There was a customer in the store I work at, with her son who was probably 7 or 8. The son was looking at some buttons (buttons as in pins, brooches) with slightly irreverent cartoon images on them. The kid wanted one of these ($1 each!) and the button he chose had a rather heavy-metal-looking skull on it. The mom clearly found it distasteful or tacky. So when the boy asked for it she said no, but her stated reason was, “skulls are evil.” The kid of course pressed her, but she held firm and kept repeating that skulls were evil.
From my eavesdropping position behind the register I was shocked. Skulls are evil? I kept waiting for her to qualify this with, “Of course you have a skull, it’s under your face and over your brain and it’s an important thing you need to live; while biologically natural, skulls are sometimes used to represent death and evil things, but this is only part of the story.” But no. The mantra continued: “skulls are evil.”
I found this to be lazy and pathetic parenting, and decided the woman had something of a weak mind. Especially when she allowed the boy to buy his second-choice button, which was a cartoon image of a mushroom cloud. A mushroom cloud. And she didn’t blink. I was floored by the ignorance and the irony. I can only assume she couldn’t identify a mushroom cloud or didn’t know what it represented. I know it’s hard raising kids and you have to pick your battles. But really. Skulls are evil?
Hi Ya! It's L trying to figure this dang thing out!
ReplyDeleteHa, ha - success - I am here, NOW!!!
ReplyDeleteBESTEST & funniest part of this post for me was:
"Of course you have a skull, it’s under your face and over your brain and it’s an important thing you need to live."
Sometimes, don't you wish you could just let loose with the truth in those situations? But nooooo, the customer is always right! Meh!