Confrontation in Albertson's Grocery Store

This event happened to my son and I while checking out at Albertson's on Thursday, September 29, 2011.

Yesterday my son and I were at Albertson's purchasing some snackie items. When it became our turn in line for the cashier to ring up our purchase Landen noticed the stacks of candy sitting on the cashier's stand, pointed and exclaimed, "Candy! Mommy, I have?" To which I replied, "No, we are buying different snacks." The cashier at that time said something about not knowing why stores put candy on the registers like that to which I replied that it was a marketing ploy for exactly what happened with my son. Children see candy or other treats and want some. I also stated that my son was "unlucky because I actually parent and he therefore does not get every little thing that he asks for." The cashier smiled (it was a guy probably a few years younger than I am).

Immediately after making my statement the woman who was standing in line behind us pipes up asking if I was calling all parents who give their children candy bad parents. I said no, that I was not infering that people were bad parents for giving their children candy but that my statement was pointed at the fact that as a marketing ploy it really works because a lot of people by the time they are at the checkout line their kids have driven them half-crazy and they just give the child whatever they are demanding just to shut them up. I told her my stance was against lazy-parenting. To which she replied that she didn't appreciate my calling her lazy and that I had no right to say that she was a bad mother.

At this point the woman's husband (?) starts to murmer to her that she needs to stop, it is also the point where the cashier was finishing up my transaction. I was beginning to be upset at this point because this woman had obviously not actually listened to the words that I had spoken, had accused me of saying things that I had not in any way actually said, and to top it all off she started her tirade in front of my child. I took the opportunity of the cashier handing me my receipt and her husband speaking to her to get out of the store.

The entire purpose of my comments to the cashier were to point out that it was a good marketing ploy because of two things:
1. Parents will give their children things to not have to deal with them anymore.
2. People have low impulse control.

Now, I would like to know what made this woman think that she had any right to purposely try to begin an argument with someone in the middle of the grocery store, especially in front of a small child.

That was a very strange trip to the grocery store.