People in Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Grocery Carts

Mike was just at the grocery store, and a kid around 8 or 9 was throwing some sort of tantrum. He was whining about not getting something he wanted, and to show his discontent, he was jerking the cart around and pushing it in front of his mother to get to her. The mother did nothing...didn't tell him to stop, didn't take the cart away from him...nothing.

A bit later, Mike was bending over to pick something up from the dairy section and a cart suddenly jammed into his calf and Achilles tendon. That's right, you guessed it...in the throes of his continuing tantrum the little punk kid had catapulted the cart right into Mike's leg. Out of instinct, Mike exclaimed "Ow, what the $@&#!" I'd say that's a pretty normal reaction when a cart slams into you unexpectedly.

So what did oblivious mother do? Did she apologize? Did she ask Mike if he was okay? Nope...she scolded Mike for swearing. Um...HUH? I know Mike should not have sworn, but her kid should not have been whipping the cart around, or he would not have rammed it into Mike's leg, thus instigating the swear. If it's anyone's fault, it's HERS. Ironically, the kid actually had a look of remorse on his face before his mom stepped in to yell at Mike. Good thing his mom took away any chance of him learning a lesson from all this...

Bottom line, I'm pretty sure she would have been pissed if Mike scolded her for the way she was handling her son's tantrum. ("How DARE you question my parenting skills??!!!") But somehow she thought she had the right to scold Mike for swearing? People like her have no self-awareness...they don't see their own flaws, yet have no problem telling everyone else what is wrong with them.

All I'm saying is if you don't have your own crap in order, don't go around telling other people what to do. Because it just makes you an asshole. And a really bad role model for your kid.