Raise your hand if you’ve ever experienced a parent having a total breakdown in a public place. Humiliating, right? Well, you’re not alone. From drive-thru debacles to department store struggles, these kids of arrogant fathers spill on the most embarrassing experience they’ve had in public. All content has been edited for clarity purposes.
Table of contents
1. “I Had Never Been More Moritfied”
“My dad was insane. I thought he had some kind of undiagnosed, severe mental disorder, but he just called it his ‘personality.’
One time, we went through the Starbucks drive-thru, and he was smoking a cigarette in the car. I couldn’t stand when he smoked in the car because I was sensitive to the smell.
When he rolled up to the drive-thru window, he ‘accidentally’ blew his cigarette smoke in the barista’s face as he took our money. Understandably, the barista made a face and waved the smoke away. He didn’t comment, but it didn’t stop my dad from taking offense.
My dad questioned, ‘What’s the matter with you?flikr’
The barista replied, ‘Sir, could we ask you not to smoke at the drive-thru window? It’s our policy and a California law.’
My dad yelled, ‘Don’t talk down to ME! I know my rights, and you’re rude! Put your hand down and don’t wave it in my face!’
‘Sir, I wasn’t—’
‘I’m done with you,’ my dad asserted, ‘Get your boss over here. Now.’
The manager approached the window, and my dad claimed the barista was being discriminatory and insisted we shouldn’t have to pay.
He threatened, ‘I’ll call corporate and have all of you fired!’
The manager apologized profusely, but I could feel and understand a steady undercurrent of ‘please kill me and end this conversation.’ My dad stayed at the window for the next 15 MINUTES while the people behind us in line were losing their minds.
Looking back, I wish I would have said something and stopped him. I should have called out his ridiculous behavior and apologized to the baristas. Instead, I sat there in the passenger seat and tried to will my atoms to lose structure and just completely disappear from the earth.
I had never been more mortified to be related to my dad.”
2. The Build-A-Bear Bust
“A few years ago, I went to a theme park with my dad and my two sisters. I was around 19 years old, my one sister was 16 years old, and my youngest sister was 9 years old. My dad had been planning this trip for a year, and we were excited to go.
After walking into the theme park, there was a huge lake with several stores on each side. There were restaurants, souvenir shops, and clothing stores. There was also a Build-A-Bear. The Build-A-Bear was not a part of the park itself, but it did have an entrance from the park.
Anyway, my dad didn’t have custody of my youngest sister at the time. He only saw her very sporadically. This was by his own choice, as he couldn’t take care of her properly. She lived with a foster family. This was one of maybe three times a year he got to take her somewhere, so this trip was a BIG deal.
My dad told my sister she could have ONE thing from the park. Whatever she wanted, he would pay for it. And, being a 9-year-old girl, she said she wanted a Build-A-Bear.
My dad was unfamiliar with the concept of Build-A-Bear, so he didn’t know the price of the bear wasn’t the total price. On top of the bear comes the clothes, shoes, and everything else. The employee took my sister through the whole thing. You know, the stuffing, placing the heart inside the bear, and ringing up the total.
My dad lost his mind when he heard the final price. Like, red in the face, screaming at the poor employee in the store.
He yelled, “$75? For a STUPID bear?! Who makes these prices? There’s no way! I want a discount!’
I felt SO embarrassed. First off, the employee didn’t set the prices. Secondly, this was THE trip of the year. The four of us hadn’t been together for a long time. Thirdly, you just don’t yell at people in the way he did.
I understood he was angry since he didn’t know the process and felt cheated. Also, he probably felt backed into a corner, since he had promised my sister she could have anything. But you don’t start yelling at employees. Ever.
Luckily, the rest of the trip went by without a hitch, and my youngest sister doesn’t remember this happening. She has two Build-A-Bears now, and she named each of them after one of her sisters.”
3. “I Could Hardly Stand Going Anywhere With Him”
When I was in high school, my dad and I stopped at Burger King to pick up dinner for our family. He placed his order and asked for a ‘plain Whopper.’ He didn’t clarify that he didn’t want cheese, he just said, ‘plain.’
The employee gave us our food, and my dad ripped open the bag at the window. Then, he proceeded to check all four of our burgers in front of the employee. Sure enough, his burger had cheese. He threw a huge stinking fit about it, and I just slowly sank into the passenger seat. At this point, I wanted to die from embarrassment. The drive-thru employee, just some high school girl, apologized profusely and offered to fix his burger.
My dad realized he was embarrassing me and calmed down a bit. He said, ‘Fine,’ and the employee went to fix his burger. Meanwhile, he checked the receipt to make sure it was correct, and for some reason, he was charged ten cents extra for the slice of cheese on the burger.
When the employee came back with the new burger, my dad thanked her and asked, ‘Can I at least be reimbursed for the ten cents I was charged for the cheese?’
The girl, concerned, explained, ‘My manager is on lunch. I don’t have a way to open the register for a refund if he isn’t here.’
My dad started losing his mind again, and at this point, I was considering just getting out of the car and walking home. I was so ashamed at the way my 50-year-old father was throwing a fit about ten cents. We weren’t poor, but we weren’t exactly well-off, either. Regardless, it was the most ridiculous thing to get upset about.
I could tell the employee was even getting tired of my dad’s behavior when she asked, ‘You want me to go disturb my manager over ten cents?’
Oh, boy. The gloves came off when she asked that. My dad started screaming at this employee, calling her stupid, lazy, incompetent, and all sorts of other things. It was so loud, the manager got up from his lunch to see what was happening. He practically threw a dime at my dad and told him to have a nice day.
I didn’t say a word to my dad the entire ride home.
Eventually, he realized how upset I was and said, ‘Look, I’m old. I just let things get to me sometimes. It happens.’
And he was right because his attitude only got worse over the years. Sometimes, I could hardly stand going anywhere with him.”
4. “He Had To Have The Last Word”
“My dad loved to argue, and he loved a deal.
One time, we were shopping in a department store. I found a pair of pants I was mildly interested in buying. The pants were tagged at around $40, and the sign on the rack said, ‘All pants $25.’
Since I wanted the pants, I asked the sales clerk if they had them in my size.
The clerk responded, ‘Those pants? Oh, those pants aren’t even supposed to be on this rack. Here, let me take them for you.’
My dad lost his mind. He yelled, ‘No, we’re getting the pants for $25! It’s not OUR fault the pants were on the wrong rack! You know what? The store will be throwing in a courtesy discount for the trouble, too!’
He even escalated his complaint to the shift manager and store manager.
Meanwhile, I didn’t even want the pants anymore. They weren’t anything extraordinary, just a decent pair of pants. I was more than happy to move on.
I told my dad, ‘Calm down. I don’t even want the pants now.’
By then, my dad didn’t even care what I wanted. He just wanted the pants at a better price.
Eventually, after an hour of arguing, the store manager explained, ‘We’re not giving you the pants at a discounted price. Take them or leave them at $40.’
So, we left them. Which was fine, because I didn’t want them anyways. My dad just had to have the last word all of the time. Sometimes, shopping with him could be a humiliating experience.”
