excuses the miserable way they were hounded in that shop, I'm afraid that says much more about how you were treated as a child and your denial about what that means. Read Alice Miller, you owe it to yourself (not to mention your adult children)

[Flaxmeadow]

This is the world we live in now. Two teenagers told off in a shop are described as 'hounded' and 'shell shocked'
People really need to look up the meaning and origin of these words "hounded' and 'shell shocked'

[SenecaFallsRedux]

Wow. The ageism on this thread. How old was the security guard?

[baroqueandblue]

Yep, you don't want to hear it. This is what children are up against. Plus ça fucking change!

[helpmebeanadult]

YANBU

[Ozgirl75]

I sent my 10 and 8 year olds off to do a small grocery shop and they came back surprised that they had their bag searched on the way out. I just said they have to get used to it as some young people do the wrong thing.
OTOH when they went to the local shop, they were doing “sweets maths” and realised they were 10c short for what they wanted and put it back, and the man behind the counter said they could have it anyway (we obviously sent them in with the 10c later).
Kids have to expect that not every interaction they have will be positive and be able to shake that off. Mine go out on their bikes and sometimes people have said “slow down!” and other times have said hello and sometimes grumbled about “bikes on the pavement” (you can ride on the pavement as a kid over here) but I’ve said they should just go about their business because no one knows what’s going on in their life - maybe they’ve had a bad experience before or maybe they’re just in a bad mood.