A Slap in the Face

Yesterday I was shopping at a nearby market. I go often to this one store to buy diapers and baby food and blueberry muffin mix. As I was waiting to pay, the man behind the counter, who I assume is the owner because he's always there and seems to be in charge of things, turned to the boy cleaning the display cases and started yelling at him. And, yes, it was a boy, no more than twelve or thirteen years old. The man was unhappy because the glass wasn't clean enough--or, at least that's what it seemed like since I couldn't understand what he was saying and he kept pointing to the glass, touching it. Anyway, the man turns to go to the cash register than quickly turns back to the boy and slaps him across the face. Hard. What? I stood there dumbfounded. I felt like he slapped me too. There were other people in the store who acted like nothing happened. I didn't know what to do. The boy went back to cleaning. And, I realized I couldn't really do anything. I couldn't tell him not to hit his employees. I couldn't tell the boy that he's too young to work and should be in school. So, I paid and left. And, I won't go back there again.