You shouldn't let your kid listen to weirdos ramble on. A simple PLEASE STOP can shut it down. Buy her a cute swan stuffy and she'll get over her fear.

Just to add: Swans and geese can be mean, so remembering this might actually be a positive thing, in the long run, for your kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s not totally wrong about swans. They can be really mean. I think I have an appropriate level of fear of swans.

Farmer here: swans are NOT nice. Not a bad thing if she is a bit scared of them!

Sounds like someone with a big personality trying to be entertaining. My kids would have loved that. Just not your kind of humor, and that is OK, but complaining is very Karen (and I don’t like that word).

I agree that this could be a possibility. Many, perhaps slightly older, kids would be fascinated and happily thrilled by someone doing this. In the future, avoid his checkout line. If something like that happens again, you could say in a firm, straightforward manner something like : “ My kids are a little too young for this kind of story”, and change the subject. (“Kiddo, can you hand me two oranges so they can get scanned.”) I would only complain to a manager if I had first indicated to the associate that their conversation was not welcome.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s not totally wrong about swans. They can be really mean. I think I have an appropriate level of fear of swans.

Farmer here: swans are NOT nice. Not a bad thing if she is a bit scared of them!

Sounds like someone with a big personality trying to be entertaining. My kids would have loved that. Just not your kind of humor, and that is OK, but complaining is very Karen (and I don’t like that word).

Agree with all of this. They are mean and it sounds like a dynamic personality that doesn't mesh with yours. Teach your kids how to work with, or avoid, those people. I wouldn't contact a manager over this.

They being swans... Swans are mean.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s not totally wrong about swans. They can be really mean. I think I have an appropriate level of fear of swans.

Farmer here: swans are NOT nice. Not a bad thing if she is a bit scared of them!

Sounds like someone with a big personality trying to be entertaining. My kids would have loved that. Just not your kind of humor, and that is OK, but complaining is very Karen (and I don’t like that word).

Agree with all of this. They are mean and it sounds like a dynamic personality that doesn't mesh with yours. Teach your kids how to work with, or avoid, those people. I wouldn't contact a manager over this.

I would say something to the manager so it doesn’t happen to another child.

Anonymous wrote:He’s not totally wrong about swans. They can be really mean. I think I have an appropriate level of fear of swans.

Farmer here: swans are NOT nice. Not a bad thing if she is a bit scared of them!

Sounds like someone with a big personality trying to be entertaining. My kids would have loved that. Just not your kind of humor, and that is OK, but complaining is very Karen (and I don’t like that word).

Anonymous wrote:Wtf?? Not to be a Karyn, but I would absolutely speak to the manager about this. So inappropriate and not acceptable in a customer facing job.

yeah I would too. And I’m not one to complain usually.

He’s not totally wrong about swans. They can be really mean. I think I have an appropriate level of fear of swans.

Anonymous wrote:Why didn’t you or your husband use your words and tell the guy to stop talking to your kid when this happened? Weight of a stick up for your child.

+1, why didn’t you tell him to stop? Beyond bizarre

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a hilarious story. Just avoid their checkout line in the future.

OP here. As the incident gets further away in time this is my take on it too.

I appreciate all the different perspectives shared here. I don't think I'm going to contact the store manager. I don't have the bandwidth to do so and I also think there is a strong chance the person has some issues and did not actually have any ill intent, but I will be avoiding his aisle if I can help it. My daughter has already mostly moved on from the swan line of questioning so I think this will just be a funny story to tell her one day.

And at least my family learned some interesting facts about prehistoric swans and pygmy elephants.

Why didn’t you or your husband use your words and tell the guy to stop talking to your kid when this happened? Weight of a stick up for your child.

Sounds like a hilarious story. Just avoid their checkout line in the future.

Anonymous wrote:It is highly unlikely that this employee was intellectually disabled or employed via a state program. Please don’t start such a rumor. Adults who bag groceries for a couple hours a week are not going around frightening kids. Go back to the 1930s where you belong.

You really don't know any of this either, so how about you go back to wherever you belong? There was a bagger I specifically avoided in my old town for a similar reason. I don't know if he frightened children but he liked to scream out the names of items being purchased, along with his thoughts on them, at the top of his lungs and it was a bit much. I'm sure you're already gearing up to rush back in and call me a monster or something but I have SN of my own and this wasn't something I could deal with. Shopping is hard enough for me.

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry, I must have missed a line in the original post. How do we know we are dealing with a disabled worker?

We don't. People are just saying to be sensitive to the fact that he might be. Op suggested he might be autistic. She doesn't know for sure.