Yesterday my granddaughter and I encountered, for the second time in a month, belligerent customers in a craft store who were swearing and threatening the cashier. She in turn called security, and it was as if someone had exploded a bomb in the middle of a peaceful purchase of paper and flowers for a ten year old's creative ideas. I almost rushed her out, but the rucus settled down and we paid and quickly left. In the car, we discussed how scary the incident was and how people can be really angry and take it out on innocent people. That led to discussing how she felt men were scarier than women, and I said that was natural, as men are often quite a bit bigger than women. Then we discussed how different cultural groups behave differently and can make each other nervous. These women we had witnessed had an in-your-face attitude and so did the clerk. A lot a female dog terminology was used. I told my granddaughter that some people feel that kind of language is normal, probably because they've heard it from the time they were kids.
All in all, I won't likely go to that store again with my granddaughter, but we had some helpful conversation about how angry speech can be frightening and that it is better not to answer back, but just get out of the way of the conflict as quickly as possible. For people who don't care how they behave in front of children, well, they have my compassion that their lives have been so volatile that they can't pause for appropriate language and behavior. But I don't want to be around them.
No comments:
Post a Comment