I was in line at Walgreens. In the other line were a mother and her son who appeared to be around 5. I first noticed them because the boy was yammering and his words were not quite making sense. They were Asian, and I thought at first he must be speaking a western rim language. As I listened closer the English came into focus. I did have the impression that English was not the mother’s native language.
The boy was lobbying for some candy or toy. One can only assume that marketers do not have children or are sadists. Why else would they place such things at eye level of children? It is Pavlovian destiny that the child will begin to try and close the sale when they see such things.
The mother had indicated several times that she was not going to purchase whatever item the son wanted. At this point she was ignoring him and I had pretty much done the same to them. My attention was suddenly jerked back to them by the youngster saying in a loud, obnoxious voice, “Hello…Hello…”
I decided right then I would have probably gone to jail as I would have backhanded the kid across the store.
