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33
9YO Breaks $150 Worth Of Goods In Store, Parents Shocked When They Have To Pay For It
Retail workers have enough on their plate to have to still deal with children running riot in their stores. One would think that it’s the responsibility of parents to keep an eye on their own kids while shopping, and not leave them unattended – for obvious reasons. But some people might surprise you…
A pet store manager was left stunned when she noticed a 9-year-old had been left to his own devices while mom and dad used the self-wash station to clean the family dog. When she politely asked them to supervise their son, the manager was met with rudeness and pure entitlement. But things really took a turn for the worse when the kid destroyed $150 worth of goods in the store.
RELATED:
Working in retail can cause all sorts of headaches
Image credits: pressfoto/Freepik (not the actual photo)
When a child ran rampant in her store, this manager refused to let the parents get off scot-free
Image credits: Freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: prostooleh/Freepik (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Queen_of_Meh1987
Is the “you break it, you buy it” rule actually legal?
Many of us have childhood memories of our parents telling us not to touch anything in a store. Even as adults, we tend to step with caution around fragile items. The sound of an expensive vase shattering on the floor can strike the fear of god into us, as we work out what we will have to do without for the rest of the month after paying for the thing we just broke. By mistake.
But can shopkeepers legally enforce the “you break it, you buy it” rule? It can get a little complicated, says the Express Legal Funding group. A store owner can ask you to pay for the goods, but if you refuse, there’s not much they can do right then and there.
“The only way for any retailer to seek reparations from a customer is to pursue legal action against them for the full retail price,” notes the site. “Even then, there are specific criteria that the customer must meet before a store owner can act against you.”
The store owner would have to prove that the damage to the property was intentional or a result of the customer’s gross negligence. Not the result of a simple accident.
They would also have to prove that you were fully aware that the store put the rule in effect. Not that easy, unless you were informed by retail staff upon entering the store.
Shop owners cannot legally detain you over a broken item, say the experts. “The ‘you break it, you buy it’ rule might have been around for nearly a century, but it is not legally binding,” explains the Express Legal Funding site. “A store owner can sue you for compensation over a destroyed or damaged product. However, they cannot detain you and force you to pay on the spot.”
Mistakenly damaging an item in a shop is not a crime. But a store owner detaining or harassing you unprovoked could be.
So what should you do if your child breaks something?
“Whether it was an honest mistake or a child being a little too rambunctious, the best thing is for you and your child to approach the owner of the broken item and fess up,” says Sarah Davis, etiquette expert and co-author of Modern Manners for Moms & Dads. Apologize and try to make it right immediately, she adds.
Help your child to learn from their mistake, says Carla Marie Manly, a California-based clinical psychologist and author.
“The goal is to help the child see that accidents caused by running, wild play, etc. are largely preventable but that accidents can happen even when care is being taken,” she explains.
Many praised the store manager, saying that parents should be held accountable
“You’re nicer than I would have been”: People shared similar stories
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What do you think ?
Nils Skirnir 3 months ago
The kid was nine, not four. At nine, if they don’t know better, it’s just terrible parenting
Yrral Spavit 3 months ago
PSA: For spam notes like the one below you and click on the tree dots to the right of the name line and report it. Maybe if enough of us do it they'll ban them.
Load More Replies...
Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
I understand that some kids are naturally chaotic. I will never understand parents who refuse to take responsibility for their children's behavior.
Say No to Downvoting 3 months ago
This kind of story really really s***s me. I have 3 kids - 2 with ASD and all 3 with ADHD. As difficult as it is, I make a point of taking them the the shops with me at least once a week and getting them to do little jobs and errands because a) I have to and b) they need to learn these basic skills. Since they were tiny I have worked SO FREAKING HARD to teach them to be considerate and responsible citizens in public - to stand to the side if they need to stop in walkways, not to fiddle with breakable things or things they won’t by, to use their manners and to help others if they can and, by and large they do a lovely job (occasionally one might start reenacting the space battle game going on in their head or get a bit jumpy and excited about something fun, but will calm down quickly). So it utterly blows my gaskets when we have not one but TWO parents that can’t be f****d keeping one small child supervised and behaving themselves for one small outing. Utterly ridiculous.
Serena Myers 3 months ago
To say "well done" sounds bloo dy patronising, so I won't say it! I genuinely don't know how you cope, much respect, Say No.
Load More Replies...
Rika 3 months ago
I was once at a fast food place when those two thug-looking teens (16-18) came in and started to grab beers from the shelves. They obviously refused to pay and started threatening the owner to beat him up. He said they might wanna rethink that because he had been stabbed a couple of times, he sure wasn't impressed by them. Their mother then showed up saying she was gonna pay for them and she asked her boyfriend for money because she didn't have any. The guy was upset but he handed out his wallet when she said, "Do you really want the cops to get involved ?!" She paid and dragged the teens out while yelling at them. Apparently, the whole family had warrants out and starting drama in a public place over a few beers wasn't a good idea.
Uncle Panda 3 months ago
When I was 7, I somehow managed to pull a tall display of kitchen knives and scissors onto myself. I wound up standing, unmarked, in a tiny circle of uncluttered floor while sharp blades lay all around me. I wasn't certain who was more freaked out, the hardware store owner or my dad. Until we got home, anyway.
Kristen Woehlke 3 months ago
Hey, look... In 2 more days, I'll be 50 (and thankfully, no kids!). Yes, I live with my mom. Who is 80 and we take care of each other, but let me tell you all something... My mom never needed to yell or spank or whatever. She has... The. LOOK. That look that only a mom can give that says it all (you're so in for it of you don't quit now, type of look!). Mom can still give that look and it makes me want to shrink and disappear immediately if she gives it to me!! At 80, she's still a spitfire, but that look... *cringe!!*
Serena Myers 3 months ago
Ah yes. The Look. Practiced and perfected by mothers and wives and women for centuries and almost certainly for a lot longer than that! It is an acquired skill, a facial expression, usually with raised eyebrows, a slight frown and a stare that quite clearly states "you think?"
Load More Replies...
Lace Neil 3 months ago
I used to work in a pet store and due to having parents constantly leave their kids in the store to look at the animals while they shopped in the nearby garden centre, i put up a sign that said, "This is a pet store, not a creche." If parents ignored the sign, I'd call the police and report abandoned children. Note: if said children were just being quiet and looking at the animals, I wouldn't do this. Unfortunately, those children were not the majority. Most would run riot banging on fish tanks, rattling cages and damaging stock which the parents would have to pay for when they finally returned. It didn't take long for people to realise that we wouldn't put up with their kids being dumped in the store.
m6kdjj7269 3 months ago
I used to work at the toy dept at Kmart and people would come in with their kids and turn them loose in the toy dept and tell them to go play while they shopped. These kids some of them anyway, would open toys and just completely trash entire aisles. Well, I got tired of cleaning up after the trail of destruction and I would go up to those kids and tell them if they didn’t stop I’d call the police on them. It scared the c**p out of them and highly decreased the level of Star Wars and dukes of hazard and Lego ( yes, that’s how long ago it was, I’m ancient)
Beth Wheeler 3 months ago
I think I would have told them to either come get their kid or I'm calling the police for vandalism, see how fast at least 1 if them would move their jazz! If I was working in a store and somebody was trying to leave their kid. I would tell them as soon as you walk out that door I'm calling the police and reporting you for child abandonment.
Rimjabbathehutt 3 months ago
Specifying *human son* in the first paragraph. News flash: owning an animal down not make you a parent. You are not a dog mom. You own a dog.
Nils Skirnir 3 months ago
The kid was nine, not four. At nine, if they don’t know better, it’s just terrible parenting
Yrral Spavit 3 months ago
PSA: For spam notes like the one below you and click on the tree dots to the right of the name line and report it. Maybe if enough of us do it they'll ban them.
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
I understand that some kids are naturally chaotic. I will never understand parents who refuse to take responsibility for their children's behavior.
Say No to Downvoting 3 months ago
This kind of story really really s***s me. I have 3 kids - 2 with ASD and all 3 with ADHD. As difficult as it is, I make a point of taking them the the shops with me at least once a week and getting them to do little jobs and errands because a) I have to and b) they need to learn these basic skills. Since they were tiny I have worked SO FREAKING HARD to teach them to be considerate and responsible citizens in public - to stand to the side if they need to stop in walkways, not to fiddle with breakable things or things they won’t by, to use their manners and to help others if they can and, by and large they do a lovely job (occasionally one might start reenacting the space battle game going on in their head or get a bit jumpy and excited about something fun, but will calm down quickly). So it utterly blows my gaskets when we have not one but TWO parents that can’t be f****d keeping one small child supervised and behaving themselves for one small outing. Utterly ridiculous.
Serena Myers 3 months ago
To say "well done" sounds bloo dy patronising, so I won't say it! I genuinely don't know how you cope, much respect, Say No.
Load More Replies... Rika 3 months ago
I was once at a fast food place when those two thug-looking teens (16-18) came in and started to grab beers from the shelves. They obviously refused to pay and started threatening the owner to beat him up. He said they might wanna rethink that because he had been stabbed a couple of times, he sure wasn't impressed by them. Their mother then showed up saying she was gonna pay for them and she asked her boyfriend for money because she didn't have any. The guy was upset but he handed out his wallet when she said, "Do you really want the cops to get involved ?!" She paid and dragged the teens out while yelling at them. Apparently, the whole family had warrants out and starting drama in a public place over a few beers wasn't a good idea.
Uncle Panda 3 months ago
When I was 7, I somehow managed to pull a tall display of kitchen knives and scissors onto myself. I wound up standing, unmarked, in a tiny circle of uncluttered floor while sharp blades lay all around me. I wasn't certain who was more freaked out, the hardware store owner or my dad. Until we got home, anyway.
Kristen Woehlke 3 months ago
Hey, look... In 2 more days, I'll be 50 (and thankfully, no kids!). Yes, I live with my mom. Who is 80 and we take care of each other, but let me tell you all something... My mom never needed to yell or spank or whatever. She has... The. LOOK. That look that only a mom can give that says it all (you're so in for it of you don't quit now, type of look!). Mom can still give that look and it makes me want to shrink and disappear immediately if she gives it to me!! At 80, she's still a spitfire, but that look... *cringe!!*
Serena Myers 3 months ago
Ah yes. The Look. Practiced and perfected by mothers and wives and women for centuries and almost certainly for a lot longer than that! It is an acquired skill, a facial expression, usually with raised eyebrows, a slight frown and a stare that quite clearly states "you think?"
Load More Replies... Lace Neil 3 months ago
I used to work in a pet store and due to having parents constantly leave their kids in the store to look at the animals while they shopped in the nearby garden centre, i put up a sign that said, "This is a pet store, not a creche." If parents ignored the sign, I'd call the police and report abandoned children. Note: if said children were just being quiet and looking at the animals, I wouldn't do this. Unfortunately, those children were not the majority. Most would run riot banging on fish tanks, rattling cages and damaging stock which the parents would have to pay for when they finally returned. It didn't take long for people to realise that we wouldn't put up with their kids being dumped in the store.
m6kdjj7269 3 months ago
I used to work at the toy dept at Kmart and people would come in with their kids and turn them loose in the toy dept and tell them to go play while they shopped. These kids some of them anyway, would open toys and just completely trash entire aisles. Well, I got tired of cleaning up after the trail of destruction and I would go up to those kids and tell them if they didn’t stop I’d call the police on them. It scared the c**p out of them and highly decreased the level of Star Wars and dukes of hazard and Lego ( yes, that’s how long ago it was, I’m ancient)
Beth Wheeler 3 months ago
I think I would have told them to either come get their kid or I'm calling the police for vandalism, see how fast at least 1 if them would move their jazz! If I was working in a store and somebody was trying to leave their kid. I would tell them as soon as you walk out that door I'm calling the police and reporting you for child abandonment.
Rimjabbathehutt 3 months ago
Specifying *human son* in the first paragraph. News flash: owning an animal down not make you a parent. You are not a dog mom. You own a dog.
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