I witnessed a rather disturbing scene while at the grocery store this morning. The players shall be known as Young Lad (who looked to be about 15 or 16) and Old Bat, who appeared to be between 70 and 80. Now, before all you 70-80 year old ladies get offended, I would call a 30 year old an old bat if I saw her exhibit the behaviour I witnessed.
Old Bat was standing at the till and Young Lad came up to her with something in his hands. I'm guessing that she had forgotten an item and asked for a stock boy to go get it for her. Whatever it was that he had brought up front for her mustn't have been the correct item. She says, "Oh, for God's sake. I'll just go get it myself!" With that, she brushed Young Lad aside and stormed off to get her oh-so-important item.
I wish she could have seen the look of dejection on his face. And I daresay that had someone been so contemptous towards her grandchild (assuming, of course, that she has any), the Mama Bear that resides within all mothers would have charged forth and she would have torn a strip off that person.
How many times have we, who are a generation or two older, moaned and groaned about the perceived laziness and ineptitude of the young kids now in the workforce? I'll confess to doing it. But here was a young fellow who was DOING HIS JOB and he got summarily dismissed by this cranky Old Bat.
Now, it's been said that everyone is fighting some sort of battle. Perhaps she had some stressful things going on in her life and Young Lad bringing the wrong item was the "final straw". Maybe someone really *did* piss in her Cornflakes this morning.
Or...maybe she just thinks that being "of a certain age" entitles her to be demanding. Perhaps she was a spoiled brat when she was a child and lives with that feeling of entitlement that we, who are a generation or two older, abhor so much in today's youth.
Whatever her reason, I simply can't imagine that it was good enough to warrant treating Young Lad with such disdain. Especially when he was DOING HIS JOB.
Well that wasn't very nice of her at all. Hopefully someone else came along and did something nice for that young man. He certainly doesn't need to be discouraged about good work. As for the old bat - what goes around, comes around. Hope you're having a good day. :)
ReplyDeleteDebi, I expect karma will get her eventually. I felt so sorry for the poor boy. He looked utterly defeated.
ReplyDeleteI had a great day, today, and I hope you did, too. Thanks for stopping by and becoming my first follower.