Feed My Infant? Who Ever Heard Of Such Nonsense?!

This happened several years ago when I was a brand-new mom. My son had terrible colic. He would scream and cry for hours on end. Later, we would learn it was due to sensory issues caused by his autism, but at the time, all the pediatrician could tell us was that he would grow out of it.

I could only leave the house for short periods of time with my son because he would fuss and cry the whole time. And, of course, I would often receive “helpful” suggestions from older ladies. One that drove me crazy was ladies telling me I needed to feed my son. I mean, did they really think that I wasn’t feeding him?

I had a few places near my house that I would go when I needed out during the middle of the day when my husband wasn’t home to watch our son. One of these places was a grocery store only five minutes from our house. The only problem was that there was a lady, probably in her fifties, who worked there, and every time she saw me with my fussy son, she would call out to me that I needed to feed him.

She worked at the deli counter, which was right by the only entrance to the store, so I couldn’t avoid her. It never failed; each time I walked in, I would hear, in a sing-song-judgy voice:

Employee: “I think he’s hungry!”

Or:

Employee: “You need to feed him.”

One of the routines I would do before I left the house was to feed my son. Then, I would quickly get him in his car seat and race out the door while he was at least a little happier than usual. So I knew for a fact he was not hungry. I even went up to the lady once, trying to explain my situation and that my son was not hungry, just colicky. She didn’t care and the harassment continued.

I stopped going to the store as often, but it was really the only place nearby I could get out to since it was the middle of winter. And this grocery store was much smaller than others, so I could get through the whole place and check out just before a meltdown could happen.

When I did go, I would scowl at the employee as I passed and she called out her suggestion to me. This did nothing to deter her, which is pretty impressive since I have a Resting B**** Face that can make grown men run in fear.

Finally, one day, I had had enough. I had to go to the store for something, and I couldn’t wait until my husband got home to go get it. I psyched myself up for the usual gauntlet I had to run to get past the main entrance. However, I must have been in a really bad mood, because as soon as she called out her usual greeting, I yelled back something along the lines of:

Me: “Would you please stop?!”

She was a little taken aback because I had never lost it with her before. I was a little taken aback myself because I usually avoided making a scene. As I turned away from her, I immediately saw one of the store managers standing nearby in the produce section looking at me and her in surprise. Completely embarrassed, I put my head down and hurried away, convinced I could never shop at that store again.

However, later, as I was leaving with my groceries, the same manager approached me and handed me a gift card to the store.

Manager: “We really appreciate your business, and I hope that you will always feel comfortable coming to our store.”

I think I mumbled some sort of thanks as I tried to fight back tears (it was a stressful time) and made as graceful an exit as I could.

The next time I went to that store, the woman at the deli counter was still there, but this time, she just glared at me and didn’t say anything. I became a very loyal customer of the store after that.