Crying kids
In the latest issue of the Consumentengids (the magazine of the Consumentenbond, a Dutch organization that represents consumer interests) was a column called (freely translated) “Let’s put an end to the whine registers!”.
In it the columnist opined that candy should be removed from the impulse buying section in the supermarket since the whining children annoyed him and it contributed to the overall obesity children these days.
Now I don’t live on a farm, but I can quite easily tell that this is pure bullshit. First of all, from the supermarket’s point of view, the impulse section is the perfect place to put candy. It’s cheap and small and you already have your wallet out, so you’re bound to pick up something. And if it didn’t work, they wouldn’t be putting it there.
Now, then there is the case of it leading to obesity. There’s the easiest solution, you have parents who just say no when their kid starts whining. Candy stays where it is and kids don’t get fat (from the candy behind the counter anyway, it’s not like that’s the only reason).
So, the only problem remaining is the whining kid. Well, if you don’t want to be annoyed by other people you should just stay home.