A man observed a woman in the grocery store with a three year old girl in her
basket. As they passed the cookie section, the little girl asked for cookies
and her mother told her, "No." The little girl immediately began to whine and
fuss, and the mother said quietly, "Now Monica, we just have half of the
aisles left to go through. Don't be upset. It won't be long now."
Soon, they came to the candy aisle and the little girl began to shout for
candy. When told she couldn't have any, she began to cry. The mother said,
"There, there, Monica, don't cry - only two more aisles to go and then we'll
be checking out."
When they got to the checkout stand, the little girl immediately began to
clamor for gum and burst into a terrible tantrum upon discovering there'd be
no gum purchased. The mother said serenely, "Monica, we'll be through this
check out stand in 5 minutes and then you can go home and have a nice nap."
The man followed them out to the parking lot and stopped the woman to
compliment her. "I couldn't help noticing how patient you were with little
Monica," he began. The mother replied, "I'm Monica - my little girl's name is
Tammy."
