Adult Bullies?

Question

Today I was helping my nephew on his paper route. It's a local town paper, He has to deliver to 58 homes twice a week. He has to put all the flyers and ads in each paper, along with the other sections like Arts and Business. For all that he only gets paid $28 a month.
I thought I would help him today. A rule is that the papers don't have to be put in the mail box. They can be put at the end of the driveway as long as the paper is tied together with an elastic and in a plastic bag incase of rain.
Well my nephew was delivering to a house and this lady came roaring out the door and scremead at him. She demanded that the paper be put in the mailbox. She screamed at him that she was going to call the paper place and demand that someone else deliver as he is "unproffesional, unmature and lazy". At that point I went over to the lady and gave her a piece of my mind. She was as nice as pie with me. Im 28.
So my question is, do you think adults take advantage of there authority with kids?

I know it's alot to read lol! I appreciate any answers!!

Thanks for all the replies everyone!!

One thing I would like to clarify is that the woman should have been aware of the rules. The paper company sends out a letter every time a new person starts on he route. It includes a little bit about the person, and there inersts ect. It also states the rules of the route. One being that putting the paper into the mailbox is not mandatory as the paper is free to the public and not a paid service Any complaints should be directed to the paper office not the carrier.

By the way my nephew is 12 for those of you that wanted to know.

Answer 1

Yes some people are bullies all their lives. But a couple other things: it doesn't matter how much or little he gets paid if he was willing to take on the job. You were right to step in and protect him. Maybe this could be a learning experience for the crabby woman and the nephew. He could ask the lady if she would prefer the paper to be in the mailbox and he could accomodate her. This is good business practice and she would realize some kids are willing to do their best, which is his lesson in this scenario. He should tell the lady in plain terms, not any foul words, that it was NOT right to have yelled at him, just asked him to put it in the mailbox. She may even tip him.

Answer 2

Yes. I use to get bullied telling adult doesn't work. Do whatever he does right back. Either he will get scared and stop or try to fight. If he does you keep hitting. Doesn't matter if you win or lose. If you lose and get laughed at, tell who ever is laughing lets see you fight back. Use all your might and rage to fight back. But let him attempt to hit first because then you have the right to self defense. Don't listen to the people saying tell an adult or be peacefyl. I believe in no fighting until its neccessary. Make the fight count man :)

Answer 3

Yea, I was a papergirl a bit, myself. You can never make everyone happy. We used to try to porch all the papers, just out of common courtesy. Well one day the paper rolled off the porch into the dirt by the porch and the old lady that lived there had issues. She actually complained to the paper for it. Well, what we did after that was put it at the very end of her drive every day. She never complained again.

Answer 4

Yes, especially the older people. They expect a level of respect that is not justified based on the income and expectations already on your nephew. Also, look into the pay your nephew receives. That salary is illegal for the hours he has to put in. When I was a paperboy I made 200+ and tips every month and that was in 1988.

Answer 5

People in general take advantage of others whom they believe they can intimidate. I wouldn't be too hard on that woman. You don't know if she realized the rules for paper delivery and she sounds like she was having a bad day. As it is written:

Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

In other words, don't forget that none of us are perfect and we all do things that if we could see them the way someone else so them we would probably be ashamed. That's why I'm so grateful for Jesus because I know that on my own I couldn't measure up to the perfect standards of God when it comes to having acted right all of my life.

Answer 6

As far as the bullying I agree whole heartedly with the person who gave the Golden Rule answer.

As an aside to your question I wanted to let you know that it is illegal to put the paper in the mailbox. It's a violation of the private express statute.

Answer 7

As a general rule, no. But there are insecure and mean people who will laud their "authority" over anyone they can so they feel better about themselves. In those cases, children are an easy target. Most children are too respectful and/or intimidated to give back to adults as good as they good. Us adults, on the other hand, won't put up with those people's crap.

Answer 8

Yes I do. I used to deliver papers in addition to my earnings from my full time job. I had one picky customer that I had inherited from the previous delivery boy. I'm a pretty big guy and I was 32 and ornery at the time. When he came out he asked me if I had seen what the paperboy had done. I said yes I did and he doesnt care. When he asked me why, I replied that you are looking at your new "boy" and if you continue to "piss and moan" about trivial crap, I'm going to ask to have you removed from my route. He changed immediately, and started to go on about his life story, I then left saying I have a lot of good customers to serve. Not a peep out of him in the entire length of my service.

Answer 9

Absolutely, as sad as it is.

I have spent a lot of time volunteering with kids - one thing we always do is make sure there's an adult with them (especially if they're working with cash) - not because we don't trust them, but because we don't trust other grown-ups. It's easy for "adults" to use their age and size to get what they want from kids, and of course we teach our kids to respect their elders, so of course they do what the grown-ups say.

Good for you for sticking up for your nephew. Hopefully, that woman will think about how she's treating others next time.

Answer 10

Yeah, as a former paper boy you learn that everyone is a whiner. This isn't specific to adults/kids, but just people in general. People are jerks.