We go to the bank once a week to deposit my earnings, and Angie always looks forward to the trip. Our bank keeps a large tin of Royal Dansk cookies on hand, and Angie always gets to pick one out when we've finished our business. She used to call it the "cookie bank" when she was younger.
Most of the tellers don't even bother offering lollypops anymore because they know we get a cookie for a treat. I figure they're a bit healthier than the straight sugar of a lollypop. But today's teller just wouldn't take a hint.
"Do you want a piece of chocolate?" she asked Angie, bypassing me.
"No, thank you," I answered, as the teller kept her gaze directed at Angie. "We've already had enough chocolate," I continued, supplying an unnecessary but polite excuse.
"No?" she questioned. "Just one piece?"
"No. Thank you, though. We'll get a cookie on the way out," I said. But the teller was still looking at Angie.
"You don't want a piece?" she asked again. "Just one piece," she insisted, "and we don't have to tell Mommy."
Now, my Angie is a shy child around strangers. And even around people she knows, if they're teasing and they keep at it too long, she gets very nervous. Though this woman wasn't teasing, Angie was getting nervous. I hugged her close and said, "It's alright. You don't have to answer her."
I refused the chocolate politely for Angie two more times before our business had been transacted and, as we were leaving, the teller squeezed in one last attempt. "Next time you come to the drive through and I'll put a piece in and Mommy doesn't have to know."
I left the bank angry. I held my tongue, but what I really wanted to say was, "Stop encouraging my daughter to defy me and deceive me." I couldn't believe that this woman was being so adamant. And she did not address a single word to me. I'm fuming all over again.
1 comment:
Actually, you should have said something. People don't get to take such liberties with other people's children, no matter how well intentioned they are. I'd have asked to see the manager.
At our old commissary, there was a cashier who always rubbed me wrong. One day, I checked out and then waited for the kids to pay for their candy purchases with their own allowance. They were obviously with me, and obviously, judging by the exaggerated way she leaned over the counter, too young to have what she wanted. "ID card..." she asked of my very young and flustered child, while I, in exasperation, explained the futility and lack of necessity of such a request. She continued with each of the children in turn...and then I did speak to the manager, who apologized for her overzealous behavior and promised to speak to her, even though she was technically in the right. I made it a point to check out in her line after that, just so those candy buying kids could annoy her every week. :-)
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