Caring For Aging Parents Support Group
Caring for aging parents can be a difficul time as we become the caretakers for our parents. This broad responsibility can encompass such services as assisted living, adult day care, long term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and in-home care. Whether you have just started caring for your parents or just need a place to talk, we're here.
OK, so went shopping with Mom recently. She needed some new makeup foundation and wanted to test the colors on her hand before buying. Unfortunately, the drugstore didnt have tester bottles for a brand she was looking at and before I could stop her she broke the seal on a bottle, put some on her hand, and put it back on the shelf. She started to open another one and I stopped her, saying Mom, you cant do that! Fortunately, she stopped and moved on to a brand that did have testers. No remorse over breaking the seal on the original bottle she was just fine leaving it there on the shelf! Aaargh!!!
When shopping with my kids when they were little, if they broke something I would take it to the checkout, explain what happened, and offer to pay for it. This seems a bit different not wanting to call out or embarrass Mom but still wanting do the right thing.
What would you have done? Ill get your feedback before sharing what I ended up doing. :)
When shopping with my kids when they were little, if they broke something I would take it to the checkout, explain what happened, and offer to pay for it. This seems a bit different not wanting to call out or embarrass Mom but still wanting do the right thing.
What would you have done? Ill get your feedback before sharing what I ended up doing. :)
Our older relatives may have lost the ability to know better; it is an individual call. By all means taking the product up front is a given. Leaving it for somebody to buy (in a hurry?) only to not notice the broken seal until they get home.
If my parent was not capable of knowing the difference, then I would most likely have just bought it and if the clerk commented on the seal I would have said that we were pretty sure that was the one we wanted, so we broke the seal to verify. Quickly adding that if it was not the one we wanted we would have said the same thing! Or if there were multiple bottles modify your response.
If my parent was capable of knowing the difference I would most likely have bought it, and explained that my parent had opened it because they could not see any tester samples. Your body language and what you don't say either sells your action or destroys it.
At least that is what I hope I would have done.
BTW, I have often opened up sealed things to verify that it is what I want. If it is safe to return it (like a bag of screws or some such thing) then I put it back. If not, then I buy it.
Looking forward to hearing how you handled it.
I am quite curious as th how you handled the situation as well!
I've seen many folks do this in a store on all types of products. As a consumer, I try to always ensure that what's supposed to be sealed, is sealed before I buy it.
Mom is capable of knowing the difference, but can have lapses in judgment when she's frustrated or tired. I think on that day, she just didn't care.
I decided not to make a big deal of it, just bought the makeup and gave it to her later saying I didn't feel right just leaving it there. Besides, I said, I thought this shade really worked better for her anyway (which was true - haha!). By then her good sense had returned and she seemed OK with it. She did not, however, offer to reimburse me - lol!
This was definitely a first for me. I appreciate your input!
I work in retail and watch everyone breaking items from drug stores to macys. The store always recoups the costs--the customer is always right. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff gets thrown out like huge amts of plants they can't sell ..so don't feel guilty about it. The company wants you to come back and they want to leave a good impression on you. Stores really do care about the customers and you are the priority.