Cashier Tells Off Woman After Her Autistic Son Sprayed Her With Bleach

The boy has a particular stim, and he likes spraying bottles.

Senad

• Published in Interesting
• March 29, 2023

If you're a cashier or have worked in a customer-facing role, you'll know that things can get pretty hectic at times. From dealing with impatient customers to managing long queues, it's not always an easy job.

But for one grocery store cashier, a routine day at work turned into a somewhat shocking experience when a young boy with autism grabbed a bottle of bleach and started spraying it around. The incident left her questioning her actions and wondering if she had done the right thing.

The store where OP works has a regular customer, a mom who often brings in her son, who is somewhere between six to eight years old and has autism. The child has a particular stim, which involves spraying bottles, and this was not something that OP was aware of until the incident that occurred over the summer.

One day, the mom brought her son into the garden department, and OP noticed the child trying to reach around the table legs for the cleaning supplies. She immediately moved them closer to herself and told the child that the bottles were for cleaning only and that he should not touch them.

Out of nowhere, OP felt droplets hitting her sunglasses and cheeks. She looked up and saw that the child had pulled the tightly zip-tied table skirt away, stuck his arm through, grabbed the bleach bottle, and started spraying it around.

OP quickly grabbed the bottle from him, and the mom laughed it off, reminding her that the child has autism and that he likes to spray people with a spray bottle of water at home. However, the situation took a turn when OP told the mom that she should not encourage her child to spray people with anything without their consent.

She also pointed out that the bottle that he had been using was not filled with water but with bleach and that they were both lucky that she was wearing sunglasses, as the bleach could have blinded her. The mom was offended by OP's remarks and tried to defend herself by reiterating that her child has autism.

OP works at a grocery as a cashier and the store has a regular customer who comes over with her son who has autism

One of the tables in the store has a bottle of diluted bleach which the son noticed

One day, when the two were at the store, OP noticed that the boy was trying to reach around and grab the cleaning supplies

The boy still managed to get to the bottle of diluted bleach and he started spraying it around

The mom laughed it off, reminding OP that the boy has autism, but it wasn't that funny for OP

OP told off the mom for allowing such behavior and she hasn't brought the kid into the store since then

It's fine at home!

It's not an excuse

Free license to do whatever

Not something to laugh about

So, was OP in the wrong for telling off the mom of an autistic child and prompting her to stop bringing him back? It's a tricky situation, and there are valid arguments on both sides.

On the one hand, the child's autism is a real condition that can manifest in different ways, including stims like spraying bottles. However, on the other hand, it's still important to ensure that people are safe in public places, and that includes making sure that no one is being sprayed with harmful chemicals without their consent.

Senad