SHANGHAI: A mother in southern China has caused public outrage by assaulting a salesperson and biting a security guard after her son was caught stealing a cup of milk tea.
The incident unfolded on Nov 12 when the woman took her two sons shopping in Guangzhou, Guangdong province in southern China, reported the Beijing Youth Daily.
When one of the boys secretly took away a cup of milk tea, which was placed on the edge of a milk tea shop counter to be picked up by the customer who had ordered it, and drank a few sips of it, a female employee stopped him and berated the boy.
“Who told you to put it there?” the mother said, in defence of her son.
The member of staff replied in a loud voice: “Is it justified for your kid to steal the milk tea?”
This infuriated the mother who can be seen in a viral video running a few steps to kick the staff member.
A viral video shows the out-of-control mother grabbing the hair of a member of shop staff. - Douyin
She then clutches the employee’s hair to drag her out of the store, pushes her to the floor, before beating her.
A male passer-by approached to stop the mother’s assault while a woman standing nearby was heard saying in the video, “You are not right to do this”.
Ignoring the sales employee sitting on the floor, the mother quickly took the hands of her two sons, and began to leave the scene.
She was prevented by a security guard who clung on to her arms, so that she could not escape.
“Loosen your hands,” the angry mother shouted to the security guard who responded: “I will only relax if you will not leave.”
After a few tussles, the woman unexpectedly bit the guard, leading him to react by slapping her on the face. The guard then loosened his hands.
At the end of the video, which was apparently filmed by a passer-by, the mother was seen taking a fruit knife out of her bag and wielding it at some bystanders.
The female staff member went to hospital for a check-up after reporting the attack to the police. It is not known if the mother was detained or not.
The case remains under police investigation, the report said.
The mother has been hit by a torrent of criticism on mainland social media after the video spread widely online and trended as a news topic.
“It is so unlucky for her sons to have such a mother,” said one netizen.
While another said: “Bravo to the security guard! He took action in a way that I would have liked to have done myself.”
Incidents involving clashes between customers and shop staff frequently capture attention in China.
In June, a woman, also in Guangdong, quarrelled with a salesperson at a supermarket for two hours after the worker told her to pay for a small sweet taken away by her toddler son.
The woman said the boy told her it was a gift from the worker.
Finally, the owner of the shop knelt down, begging them to leave the shop without paying for the sweet. - South China Morning Post
