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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to have not picked up the sweets DS chucked all over Sainsbury's floor?

191 replies

YoMoJo · 19/05/2010 17:17

popped into local "convenience" store earlier today.

Long queue as always, which is directed along the aisle that is packed with crisps, chocolate & sweets.

More sweets & chocolates at till points.

DS (2.5 yrs) fed up of continuously being told "NO" he couldnt have any sweets/chocolate/crisps then proceeded to chuck about 10 Mars Bars on the floor whilst I packed & paid for my shopping at the till.

In protest at having to queue in the said aisle I left them all on the floor & walked out the store.

so AIBU

OP posts:
skidoodly · 20/05/2010 01:00

YANBU

Original poster
YoMoJo · 20/05/2010 08:08

I think I got the message, thanks

DS didnt get off scot free - had a bloody stern telling off once we got out the store. Not the same as me reacting at the time - granted.

I dont even think DS knew what was in the packets that he kept picking up. It was the continuous "this one, Mummy?" "No not that one, put it back" that was driving me to nuts today.

On most days it wouldnt even bother me but Yesterday was one of those days. Yesterday was a real struggle for me.

I think saslou understood my situation perfectly.

And yes, I do feel bad for the sales assistant that had to clear up after me, as I said before I have been there, done that and have my own repertoire of ignorant customer stories. And now someone has one about me

OP posts:
cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 09:32

Only just spotted this;

BabyDubsEverywhere Wed 19-May-10 21:30:42
My Ds is a nightmare, hes been reading all the parenting books, he pre-empts my parenting with more ingenious ways to be a brat

Best laugh I'll have all day

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 20/05/2010 11:47

YoMoJo - sorry - we all have bad days, and I think I added to yours by weighing in my twopennorth.

Just hang onto this thought - one day, he will be at school, and you will be able to shop unencumbered. Even better, he will become old enough to be left at home, so you can shop in peace and get him to help you carry the bags in and unpack them when you get home.

My minions dses are 13, 15 and nearly 17 and would rather chew their own legs off than accompany me to the supermarket, so I get to mooch round on my own, feeling sympathy towards the parents struggling with little ones. I'm sorry I didn't show you that sympathy yesterday - I am coming down with a horrible cold (but that's no excuse).

wahwahwah · 20/05/2010 11:50

I would have made him pick them up. He needs to learn that he has to do this.

I know, it's a pain, but it will be better for you in the long run!

JaneS · 20/05/2010 12:07

If I saw someone's two-year-old chuck mars bars all over the floor, I'd go to help the mum pick them up. It wouldn't occur to me she might be crusading or something by leaving them there!

Ah well, we live and learn, shan't bother another time.

cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 12:10

I'd help if she was actually picking them up. If it looked like she wasn't going to bother, I'd tut and roll my eyes at her like the judgemental twat person that I am.

skidoodly · 20/05/2010 12:38

I don't see why the OP should have picked up the sweets that were deliberately placed there in order to elicit the reaction that she had to deal with from her DS.

Supermarket wants to leverage pester power to increase their profits? Supermarket can pay people to clear up when the success of their tactics leads to a mess.

cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 12:48

So supermarkets put sweets there to incite tantrums? I thought it was about consumer choice but I think you're right.

JaneS · 20/05/2010 12:54

ski, by that logic, shops should have empty shelves at child-height, all chocolate in plain wrappers and all the booze for mummy safely out of sight so you have to ask for it.

It's a shop. They are trying to make a profit*.

skidoodly · 20/05/2010 13:02

They are trying to make a profit by putting sweets at the counter so that children will annoy their parents while they are waiting to pay.

The sweets are there with the specific intent of getting children to act up, which is not the case with all of the produce within a child's grasp.

They can make a profit this way if they choose, but if so they should pay the person who has to clean up afterwards.

skidoodly · 20/05/2010 13:04

"So supermarkets put sweets there to incite tantrums?"

Of course they do.

"I thought it was about consumer choice"

PMSL

well if it were, the OP exercised her choice not to buy the sweets and to leave them all over the floor.

cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 13:06

A lot of supermarkets now sell clothes. Well, I am royally pissed off because I impulse buy clothes like a dick and when I am food shopping I should not be tempted by clothes. I am off to Tesco to throw the Florence and Fred all over the floor, see if that doesn't learn 'em.

Megatron · 20/05/2010 13:06

I'd have eaten them ALL, I'm helpful like that. No mess to clear up then so it's a win win situation really.

skidoodly · 20/05/2010 13:07

You are an adult, and therefore it is to be expected that you are fully in control of your impulses.

cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 13:09

She can exercise her choice not to buy the sweets and do her bit in denting their profits by doing so. Leaving them on the floor = behaving like a twat.

cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 13:09

And OP is an adult so she should have behaved like one and picked them up.

EndangeredSpecies · 20/05/2010 13:17

"Supermarket wants to leverage pester power to increase their profits? Supermarket can pay people to clear up when the success of their tactics leads to a mess".

I like your style skidoodly BUT - and I have done this although no mars bars were thrown - rather than leaving the Mars bars on the floor so people can tut disapprovingly at me I would make sure the whole shop knew what I thought of their sales strategy by loudly informing my toddler why the shop had put the sweets there and why I wasn't going to buy them for him. Same with those stupid ride-on token toys and bubblegum machines

skidoodly · 20/05/2010 13:19

Well I don't think she's a twat, I admire her.

skidoodly · 20/05/2010 13:23

yes, Endang that is more like what I would have done, but now I'm thinking if I ever find myself in the OP's situation I'll do like she does.

cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 13:25

Admire her? It's the most pathetic bit of anti-capitalism I've ever heard...

skidoodly · 20/05/2010 13:29

I'm not anti-capitalist.

I just don't see why customers should uncomplainingly put up with having their children targeted in that way.

Bollocks to writing a letter that will be binned - refusing to clean up the supermarket when it is made messy because of their policies sounds about right to me.

mumofthreesweeties · 20/05/2010 13:32

YWBU, it is not the staff's fault that the queues were long, more that there were a lot of shoppers so how can you really protest about that. What next hey, punch people in the queue in front of you in protest. These are the kids we end up having to deal with at my work with no manners and who leave litter all over the classroom and dont see a problem with it. When I go out with my children there is no littering and if we eat out I always leave the table as neat as possible. So who did you really expect to pick up those sweets and in fact your protest didnt really work because you did not express what the issue was to the designated staff in the shop

BritFish · 20/05/2010 13:33

awww its so cute when people complain about supermarket queues, completely ignoring the fact there may have been a shortage of staff for whatever reason, or staff were needed to collect a stock intake, or were on their legally required break....or that they went in at a time that isnt usually busy and there was an unexpected queue and not that many staff on.
supermarkets keep a close eye on the queue situation, trust me, you dont need to complain unless a staff member has been rude.

cupcakesandbunting · 20/05/2010 13:36

Skidoodly, what would have happened is some minimum wage shop assistant would have come out and picked them up and thought "what a moron" rather than come out, picked them up and then found the store manager to tell her/him that they've just had someone raging against the machine and shouldn't we move the confectionary cos she had a point?

Nothing will come of this little diva-fit. Letters are ineffective, agreed. The power of the Facebook group is gaining momentum. There are ways to get your point across and behaving like Mariah Carey on a bad day isn't one of them IMO.