Let It Break

There was a young family that came into the store to look at all the animals and such. They had a toddler with them. Who was in that "must grab and hold and throw" everything stage.

And like a lot of parents in the area....these parents were letting their little one run wild around the store.
Which included letting the child play with the fish decorations.
Which are breakable.

Like I even spoke out when the child threw two of them down to the ground --not breaking them-- and was like "Hey little one, don't do that. It can break." As I picked up the ornaments and put them back while still trying to talk to the overeager father about what it would take to set up and establish a fish tank.
But the mother didn't do anything as the child wheeled around and went straight for another series of ornaments.
And like...it's not my job to babysit someone else's kid. Especially when I'm trying to keep the father on track and tell him what he wants to know when he's so taken with the idea of having a fish tank in the first place that he's not quite listening to a word that I'm saying even though he is trying to listen to what I say, while the mother is hovering nearby 'kinda' watching the kid.

But doing nothing to stop the kid from playing with the breakables.

Until one broke.

*exhales* 
I knew it was only a matter of time really.
But it does bug me when parents don't react to potential problems until the problem becomes an actual problem. 

It was only after the mother realized that her kid broke something --which I took the broken ornament away because we don't actively make people pay for things that break in the store (though I do think if parents just let their kids run wild that they should face the consequence of their kid's actions)--but it was only after something broke that the mother picked up the child and moved them to a different area of the store away from them.

*shakes head*
The parents didn't end up buying anything in the end.
Which isn't surprising. It's a lot of $$ right off the bat to set up a larger tank.
And I could see that the guy was more of the impulsive type who wants something 'now' but doesn't think through all the ramifications of how much work is involved with fish tanks. 

We'll see if they come back for the tank in the future.
But I am kinda glad they didn't get anything today.
Owning a pet, even a fish, is something that you want to make sure you have the time, resources, and energy for.
It's not something you want to impulse buy.

-Sarnic Dirchi