Silly Employee

I'm a retail warrior; that is I work in retail.  Well, I did before I had the boys.  It's a thankless job that I enjoy and am good at.  I don't miss the long hours, working weekends and window displays but it was a fast-paced, ever-changing environment that kept me on my toes. 

I lead with this because I understand the position of a store employee when it comes to dealing with customers with kids. This past weekend Tom and I went to our local home improvement store with the boys to pick up a few things.  We arrived early, before ten o'clock, and to my shock all of the race car shopping carts were currently in use. No problem, Lincoln can ride in the cart and Colby can walk. After cruising through the garden area Colby hopped on the front of the cart to get a ride.  He remained like this for ten minutes while we where greeted by employees asking if we needed help with anything.  And then we past the appliance area....

A polite employee informed us that children shouldn't ride on the front of the carts. He mentioned policies and insurance issues for the reason so I had Colby hop down while I was looking at some merchandise. The employee then returned to the appliances to start up a conversation with some other shoppers. Alright, I get it, rules are rules, safety, blah, blah, blah. I've worked retail, I get it, no problem.  Luckily we were wrapping up our trip and we started heading towards the registers. Well, Colby wanted to get back on front so I let him.  We barely got moving before that same man, interrupting his conversation with potential appliance shoppers, yelled over to me that it wasn't safe. I smiled and informed him that  "I'd get right on that" as I walked by.  He continued to grumble as we went to the register, paid for our things, thanked the cashier as Colby maintained his post on the front of the shopping cart.

Colby demonstrating his ride on the front
of the cart in K-Mart the next day

Silly employee, I've been there! I really have. As a parent you need to pick the hills you are going to die on, the same is true for a retail employee.  I hope that I didn't ruin his day for him for not obeying the rules because he didn't ruin mine.