What Is With Everyone Slapping Children That Aren’t Even Theirs?
To be clear – I don’t think it’s okay to slap any child. But I find it truly unbelievable when I hear stories of people slapping kids that aren’t even theirs. First there was the drunk jerk on the plane who slapped a baby. Then there was the parent who slapped the wrong child in detention. Now, a shop clerk slaps a toddler because she thought she was being “naughty.”
The mother was shopping with her two children – a toddler and an eight-month-old – at the popular beauty store, Boots, in Lincolnshire, England. The Telegraph reports that as the mother was talking to a shop clerk, her three-year-old knocked a bottle off of a display. As the mother bent down to pick up the item, another staff member slapped her toddler on the bottom, telling her she was being “naughty.”
The shocked mother stormed out of the store and returned the next day to complain to a manager. The manager barely acknowledged her claims, saying that the clerk told him it was just a “tap.” What? The frustrated mother attempted to file a report with the police but couldn’t because the incident didn’t “leave a mark.” The mother insists she wasn’t looking for monetary compensation – just an apology. An apology she didn’t get until she reported the incident to the media.
Whenever I hear stories like this I try to put myself in the situation and figure out what I would do. I really have no idea. I think I would just be so shocked that someone actually put their hands on my child that I wouldn’t know what to do. My first instinct would probably be to go on some verbal tirade – but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to do that in front of my children. I don’t blame this mother for storming out, flustered, and handling it later when she was on her own. I probably would have done the same thing.
Boots has since issued an apology to the mother, but there’s no mention of whether the clerk was fired so I’m assuming she wasn’t. That is bullshit. I think expecting employees not to assault toddlers should be a minimum requirement on the job.
(photo: Peshkova/ Shutterstock.com)
