Ill Behavior

(My coworker told me this story while we were talking about parents’ tendency to bring extremely ill children shopping with them during cold and flu season. A woman and a young boy come to my coworker’s register, and the boy is rather pale and very obviously does not look well. The customer sets him on the counter while she orders.)

Child: “Mommy, I’m gonna throw up.”

Customer: “You’re fine, [Child]. You just need food is all.”

Coworker: *not wanting an incident involving a sick child* “The bathrooms are right over there if he’s not feeling—“

(The customer’s food arrives and she grabs a fry and stuffs it in the kid’s mouth. He weakly tries to eat it but ends up vomiting all over the counter.)

Customer: “[Child], that’s disgusting! You won’t be watching any TV tonight, since you made a mess that this nice lady had to clean up.”

(The child started to cry, and the mom made the poor kid wait while she sat and ate her food. And of course, the woman didn’t lift a finger to help clean up the mess.)