It’s not unusual for a child to be embarrassed by his or her parents—it’s basically the job of a parent to mortify their children at every possible opportunity. But with some parents, it’s a whole different ball game.
These are the “let me speak to the manager” parents of the world, the ones who act demanding and entitled in public, generally causing a scene and creating as much drama as necessary in order to get what they want. We’re not talking about someone who stands up for themselves when they need to, that’s different. These are the people who demand compensation for things even when they’re in the wrong. And they don’t care who’s watching, especially whenit’s their own kids.
Someone on AskReddit asked people to share the most embarrassing moments they can remember while in the care of their “I want to speak to the manager” parents and boy, did they deliver.
1. Yep, this is the cringey content you were craving.
We travelled alot when we were younger and would skip lines at the airport since we were kids.
But now we were all in our early teens and my mom faked having a heart condition to skip the long line to get on the airplane.
Flight attendant would have none of it and told us to go back to the end of the line. I still remember the smiles and looks of everyone there.
2. This woman sounds super nice.
My mother is A nightmare with customer service… even with the fact that I her daughter works in customer service and deals with people like her on the daily
So many incidents stick out in my mind but one that really embarrassed me was we were at Walmart
The stocker was struggling and dropped their price scanner thing on the ground. I was going to go help her gather her things she was struggling with when my mom came out like a bat out of hell and yelled “YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD PICK THAT UP PEOPLE COULD TRIP” and then she darted off with the cart
I was so embarrassed I just walked away in shame, and when I pointed it out to my mom the girl dropped it on accident she said “WELL SHE SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL.”
3. Imagine someone calling the cops on your mom.
I was 13 when this happened. My mom had made a reservation at a hotel for a trip, but when she got there the lady said there was some error with the reservation and that my mom’s payment didn’t go through, so the lady offered us a double bed room for a discount.
Rather than just taking the room, thanking the lady, and leaving, my mom decided the best course of action would be to scream, in the middle of a hotel lobby, “NOBODY IS GOING ANYWHERE TIL I GET MY FUCKING ROOM!” She then proceeded to pester the lady, who clearly couldn’t do anything about it, until eventually she called the police on my mom for public disturbance. Mortifying.
4. If only you could spontaneously combust on will.
Right so my mum and me went shopping, and she dropped a melon on the way out. She then claimed it was bruised and demanded a full refund. When she refused, she shouted at customer service and demanded the manager. I just sat there with a “kill me now” expression on my face.
After, one of the customer service employees gave me a chocolate bar, so 7yo me was happy.
5. Granny needs to take some chill pills.
Not my parent but grandparent. When I was around 10 years old my grandmother went out and got us (her, my brother, and me) McDonald’s. We got home and we didn’t have napkins in the bags. No big deal, right? We have paper towels and napkins in the house, also me and my brother are pretty good with not making any messes while we eat.
Nope. Grandmother got us in the car, drove back to McDonald’s, demanded a manager, and screeched abouthow upset she was that we didn’t get any napkins. I wanted to just melt into the floor and disappear. It’s just napkins, Nanny….
6. Hopefully it was a fake.
My dad once asked the guy at the verizon wireless store to give him his own Social Secuirity number because he asked for my dads. My dad walked out afterwards with some strangers SS number on a post it. I was a silent bystander because I really wanted my first phone.
7. Banned for LIFE.
Ugh, my dad. He can be such a prick if you get his order wrong, it could be fast food or a nice sit down restaurant. He often yells at wait staff if they “undercook” hissteak. It has to be well done or he claims to have lost his appetite.
One time we went to Burger King when I was younger and we sat down to eat. He took one bite of his burger, spit it out and immediately started bitching about it being under cooked. He cut in front of everyone in line to yell at the cashier, then he asked who was the cook. when the cook appeared, he launched his burger hitting the poor kid directly in the face with a lidless burger. He’s now banned for life from Burger King.
8. When mom makes someone else cry…
My mom asked me to call her a taxi via an app.
She ended up calling me multiple times complaining about how the driver didn’t use the route she thought was best (she never owned a car and doesn’t know how to drive), even though the guy just used the best possible route the navigator suggested.
She ended up getting out halfway and using subway. The driver proceeded to call me in tears, completely shocked, unsure of what he did so wrong, and apologizing. I felt like total shit.
I never called her a cab again.
9. Wow, some moms and some hotels just do not mix.
I was with my parents on vacation and the hotel put charges on the bill by accident. My mom marched to the front desk and demanded to see the manager. There was a long line, but she cut right in front of it. The manager wasn’t very helpful, probably because she was rude.
So my mom, went to all the other customers in line and told them that the hotel was a scam and they were ripping us off with fake charges. She made a scene. The hotel called the police and we were escorted off the premises by actual cops. I died inside.
10. Free time weighs heavily on this dad’s hands.
About once a month my dad gets drunk and calls various customer service centers demanding stuff. Once he finally gets off the phone (frequently 45+ minutes later) he spends the next few days telling us all about how he slew the customer service dragon and boy people sure don’t appreciate their customers nowadays blah blah blah. (No duh, dad, you’re being an asshole, no one appreciates that.)
If you’ve worked for DirecTV customer service any time since 1996, I apologize on behalf of my dad
edit Another story for y’all: I also remembered one time McD’s was having some kind of 2-for-1 breakfast sandwich deal going on where the total was about $3. He gets hisbreakfast, drives ~25 mins to work, realizes he’s missing one of the sandwiches…and proceeds to call McD’s customer support every evening after work for a week to complain about his wasted $1.50. They gave him apologies. They gave him coupons. But he just wanted to yell.
11. Sometimes, sometimes, these moms will use their power for good.
My mom has been this person regularly throughout my life but I do have one positive story with it. She and I went to eat at portillo’s when I was a teenager and we sat in the back of the restaurant where it was more private so we can eat in peace. About 10 minutes into our meal two people come into the empty area and sit down two tables away from us. Turns out it was a manager and an employee that was getting written up. the manager was being a complete asshat towards the employee criticizing and belittling them. My mom put down her food and walked over and started yelling at the manager for being such an asshole. she went on a rant about how rude and wrong it was of him to do this in front of the public two tables away from customers and really let him have it. She demanded the phone number of the manager above him and we left after she received it. I was pretty embarrassed at the time but as I got older I realized that she was standing up for that employee and how wrong that manager really was. I’m not a hundred percent sure what she did with that phone number because I lived with my dad and I had to go home after that.
12. More cheese is almost always the answer to just about any problem—except this one.
My father consistently returns food to grocery stores when he is unsatisfied with the quality. The worst is when he returns the 2lb bricks of cheddar cheese because they went moldy “before they should have.”
13. When mom breaks the rules first.
Before Value Village (Savers in the States I think) changed policies, she would cut tags to get discounts since the cashiers would basically make up whatever price they thought it would be, on the spot. If they high balled it, she would get a manager involved and I hated that.
14. It takes a village…
When Iwas a young child on a long distance flight my mother let me and my brother sleep on the floor. For safety reasons the flight attendants told my mother that we were not allowed to sleep on the floor. She started to argue with the flight attendants who then turned to the pilots. The pilots threatened to turn the plane around unless we get up from the floor but she continued to argue. The pilots anounced they were about to turn around because of my mother, so all the passangers got pissed. Eventually she caved in when she had all passengers and flight crew on a boeing 747 against her…
15. “I still have nightmares about it.”
When I was 6 my mom took my brothers and I out to Golden Corral for dinner. She went up to the buffet, got a steak, and came back to the table. She’s an avid A1 steak sauce fanand cannot, i repeat, cannot eat steak without it.
She poured out the A1 onto her plate, tasted it, and was instantly horrified. She proceeded to pour out the Golden Corral Steak Sauce right next to the A1 and it matched perfectly.
Outraged, she called over a waitress and eventually the manager showing them her little experiment and how she exposed the Great Steak Sauce Fraud of 06.
My brothers and I were scarred for the rest of our lives. I still have nightmares about it.
16. That food was definitely getting spit on.
Not me, but my sister in law. Her step dad and mom took the family out to eat at a Red Lobster. They get there and it is super busy. So the step dad walks up to the host and says “Yes, we have a reservation”.
The problem is, Red Lobster (or at least that one) doesnt take reservations. The host explains this and says it is going to be 20 min wait for seating. Her step dad FLIPPED out and started screaming that he had called 3 hours before hand and made a reservation. The host politely told him this was not possible as they do not take reservations (again).
He continues to scream at the guy, and says he wants to talk to a manager. So the manager comes out and she tells him the same thing. They dont take reservations, so its not possible that he had made one. He continues to cause a scene and people started leaving just to get away from this toxic guy. Finally, the manager says, “Fine, we will put you ahead of everyone else that has been patiently waiting their turn”. He says “Thank you”. They get seated.
Once they get to the table and the waitress walks away, he slyly winks and says to my brother and the rest of the family “THAT is how you get things done. I wasnt going to wait 20 min”.
My brother refused to eat or order for fear of getting food that had been spit on.
17. Was it worth it?
Grocery store had this sign up that said if an item rang up higher than an advertised price it was free. It was the 80s and stores did stupid shit like this that I never see in stores today.
Mom was buying a box of Little Debbie cakes and they rang up for $2.85 instead of the advertised $2.50. So now mom wants her free cakes. Cashier doesn’t know what to do, summons a manager. Manager tells her to ring up the sale otherwise and he’ll be right back.
Comes back and hands my mother 35 cents cheerfully and says “There you go!” My mother points out the sign behind him and he says “Oh, the last manager put that up, it doesn’t make any sense. I’m the newmanager and I just haven’t had the sign removed yet” (it was a printed plastic sign that was screwed into the wall).
Mom insists they honor their sign, he says nah. Now, up to this point, I as an adult looking back am totally on board with mom’s actions.
Mom gathers her things, decides against taking the Little Debbies on principle, and we get in the car. Mom wordlessly drives downtown to the main store of this 3-5 store chain, knowing the office is next door. We walk into this perfectly 80’s wood paneled office where my mother asks the secretary to speak to the owner of the store and is permitted to do so since this is a family owned business and their “corporate office” is smaller than the row of cubicles my staff occupy at work.
Here my mother unleashes a tirade about how she has lost faith in his brand and how his word is meaningless since they will not honor the sign etc. This guy stands up, profusely apologizes, validates her anger and then pulls out his wallet and hands her a $5bill along with a promise that he will speak to the manager and the sign will either be honored or removed.
We get home and find that the ice cream we bought melted in the trunk because summer and ruined the cereal and the bread.
18. When the manager-wanter is your acquaintance and not your parent.
Not the child, but I think this fits.
I had this awful annoying af terrible neighbor who, because I’m a giant sucker, I was kind to. She asked me to come with her to dinner because it was her birthday, and I knew I was the only person on the planet who would go with her and goshdarnit it’s her birthday how could I say no?
So she and I went and we brought our kids (all girls, one mine, two hers). She makes her oldest do her math homework right there at the table. When the child asks her for help (mind you this is like third grade math) the mom says it’s too hard. I end up helping.
The waiter is just fine. He comes by and takes our orders. She is already acting weird but she always acted weird so I didn’t think much of it. Waiter comes by again and asks if we need anything. She dismisses him and waves him off and tells him no. Then like 30 seconds later turns to me and is like “Can you believe how awful the waiter is? He won’t even refill my drink!” and just goes on about all these “issues” that literally don’t exist.
I’m like “He just asked if you needed anything…” she cuts me off “I’m going to talk to the manager”
Oh God….
She talks to the manager like this is the worst experience she’s ever had in the history of her miserable existence. I’m in shock, her kids have their heads down. Mine is oblivious, lol.
The manager gives her like half off the meal. Oh and the kicker? “That’s my half so you only need to pay the rest!” OH GEE THANKS!!I left a big tip and a note on my receipt telling them the waiter was great and apologizing for the complaints that were totally not warranted. It was the second-most embarrassing restaurant experience of my life.
19. At least when you’re an adult, you can help make things right.
I don’t like going to restaurants with her, she thinks that because she worked as a waitress for a year 35 years ago, it gives her the right to act like a complete asshole to them. She also thinks not tipping them will encourage them to “get their act together”. Jokes on you mom, I always find our server after seated, give them a $20.00 and apologize in advanced for your poor behavior.
20. And hey, maybe some people change when they realize the error of their ways.
The number of cashiers my father demanded the manager fire because they were too slow, rang us up wrong, etc, including one they actually did. I’ll never forget that girl taking her Home Depot apron off and walking away sobbing. To his credit (I guess?) my dad seemed surprised that it actually worked, must have felt at least some level of guilt and never did it again.
21. Like these parents, who learned their lesson once and for all (the hard way).
My mom used to run restaurants. My step father used to be a chef in high end restaurants and is the kind of guy who expects to be treated better than he is currently being treated, regardless of whatever that treatment is. They are not fun to go out to eat with.
The “most embarrassing experience” is actually their most embarrassing experience, one where I Embarrassed them.
My wife and I pride ourselves on being a “relief” table when we go out to eat. Both of us have been servers, and there’s always the counterpoint to the difficult table, that’s us. Barring horrible service or bad food, we are super easy customers, tip well, and try to have a good time with our server. Furthermore, we just treat people nicely. So you can imagine our distain when my parents act like they’re fucking royalty at a dinner service.
My wife and I went out to dinner with them. They were being particularly tough. My mom was acting like she was Gordon Ramsey analyzing the business, critiquing everything down to the amount of bubbles in her seltzer (“looks like it’s time to change the CO2”) My step dad was getting more and more heated over stupid things like the amount of ice in his drink and how the waitress didn’t top off his water, that he was barely sipping on, fast enough.
It came to a head when my step father ordered a steak medium well, it came back medium well, and for some reason he changed his mind that he wanted it medium rare while it was cooking and they didn’t read his mind, so he gave attitude, as did my mom. They jumped really quickly to demanding free stuff.
I’m an adult and this may be the first time they realized this. I interrupted in front of the server and said something like “really? This is what you’re doing. That’s what you ordered…” I turned to the server and said “We do not need anything comped.” I then pulled out my wallet and handed her my card and said “this is for the bill. We’ll happily wrap up with what we have here. I’m very sorry for their behavior, you’re doing great.” Then the line that stung them so deep they still bring it up years later …”I was taught to treat people nicely, a lesson that seems to be forgotten. Thank you.”
They turned red, the server walked away, I looked down and cut my steak, and didn’t say a word. They were so flabbergasted that the meal was virtually silent except me asking my step father how his steak was a few minutes later. I signed the check, gave a big tip, and we walked out and said goodbyes.
They’ve been nicer to servers each time that we’ve gone out since.
h/t: AskReddit