Toddler broke item in garden centre

[Summerhen]

Took my two children DD (6) and DS (2) to the garden centre this morning to get a little bit of cake and some veggie plants for them to put in the garden.
We had our cake where they both sat nicely and then left the cafe to go and let them choose which plants they wanted. As I opened the cafe door both of them went out before me and due to the door being a bit heavy it took me a couple of seconds to manoeuvre the pram out and through the door by myself. As I looked up from the pram I spotted my little boy had picked up an ceramic ornament from a display on the floor so was quickly like ‘oh put that down DS’ whilst I rushed over, so was obviously my fault for asking him to put it down but I didn’t think and he put it down a bit to fast to which it cracked and broke into two pieces. I immediately headed over to the till to pay for it but I was met with a lady who just made me feel so bad for it. She told me that I should have been keeping an eye on him and that it was no surprise that it broke when they are so fragile. I’m probably way to sensitive to this kind of thing and need to grow a thicker skin but I’m always so careful with keeping him close to me to prevent anything like this, always telling him not to touch etc - this is the first time either of my children have ever broke anything in a shop and it just surprised me how annoyed she actually was about it. We live in a semi-rural area with not loads around, the garden centre is our closest cafe so just feeling like if I go in their again they’ll think bad of me now 🫣

This! Absolutely! You did the right thing and did nothing wrong. I honestly think such a large percentage of the population would’ve just walked away and ignored it. Don’t feel bad OP.

If she’d have spoken to me like that, I wouldn’t have paid! She’s a twat.

I bought a really cheap fold up basic stroller for the same reason. I paid about a tenner second hand and sold for virtually the same.

I wasn't worried about leaving it outside at the entrance etc. And a rucksack replaced the changing bag.

Don't let it out you off going back. He actually did as instructed so that's pretty good parenting, just a bit hard.

A couple of years ago I took my ds to our local garden centre as I had no money and it was nice for him to look at the Xmas bits. He picked up a large glass bauble and promptly threw it and it smashed . I didn’t have any money so couldn’t pay for it and was apologising and the manager said no need to apologise no need to pay that they know there will be accidents and breakages and they plan for that

As long as you paid for it I don’t see the issue

The lecture was unnecessary especially given you immediately went to pay.

Also, if she was watching you so closely as to criticise your parenting, it would have been good customer service to hold the door for you to help you get the pram through. Not sure I'd be heading back there in a hurry to spend more of my cash.

I would 100% complain! Even if just to prevent her from making some other poor stretched mum feel anxious in future. At the end of the day, these things happen and you did the right thing. You’re a grown woman and a customer, and this person had no right to chastise you like that.

Good. You offered payment and have done nothing wrong. She was unpleasant.

I work in a NT shop. When breakages happen, we ask is the customer ok. Did they hurt themselves. And that is it! Our only concern.

As for when people pay for breakages in other shops, remember they are only allowed to charge you the cost price, not its retail price, of the item. As that is the shops loss.

Don't beat yourself up. Accidents happen. My son at about 8, turned a very large and overly stacked jewellery rotating display, 5 foot high thing, a little too fast before I could stop him, and the whole thing hit the deck. Mortifying!

The one we went to near Chester, heavy doors, was a struggle with the children and just outside the cafe door the passageway was piled high with pots, plants etc. I thought it daft at the time. Don't feel bad.

Yanbu

She was being a dick x

If the door was difficult for you with a pushchair, is it accessible for someone in a wheelchair??

I agree with others though - she was unnecessarily rude, especially when you'd offered to pay for it.

When I worked in retail if this happened the customer would have been asking for the manager and complaining about the attitude of the staff member, are you a people pleaser?

Not too late to do that

You did the right thing and showed your children that you take responsibility and pay for it
It was an accident , your child won't touch next time , it shouldn't be on a low shelf and nobody has any business making you feel bad , being a mum is hard enough.

Horrible. You were doing the right thing. She should have minded her own

I think that any shop putting breakable/fragile items on the floor is asking for trouble.

You did nothing at all wrong, OP - I wish that somebody would have been there to support you and to tell this woman to shut up.

‘So fragile’ they display them on the floor? How sensible. Well done for taking it straight to the till; head high and ignore if you see her again.

It was an accident. You dealt with it really well by immediately going to pay for it. Her behaviour was the problem, not yours.

Both her statements were true, because you know exactly what happened, why it happened and will probably do it differently next time. That’s how we learn, by making mistakes. The test of a person isn’t whether they make mistakes, it is how they resolve it. You went to pay for it and that’s the best thing to do. A+ to you, it’s the perfect outcome.

I wouldn’t get upset by someone who is either permanently miserable, or was just having a bad day. Have a few stock phrases up your sleeve for such an eventuality. I like to use sarcasm with a smile “oh and I was so close to getting my perfect parenting badge” “Is that where I’m going wrong? I thought you were supposed to just let kids run wild” “Yeah, here’s me focusing on raising my children not to be rude when I should be making sure they don’t accidentally smash crappy ornaments in a garden centre”

Chin up, Mum, you’re doing great.

You may be able to claim this back from your household insurance, which very often contains third-party liability cover for you and any under-18s living with you.

I'd have told her that the floor is a stupid place to put small fragile ornaments!

She sounds like one of those people with no life who’s always waiting for everybody else to muck up so that she can assert her superiority. You have the moral high ground: you immediately voluntarily want to pay for it. Fuck her.

Go back and tell her to STFU 😂

This.

you went to pay for it. Not ideal it happened but not a big deal either so try to forget about it.

Accidents happen, this woman needs to unclench.

My ds smashed a bottle of wine in a supermarket even whilst strapped into a buggy. He reached an arm out, grabbed a bottle and promptly dropped it (white wine fortunately). I was mortified and offered to pay and clean it up but the woman in the shop said not to worry about it, she'd had a dog in that had pissed everywhere the day before and so wine was a much nicer thing to clear up.

You did all the right things and took responsibilty, there was nothing else you could do