It's a universal truth of parenting that
shopping with kids - and sometimes husbands - in tow can be a total and utter disaster: the tantrums, the nagging, the horror.
For one US mum, the family shopping nightmare, occurred in Target. And her hilarious post about the painful experience is going viral.
"It all started the second we got inside where both kids fought over which one of them would get to ride in the cart," Ms Alpert writes. "I'm like uhhh, neither of you because you are way too big and even though we're just here for toothpaste, I'm going to fill this cart as high as it goes with tons of other sh*t."
Instead, Ms Alpert explains, her kids decided to ride on the side of the trolley, "because God forbid they actually walk and get some exercise." This, of course, made the trolley extra heavy, "like a Costco cart after you decide to stock up on water and soda".
The mother-of-two's wrath wasn't solely focused on her children, however. Her husband also scored a dishonourable mention on the outing. After being left with the kids for "16 hours" while he went off in search of 7 Up, Ms Alpert described that she was so annoyed by the time they got to the registers, that she made her husband pay at the self-check out.
"I'd like to apologise to everyone who was standing behind us in line because holy crap, watching him scan and bag the items was one of the most frustrating things I've ever watched," she recounts. "He'd scan a box. No beep. He'd try again. No beep. For the love of God, turn the item over and look for the UPC symbol!!!!! And then the machine was like "unknown item in bagging area." I'm like no shit Sherlock, it's my husband."
Ms Alpert finished her rant with some advice for mums: "Always lie and tell your hubby you have a doctor's appointment so he'll watch the kids while you go to Target ALONE."
While some felt Ms Alpert's (clearly) tongue-in-cheek post was a tad harsh, the vast majority of mums responded with, "STORY OF OUR LIVES".
"I literally just stepped in the door from a family of 4 target trip where my 5 year old insisted on pushing her baby sister in her carriage all over the damn store," wrote one mum. "I'm done with family outings to target! We just needed toothpaste as well."
"My husband and self checkout drives me wild," shared another. "I cannot stand the way he bags things and removes the bags from the "bagging area" the second he fills one up instead of letting them fill the area then empty. It makes the machine all wonky!"
Others thanked Ms Alpert for the reminder that shopping is best done alone.
"I was so close to doing the family trip to target this evening but you saved me!" one mum wrote. "I snuck out alone and had a blast!"
Read the post in full below:
Can you relate?