Little boy, Caden and his mother, Hannah Sewell, were in the supermarket ‘Aldi’, buying some food on Saturday when the youngster spotted his favorite packet of apples in their trolley.
Caden, who does not speak, was so excited he started to jump up and down.
But his happiness was short-lived when a stranger in the store come up to Hannah and said:
“Control your kid because people are trying to shop.”
Shocked mum Hannah apologized to the woman and told her that Caden was just excited, but claims the woman just rolled her eyes and interrupted her.
To make matters worse, the woman then did something Hannah “really wasn’t expecting.”
The woman bent down to get closer to Caden, who used to be afraid of strangers.
He got excited again thinking the woman was going to say hello.
But instead, Hannah says, the woman got close to his face and asked him: “What is wrong with you, does your mommy never take you anywhere?”
As Caden has no verbal skills he could not reply, and Hannah claims the woman laughed when she told her this.
Hannah left her shopping and took heartbroken Caden for some chicken nuggets in the hope of cheering him up, but he was too upset to eat and sat there distraught.
In an open message to the woman on Facebook, which has been shared 161,000 times, has 76,000 comments and 264,000 reactions, Hannah, from South Carolina, writes: “To the woman in Aldi that made my son and me feel like complete sh*t today.
“I’m sorry you felt that my son being excited about getting a bag of his favorite apples and jumping up and down beside me was such a big deal that you needed to ask me to “control my kid because people are trying to shop.”
“When I told you that he can’t help it and was just excited, and even apologized to you, you decided to roll your eyes and cut me off. And then you did something I really wasn’t expecting.
“I’m not sure if you noticed it when you bent down, but Caden got excited again thinking you were coming to say hi. He used to be afraid of strangers. We’ve been working on that.
“But instead of saying hi, you got close to his face and asked him ‘What is wrong with you, does your mommy never take you anywhere?’
“Then you pointed out that he didn’t say anything back to you. When I informed you that he is unable to talk, you laughed and said ‘No surprise there, he can’t even walk through a store’ before walking away.
“I’m not sure if you can tell, but you broke his f***ing heart and mine when you did that.
“I left all of my groceries and walked out of the store. I took him to Wendys, his favorite place. I thought he would like some nuggets and he loves the apple slices there because they’re different colors and he can line the colors up on his tray.
“But he didn’t get excited. He didn’t smile or jump. He just sat there with the saddest f***ing look on his face while he picked at his food. I hope you’re happy with yourself.”
Since Hannah shared what happened, she has been flooded with comments of love for Caden and people asking if they can send him his favorite apples and toys.
Hannah said earlier this week: “So nice to see how many more good people there are than bad ones around here. I can’t wait to show Caden all the love people are showing him”.