Being a kid is hard. We’re not saying that being an adult is easy, but it’s a different kind of hard. When you’re a kid, you have to follow the rules your parents set. You have to go where your parents say you’ll go and when they say you’ll be there. As an adult, you have more freedom.

Parents are there to look out for their kids, but sometimes, whether they mean to or not, they are also embarrassing their kids. It could be the way they dress. It could be the way they dance. It could be what they post on social media.

Then there are the “can I speak to the manager” parents. Perhaps you’ve had one of these parents. Perhaps you are one of these parents. You know what we mean. When an employee doesn’t solve your problem quickly enough, this type of parent asks to speak to a manager. 

Sure, there are times when this is appropriate behavior, and there are certainly ways of being polite about asking for the manager. Then there are parents who are not so polite, and their behavior is horribly embarrassing for their kids.

In a Reddit thread, many children told painfully embarrassing stories of just how their parents managed to embarrass them when they asked or demanded to speak to the manager.

1. Where are my napkins?

   “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 about how 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….”

2. I’m Going to Turn This Plane Around…

   “When I was 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..”

3. At a Hotel

   “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.”

4. This Melon Is Bruised

   “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. How Would You Like That Cooked?

   “My mother did this in restaurants nonstop growing up. She would demand to see the manager because my burger (which I asked for medium) had some pink in it.”

6. My Flat Tire Is Your Fault

   “I was young and my mom and step dad took us to McDonalds. Somehow a nail or something got stuck in the tire which caused a flat. I’m not sure if it happened in the lot or not, but they were convinced it was. They went to talk to the manager. I don’t remember exactly what their demands were, but they didn’t get them. They literally went into the street waving people away saying that they were closed because they were mad. It just seemed like a ridiculously excessive thing to do.”

7. We Wanted to Eat Together

   “Not my parents, but I was once out to dinner with my brother in law and his family. Our meals all came out at almost random times instead of all together. My brother in law demanded to talk to the manager because it was ‘unacceptable’ that food come out at different times and he said something about how he hopes they don’t expect us to pay for the meal. He gave a big speech about how we came out so we could eat together, and he knows this is unacceptable because he used to be a waiter, etc. I was mortified because I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

8. You’re Not THAT Smart

   “My mom came to my school because she thought I was lying about what I got on my SATs. She didn’t think I was that smart. No one in my school would give her that information because they didn’t have to. She got to my principal and said, ‘I want to speak to your manager’ in front of me. He refused and they argued for a while. The principal knew I was an okay guy and the score I told my mother was legit. It was really embarrassing though.”

9. This Phone Is Broken

   “Well when I was 10, my mom got a phone for Christmas, and it had a warranty on it. A little later my mother threw It on the ground and called the company asking for a full refund plus a new phone becuase they gave me a broken one. After a few weeks, a company staff came to our house and asked my mum what happened. She said the the phone you sold us was broken and that I was heartbroken. He gave us a refund but not another phone. My mum started yelling and told him that she would call the police for harrasing me. She never did.

   Recently I asked her about it and she said ‘I have no memory of any of that happening’.”

10. Splat!

    “My dad was always running late and very frantic and upset when I was growing up. One evening, on our way somewhere, he ordered a bunch of food at a fast food drive thru window asking that his burger not have mayonnaise on it. As he began to roll forward he quickly checked and realized they had put EXTRA mayonnaise on it. This prompted my dad to speed devilishly around the fast food joint pull back through the drive thru and hurl the burger SPLAT! at the closed drive thru while cursing their incompetence. As an 8 year old this sort of behavior left a lasting impression with me and to this day it’s very hard to rile me up because I never want to be like the man he was that day.”

11. “Dead Bird!”

    “Once when I was maybe 6 I got a parakeet from a small family owned pet store. Maybe two days later it died. My mom put it in a paper bag and we drove over, but when we got there but it had been closed for about half an hour.

    My mom started banging on the glass door yelling ‘DEAD BIRD’ until someone unlocked the door. I could not look that store owner in the eye as I got a new parakeet. The worst part was my mom mentioned it to an employee almost everytime we came in after. I think in hopes of getting a discount.”

12. Not It

    “My first job was at a Panera when I was in high school. I usually worked nights after school, but i was working one morning and my mom comes in for a coffee. Suddenly everyone runs and hides in back of house. Apparently she was awful to deal with and it got to the point where they had a system where the last one in front had to take her order.”

13. No Problem

    “Growing up, my dad had an issue when people would say ‘no problem’. Like, a huge issue. My most embarrassing moment with him was when he took us out to a restaurant. We had all ordered, and the waiter made the mistake of saying ‘no problem’. My dad quilt replied ‘well it better not be a goddamn problem’ and proceeded to ask for the manager. 12 year old me want to to crawl into the deepest hole she could find.”

14. Safety Seal

    “My mom dragged me back to the grocery store because the safety seal on the broth we bought was broken. She proceeded to scream at the 16 year old cashier until she cried about how ‘she should do a better job at checking products before customers get them’ and then the manager came and took over and informed my mom that on that kind of broth the safety seal pops when you turned the cap. She literally just walked out without a word.”

15. Flight Delay

    “My mom once caused a scene in an airport because the plane was delayed. She wanted to speak to everyone manager. Ended up getting us kicked off that flight.”