Man Is Horrified To See His Spoiled Son Mocking His Boss's Daughter — Story of the Day

Wyatt felt bad for excluding his son from take-your-children-to-work-day at the office, so he went to pick him up from school only to witness Gavin mocking his boss's daughter. Wyatt was angry until he discovered the real reason for his son's attitude.

"You're not taking Gavin with you tomorrow?" Wyatt's wife, Leigh, asked while he was already in bed.

Wyatt sighed, took off his glasses, and put down his book. "Honey, Gavin doesn't have the best attitude. He's spoiled. Do you think he's going to behave in an office where there's nothing to do?" he asked her.

"Well, yeah. He's going through puberty. He's a little rebellious, and I might have coddled him too much. But everyone else is taking their children. What will they say?" Leigh continued, grimacing.

"Leigh, I have a promotion coming up. I can't have my son disrupting and possibly insulting someone at the office. I've worked too long and too hard to see it all derailed," Wyatt said and put on his glasses.

"You're ugly, and everyone hates you!" Gavin screamed suddenly.

"You know it's probably our fault that he's acting out," his wife added.

"What?"

"It's true. A child is a reflection of his parents," Leigh raised her eyebrows.

"That's not true at all. What about the parents of serial killers? Do you think they raised those kids to be monsters?"

"Are you comparing our son to serial killers?" she questioned, outraged.

"No! God! No!" Wyatt sighed again, removing his glasses once more. "What I'm saying is that it's not entirely our fault. Not everything he does is our fault, Leigh. When I get this promotion, we'll have more money. Maybe, we can pay for therapy or something. Try to fix his attitude issue."

"Alright," she muttered unhappily and plopped down on the bed.

Wyatt didn't want to read anymore, so he also arranged himself and fell asleep.

***

The day at the office was pleasant enough. It was definitely louder than usual as everyone had different-aged kids running around. Seeing some kids being rowdy and others downright yelling made Wyatt feel like Gavin could've come.

"Wyatt!" his boss, Mr. Anderson, asked.

"Oh, sir. My son had some sort of project he was doing with other kids, so I couldn't bring him," he lied easily.

"Ah, that's too bad. I want you to meet my daughter, Amelia," Mr. Anderson said and gestured for Amelia to come over.

"Nice to meet you, sir," the young girl who must be around his son's age said with a bright smile.

"It's nice to meet you, too, young lady," Wyatt replied, grinning.

The girl ran off, and Mr. Anderson started talking about a client and some business.

"Mr. Anderson, is my review coming up?" Wyatt asked before his boss could run off.

"Ah! Yes. Thank you for reminding me. I think you can expect good news, Wyatt. Everyone here loves you. I think I might be able to tell you something good by the end of the week," Mr. Anderson nodded, patting his shoulder.

"Thank you, sir," Wyatt smiled, and his boss ran off.

***

That night, Gavin was sulky and wouldn't speak much at dinner. He was normally outspoken, snarky, and sarcastic, but he was quiet then. Wyatt knew he was angry and giving them the silent treatment. The teenager ate, picked up his plate, and went to his room.

"I think he's angry that you didn't take him with you," Leigh said with a hint of accusation in her tone.

"I did the right thing, Leigh. He wouldn't have enjoyed himself, and my promotion is too important right now," Wyatt replied as he finished his dinner.

"More important than your son?" Leigh questioned.

"Of course not. This promotion is for us all," Wyatt shook his head. "I'll make it up to him."

"He's going through a bit of an attitude problem, I admit. But this… I never imagined this."

"How?"

"I don't know. I'll think of something," he said and rose from the dinner table.

***

The next day, Wyatt decided to leave work early and pick up his son from school. He thought they could get ice cream or go to an arcade or something. A nice father-son day would be perfect. They hadn't had that in a while.

So, he parked in front of his son's school and got out. He walked to the front gate, where other parents were gathered, and immediately spotted Gavin coming out of the building with some friends.

"Gavin!" he called, but he was too far for his son to hear. He saw the teenager blowing a raspberry at a girl and rolled his eyes.

"You're ugly, and everyone hates you!" Gavin screamed suddenly, making friends beside him laugh. However, the mocking words were directed at a girl, and Wyatt frowned. He knew for a fact that his mother had taught him to respect girls above anyone.

But his son kept yelling insults and mocking the girl until she turned to them and screamed back. "Leave me alone!" She was almost in tears by then.

"Gavin," Wyatt called out to his son, and all the kids turned to him. He saw Gavin's face turn white, and his friends quickly hurried away. He was horrified that his child was a bully, but then he realized something even worse.

He hadn't really looked at the girl Gavin was mocking, but he could clearly see her then. Amelia, his boss's daughter, recognized him immediately and huffed away.

"Amelia," he tried to call, but she ran off toward a waiting car, and he knew her mother was at the wheel. Her father would probably know about this situation by tonight, and Wyatt's years of hard work and sacrifice would be over.

He turned to Gavin, who tried to adopt a defiant walk and expression. "What are you doing here? And how do you know Amelia?"

Wyatt tried to contain his anger in public, but he was incensed. His son was a bully of girls, and he had mocked the one girl he should've befriended.

"Do you realize who that is?"

"Amelia? The tattler? No! She's just a stupid teacher's pet who can't mind her own business," Gavin responded petulantly.

"Gavin! Amelia is my boss's daughter! He is going to hear about this. She heard me calling you, and she met me yesterday! I can't believe you!" Wyatt leaned down to speak to him quietly but severely.

"Oh, you met her at work where everyone else took their kids, but you didn't?" Gavin snapped back, grimacing. "I don't care!"

"You will care! We didn't raise you to be a bully or to mock girls! We spoiled you too much. And now, you'll lose your PlayStation and TV privileges for a month!" Wyatt grounded him.

"What are you even doing here? Mom picks me up always!" Gavin yelled, his face red.

"I wanted to spend a nice day with you because I felt sorry for not taking you to work," Wyatt revealed, calming his tone. Gavin froze, not expecting that answer at all.

"Well, we can still go," the teenager said in a small voice.

"No, we're going home. And I'm telling your mother everything. She's going to be so disappointed," Wyatt shook his head. "Get in."

They drove home in silence, and Wyatt told Leigh everything. She was not happy. His wife had been a victim of bullying herself and never expected her child to turn into one.

"I told you this is our fault!" she scolded him later when Gavin locked himself in his room.

Wyatt looked down. "I'm sorry, Leigh. I think you're right. Let's try to find him a psychologist or something. We have to nip this in the bud."

"Alright," Leigh calmed down. She was expecting a fight with him. "Do you think your boss will be very angry?"

"Wouldn't you be?" Wyatt shrugged, almost resigned to his fate now. "I'm going to search for jobs online for a while."

"Hey, don't be like that. He won't fire you for this," Leigh said as they both reached the computer desk. She tried to massage his shoulders and make him feel better, but it was no use.

"I don't know what will happen," Wyatt told her sadly. "But I probably won't get the promotion if he doesn't fire me."

"We'll manage," Leigh comforted. But Wyatt still searched online for positions in his field.

His eyes watered rapidly, and his sobs came in painful, broken movements.

***

"I'm sincerely sorry about everything, Mr. Anderson. We had no idea this was happening at all," Wyatt assured his boss, who called him into the office the next day. His daughter finally told her parents everything; the bullying had been going on for a while.

"You know… Amelia sometimes does things I can't even understand, but she would never even think of bullying," Mr. Anderson began.

"We didn't think our son ever would. This is a sore subject for his mother, and we thought we tugboat him better than that," Wyatt nodded. "He's going through a bit of an attitude problem, I admit. But this… I never imagined this."

"I know, Wyatt. But listen. This promotion, the management position means handling people, and if you can't handle your own son, I'm afraid that I won't be able to recommend you to my superiors," Mr. Anderson said sadly and wet his lips.

"I understand, sir," Wyatt looked down, saddened and defeated. Mr. Anderson ended their meeting, and he spent the rest of the day working tirelessly to make up for things.

That night, Gavin came home with a big bruise on his eye.

"Oh, my God! What happened?" Leigh was dismayed. But Wyatt didn't have any anger left in him. His son got in trouble again, and he didn't know what to do. Therefore, he let his wife handle it and went to take a shower to wash away this horrible day. But he didn't expect what would happen at the office later.

***

"I'm so sorry, Wyatt. I was wrong," Mr. Anderson said as soon as Wyatt arrived at work.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"I was completely wrong about you. You managed to educate your son in one day. My daughter told me Gavin defended her yesterday from other bullies; apparently, it turned into a huge fight. Did you know that?"

"No, I didn't talk to my son yesterday. I was a bit distracted," Wyatt shook his head.

"Well, whatever grounding you did worked! I knew I could trust you, so don't worry because we're moving forward with your promotion," Mr. Anderson said and started to turn.

"Sir, can I take the day off? I think I need to have a man-to-man talk with my son," Wyatt asked boldly.

Mr. Anderson raised his eyebrows. "Well, sure. As long as you don't take more days! We need you here to announce your new role!" his boss smiled, and Wyatt left.

He took his son out of school for the day, and they silently got into the car. Wyatt drove out and parked in a random parking lot.

"So, what happened yesterday? I want the truth, Gavin," Wyatt asked.

"The day before yesterday… I heard what you said to Mom. I felt bad that you could lose your promotion. But there's more," his son began. His mouth twisted if the words were painful to phrase. "I know that bullying was bad. But everyone does it to Amelia, so I thought it was alright."

"Bullying is never alright, son," Wyatt commented. "Amelia is a sweet kid. Can you imagine if that was your mother?"

"I know. I know," Gavin continued. "I felt bad, OK? Mom also talked to me about how bad bullying was for her. So, yesterday when everyone started again, I defended Amelia. It turned everyone against me. I don't have friends anymore. Josh hit me."

"Those are not the kind of friends you want, Gavin," Wyatt began. "You want friends who will fight against injustices and do the right thing. You want friends who will learn from their mistakes and take a stance. Son, you just proved that you're better than those boys… I'm very proud of you."

His teenager looked up and didn't say a word. His eyes watered rapidly, and his sobs came in painful, broken movements.

"Oh, come here," Wyatt said and hugged his kids tightly to his chest. His emotions surfaced as well. "What's been going on with you? What's with the attitude? What's with everything? Do you want me to hire a professional?"

Gavin cried and sobbed into his father's chest, trying to explain everything. Part of his situation was puberty – his crazy hormones gave him mood swings – but another part was that he felt like Wyatt had no time for him ever. They used to do everything together until he started working longer hours for his promotion. Everything he did was to get his attention.

Therefore, his wife was right after all. This was all his fault. "That's going to change from now on. I promise, son," Wyatt assured and kissed Gavin's forehead. When his son finished crying, they went for burgers, ice cream, and a movie.

It was one of the best days of Wyatt's life. It made him happier than a few days later when Mr. Anderson officially announced his promotion. So, he knew that his family mattered way more than anything else. His son needed more attention, and he planned to be a better father. And his new attitude made him a much better manager for the team.

Wyatt and Gavin started going on more outings together as father and son but also included their mother in other adventures. From then on, Gavin befriended Amelia and different kinds of kids. His grades improved, and his attitude turned back to the sweet child they had raised, except he was still a teenager and was sometimes moody. But he never bullied or mocked anyone maliciously ever again.

What can we learn from this story?

• Many kids do things to get their parent's attention, so you have to be there for them. Wyatt didn't realize that his son's problem was that he wanted more affection and time with his father.
• Teach your children that being a bully is one of the worst things you can be. Leigh and Wyatt had no idea that their son was bullying and mocking a girl, and they did their best to correct it immediately.

Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a spoiled boy who mocked a stewardess, not knowing that his father was watching him.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.