Dear Village Bakery,
At 7.30 in the morning, I'm sure you're well aware that cars and motorbikes are kahuning far too quickly down Orford Road for me to risk walking my 7 yo daughter down there. And filling the small amount of space between the tables and chairs outside your shop with plastic pallets wasn't entirely reasonable; nor so was it for one of the staff to barrel out and scream "IDIOT" and other colourful abuse when my child tipped one over accidentally while carefully inching her scooter through.
I'd probably have just chalked that shitty behaviour, and my daughter's subsequent tears, as a blight on the school run but you weren't done, were you, Village Bakery? On returning alone after dropping her off, you, the owner, burst out of the shop shouting at me for walking past with my phone (?!) - in the road, I should add - and demanded in a voice only slightly lower than Krakatoa erupting to know what my "problem" was. I asked if you thought it was OK for a member of your team to shout abuse at a woman and child in the street. You said it was. I told you that my daughter had cried; you replied - in front of another small child presumably in your care - "I don't give a fuck". You told me I am an awful parent for not immediately running back to tidy up the mess outside your shop that my daughter had inadvertently made worse. And then you delivered your parting shot: "Maybe you should've had 'em when you were younger, before you became an old bag". Now, I've always been fiercely supportive of small businesses in Walthamstow and before this morning I would never have contemplated posting negatively about one on social media. But you know what, Village Bakery? When you scream at my child in the street and try to belittle and humiliate me for having a baby in my mid-thirties, you've pissed on your local business chips and then some.
Sharing as the "older" mums of Walthamstow - because I daresay I'm not the only 43 year old with a kid in primary - should probably know what you think of us and our offspring before making an informed decision about where to shop.
No love,
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