A Mommy Story

Deciding I hadn’t punished myself enough yet, we ventured out to the mall to go to another Stride Rite to look for shoes. This one is larger and had a better stock, so I thought we’d have better luck in finding shoes for an extra-wide, extra-tall toddler foot.

Apparently every other mom in a tri-county radius had the same thought as me. We signed in and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Cordy rearranged the shoes on the shelf in reach over and over in that obsessive habit toddlers have.

When it was our turn, I had four pairs ready to go, and I already knew her size. I thought I was saving the sales associate time. She still insisted on measuring Cordy’s foot. Cordy, in her usual manner, protested being messed with. The sales associate made a comment about Cordy’s chubby feet, then went back to find shoes.

After some time, she returned with two boxes. She explained that she didn’t think Cordy’s foot would fit in three of the styles I picked out, so she brought the fourth and another style she thought would work better. While I was a little disappointed that three of the styles were nixed before we even tried them, I trusted her expertise.

As we tried on shoes, Cordelia whined, cried, and occasionally kicked. When we would set her down to check the shoes, she’d try to run away. As we tried on the second pair, this exchange happened:

Me: Sorry, she’s being a brat today.

Sales Associate: (said with far too much enthusiasm) Why, yes she is!

Me: *blink* Wha?

SA: She does seem to be a cranky child. (then, to Cordy, who is still throwing a fit) Are you like this all the time?

Me: Uhm…we’ll just take these two pairs.

I wish I was making this up. Of course, after we had left the store I thought of all sorts of things I should have said back to that woman. Did I underreact? Should I have been more offended in the moment? I mean, I suppose she could have been joking, but there was no smile on her face as she said it. And I was too stunned to ask for clarification.

I told Aaron about it, and he wondered why I even bought the shoes. I bought them because I had been waiting forever, and she’s impossible to fit, and I wasn’t coming back out to go through all of this again for at least 3 months.

So, to everyone who works retail, I say: please don’t be honest. If a mom is having a bad day with her child, don’t confirm what she already knows. It only makes the mom feel even worse, and for those moms who aren’t as mild-mannered as I am, it could turn ugly for you. Real fast.