Ducking Out Of The Guilt Trip

(I’m in line at the register behind a woman who is carrying a baby on her hip and has a young boy who is exchanging his old video games for store credit. The cashier, who is a young woman around my age, has a small clip in her hair that looks like a little rubber duck.)

Woman: *pointing at the hair clip* “Oooh! It’s a ducky! It’s a ducky! Do you see the ducky?”

Baby: *the baby is too young to talk, but sees where she’s pointing and smiles and babbles happily*

Woman: “Awww, you love duckies! Duckies are your favourite, aren’t they? I bet you wish you had that ducky! Do you want that ducky?”

(This goes on for an increasingly uncomfortable length of time. The cashier keeps inspecting the games being traded in and doesn’t react other than to give a polite smile and laugh, while the woman keeps pointing at the hair clip and essentially goading her baby.)

Woman: “Aww, you don’t have the ducky! I bet you want that ducky! Poor baby loves duckies!”

(The baby, who was previously behaving perfectly, is clearly starting to get confused and upset. It begins to cry. Meanwhile, the cashier has finished with the transaction.)

Woman: “Oh, oh! I guess we have to say goodbye to the ducky! But you love duckies, don’t you? I guess it’s too bad! You have to leave the ducky! It’s so sad!”

Little Boy: *looking embarrassed* “C’mon, Mom, I’m done.”

(The woman stands there for a moment longer, staring at the silent cashier who is still smiling politely, then throws up her free hand in disgust, and turns and storms out with her boy and crying baby, muttering loudly about how “unbelievable some people are.” The cashier gives me a disbelieving look.)

Me: “Was she seriously trying to guilt you into giving your hair clip to some random stranger?”

Cashier: “I don’t even know. I’m just so tired.”

(I just felt sorry for the little boy who was clearly embarrassed by his mother’s behaviour, and the poor little baby who had no idea what was happening and being deliberately upset by its own mother.)