A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews on the first part. Made me giggle; the lot of them. Here's part two. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: If not for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, I wouldn't be able to play in this wonderful universe, so no; I do not own the Thunderbirds.
Jeff discovered very quickly that the most difficult part of taking children to the grocery store, was the sheer amount of unwanted things that made their way into the cart. Being shorter than the cart's sides meant John couldn't climb out, but it didn't prevent the little boy from grabbing anything off the shelves that his hands could reach and putting it in it, even going so far as to hide them beneath the items that Jeff had already picked up.
Between the list, having no pen to mark it off with and trying to comfort Virgil, and then fielding Scott's increasingly silly and excitable questions, Jeff was unaware of what was going on elsewhere, at least until he heard an outraged shriek.
In the seconds that Jeff had been distracted with his brothers, John had taken it upon himself to open the box of Lucky Charms. He had apparently been munching happily on the handful of cereal in his fist; pieces having gone flying everywhere, the powder coating them spread liberally across his face, and even trailed through his curly hair. At least until the little boy had found it pulled roughly from his grip.
That wasn't what made Jeff's ire rise though, not completely; it was the young man who had apparently been the one to take the box out of his small son's hands in the first place.
The kid was around seventeen or eighteen years of age; wearing the blue shirt and dark trousers of the supermarket chain, and was standing unreasonably close to his son, with a smug look on his pimply face. He was apparently uncaring of the fact that the small boy was bawling, drawing both curious and disapproving stares from the people around them; exuding an aura of utterly superior disdain.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Jeff thundered, instantly moving the cart a more comfortable distance from the store worker, trying to calm Virgil and John while at the same time trying his hardest not to lose his temper completely.
Instead of looking at all cowed, or sorry for what he'd caused, the boy only sniffed and adopted a lofty tone.
"It is store policy that patrons are not allowed to sample products without paying."
Jeff pressed Scott's hand onto the side of the cart, silently bidding him to stay put, and then shot John a sharp look - quelling his hysterical tears and making the small boy's eyes widen with the knowledge that he was in trouble.
That issue having been dealt with for the time being, Jeff then narrowed his eyes at the teenager standing in front of him, box still held in his grasp. He was trying not to get too angry, because really, the employee was only doing his job, but with how stressful his day had been so far, combined with little sleep and the teen's appalling attitude, he was struggling.
"That as it may be…" He peered at the badge on the boy's shirt. "Kurt… You do not have the right to reprimand my son, nor is it appropriate to be so blatantly rude to someone who is trying to deal with something else. I will be paying for this item, and I'm sorry for my son's behaviour, but I do not, however, have an infinite number of eyes, nor can I do a million things at once. Do you have any affiliation at all with children, Kurt?"
The young man finally hesitated a bit, clearly confused with Jeff's sudden change of tack, but obviously figured that he should answer. He shook his head to indicate the negative. "No Sir."
"Well then," Jeff said quietly and admittedly a little angrily. "You'd have absolutely no idea how to deal with them. Go back to your job, and let me do mine. Let me also give you a little bit of advice, Kurt. Let the parent of the child know that they're misbehaving, politely and respectfully. Do not think that you can take it upon yourself to tell that child what to do. Am I clear, or must I locate one of the managers here and complain about a certain employee's abysmal customer service?" Jeff paused, mockingly thoughtful, before adding, rather dangerously, "Because I'm sure that once I explain what has happened, despite my son's misdemeanour, that same employee might just find himself jobless."
Jeff truly wasn't threatening the boy, but having had a similar job when he was a teenager and having rather enjoyed having the income it provided; the older man knew from second-hand experience that most companies wouldn't stand for such unprofessional behaviour. And judging by the look on the young man's face, he obviously knew exactly what his supervisor would have to say, and the likely result.
Suddenly abashed, as if finally realising he'd offended his customer (or that he'd probably lose his job), the young man nodded, his face dropping as he clumsily re-sealed the box and placed it back into the cart. John glared at him; small arms crossed and tears still streaking his cheeks, and leaned in close to his father as he could.
Going rather an impressive shade of red and clearly trying to curb the urge to retort, probably in defence of his behaviour, the employee muttered an obviously reluctant apology, before moving off.
Jeff found that he now felt a little bit guilty over having been so harsh to the teenager, but at the same time, he just couldn't stand people that acted so uppity.
It just made him even more determined to ensure that his sons would grow up to be kind, polite and upstanding young men; not young brats with a sense of superiority and entitlement over others. His parents had raised him the right way, and he was damned well sure that he was going to do the same with his boys.
Turning away from the retreating man's back, Jeff turned to look his middle boy square in his cornflower-blue eyes.
"John, you know better than to do that with the cereal. You're in time-out when you get home, young man. Understand?"
The little boy nodded gloomily, knowing that, despite how young he was, when Jeff said that he had to go to time-out, he meant it.
Jeff sighed, glad that the altercation had turned out to be relatively minor, even if it had raised his blood pressure a little more than he wanted for a Sunday afternoon. He didn't know how Lucy managed it when he was away on assignment. He admired her more than he ever had before right at that moment.
Virgil had quietened down considerably, Jeff realised as he straightened up again. Looking to his side, a fond grin split across his face, replacing the previous frown as he found out why.
Scott, realising that his father was somewhat distracted, had moved around to the bar on the trolley. Stretched up on the very tips of his toes, Jeff's oldest son was tickling his baby brother's little feet. Virgil was gazing at his older brother, chewing on the small fist that he had jammed into his mouth, but his youngest son was clearly smiling widely around the obstruction. Wishing he had a camera close to hand, Jeff nevertheless made a copy of the image in his mind to refer to in later days; when the inevitably repeated chaos made a return to his family.
Running his hand through his hair, grin still on his face, Jeff looked down to consult his much-crumpled list and saw that they needed to head to the tinned foods aisle. At least that area had the least potential for small children to cause mischief… He hoped.