To have been annoyed at bloke in sports shop for telling off my son?

[NoJokeBoak]

Our sports shop has a gaming section now (makes no sense to me either!) separate to Sports shop apparently but no real separation physically.

I was stood looking at games and a worker approached and said to DS (who is 10) "Don't do that, you can't just leave things here, this is a separate part of the shop. You can't dump things here. That's not nice!"

It was a really condescending tone, really 'super nannyish'

I asked what was happening and he said DS had put a Nike bag on a hook with gaming items on and it didn't belong there.

I asked him to direct any issues to me and I will be the one to tell my son off, not him, he had no right to.

He huffed and walked off. I asked DS what happened and why did he have a Nike bag and why did he hang it up in the games section.

He said he didn't bring the bag over, it was hung up there already and it got knocked off by a lady going passed with a buggy, so he was just putting it back rather than leaving it on the floor.

On hearing that he was just trying to be helpful I went back to the worker who was laughing with his mate and calling me a Karen!! I explained to him that DS hadn't brought the bag into his section, he was simply picking it up off the floor after it had gotten knocked off from there.

He just kept saying its a different section and the bag didn't belong there.

I just left as he wasn't listening to me at all and I was annoyed at being called a Karen for standing up for my son.

WIBU to email HO, I got his name but does that actually make me a Karen if I complain 😐

Can you imagine if retail workers started giving everyone into trouble for putting items down in the wrong place?! It's literally part of the job to keep the shop tidy because things get moved, looked at, knocked over etc.

But because it's a young boy (and whoever said the OP doesn't know what happened, I'm sure OP knows whether their son is likely to be telling the truth or not) the shop assistant was in the right? Naaaah. Shop assistant was very much in the wrong. At the most, having worked in retail, if he'd noticed the bag being put in the wrong place he should have said "oh I'll take that back for you" and removed the bag from the incorrect place.

Your first instinct telling you the guy was an arse was confirmed by what you overheard when you approached him.

The store 'Game' has recently been moved to inside Sports direct all over the country. It's probably to save money now that games are becoming more of a digital thing, as Sports direct actually owns Game. They are still classed as completely separate stores though, so if you are planning to make a complaint then you'll need to make it to help.game.co.uk and not to Sports direct.

Bless your DS picking up the bag. The shop worker was being a wanker and proved himself an even bigger wanker calling you a Karen when you called him on it so yes complain is my opinion.

souns like an arsehole to me no need for name calling id be complainging about that

Shop worker was unprofessional calling customer a Karen.

He was unprofessional and could use a little education in customer relations. Complain away!

Anyone who uses the term Karen is an unimaginative sexist dickhead. I’d complain.

The shop assistant sounds like he was on a power trip with your son. I wouldn’t shop there any more because of the Karen comment and the experience sounds rubbish. I probably wouldn’t bother complaining about him, but it would be kind to the owner to tell them why they are losing a customer as sports shops are struggling to compete with online. Our local sports shop has just closed down, despite all the staff being absolutely lovely.

This. If the assistant wouldn’t tell an adult customer off for doing something, he shouldn’t tell a child off for the same thing.

If the child was doing something childish (deliberately moving goods around, for example) then perhaps a minor rebuke would be in order, but unless OP’s son lied to her (seems unlikely as his story is perfectly plausible) then the assistant should have acted exactly the same way as he would have to an adult customer. I’m not precious about adults telling other people’s children off, if they are clearly behaving inappropriately, but that doesn’t apply here.

The fact that he called you a Karen suggests that as well as looking down on children, he also looks down on women.

I don’t know if I would complain. I’d probably just fume a bit, then forget it, but I think you would be perfectly justified in complaining, if you want to.

I agree, adults dump things all the time, never heard one being told they are not being 'nice'! DS would have found that condescending at four.

I think you buried within your text that the bag was not your son’s bag.

Your response was ridiculous. If he had done it, the bloke was reasonable to be annoyed, and he believed that he had.

DS could have defended himself.

Didn't you read the bit about the OPs DS picking up the bag because it had been knocked on the floor by a customer and just hung it up rather than just leaving it lying there. He wasn't moving things around he was doing a good thing - poor chap, never let a good deed go unpunished as they say.

UANBU about a shopkeeper talking about you being a Karen. That’s utterly unprofessional. I hate the use of the insult, and think it’s misogynistic and used to try and put women in there place and tbh I’d probably go ‘full on Karen’ with the manager about it. 🙂

You spent time typing that out.

Whatever you do, please don't worry about whether it will "Make you a Karen" - don't internalise that sexist bs!

Yabu.

If he'd have treated your DS like a toddler you'd be annoyed too.

He is 10.

Honestly, if you worked in a shop and understood the level of ridiculousness of people. I work in a shop that takes Evri parcels and the grief we take over it is shocking and it literally is NOTHIING to do with us if your parcel is damaged on transit, lost and all the other reason you decide to shout at us. We've had staff in tears with the ignorance of people.

Did you actually read the OP or just imagine an entirely different scenario just so you could have a go @SarahSissions ?

This. A staff member insulted a customer openly. I'd have asked to speak to the manager immediately and complained.

How old is your son? Is he old enough to stand up for himself?

Yes, this

This is so true.
It's bullying.
Shop staff, bus drivers etc etc think it's fine to be rude or even aggressive to younger boys. I've seen it many times.
Another little bit of crap that society loads onto male kids, making them feel resentful and misunderstood.
I'm a Feminist, I must add.