They're going to do so much damage to their skin, it's sad

I am in Sarasota, Florida which is an upscale tourist town. I shop Sephora at UTC, which is an upscale mall. Several years ago the Sephora there was clean and neat. It is now somewhat disgusting with dirty testers, products in wrong places etc. Ulta is cleaner but I'm starting to notice a decline there too. Not sure who is to blame but the people shopping now are total pigs.

I know stores require certain sale goals but I couldn’t imagine making selling of thousands of dollars and none of it going to me but instead the already billionaire owners of the company and just getting regular minimum wage

I 💯 agree

Parents being there doesn't help . I had a horrible experience in a Sephora and the moms were there

You can definitely say that again!!!

I think some adults are also upset that there are kids in Sephora buying things they shouldn't or don't need. But there might be some jealously thrown in the mix too from what I'm seeing. However, the conduct is the huge issue. I wanna go to Sephora but I'm scared if the testers are even clean to try >

Thank you ice. You are exactly correct.

​@@sunnyv7745 What's worse is that some stores have already responded by taking away testers, only for the kids to open the products on sale instead.

When I was a tween / teen Sephora didn't exist I lol

Truth

And yet I had the pizza face and used Sun-In on my dark brown hair. I'm a young Gen X.

@@vickiweber4718 I remember Sun-In! I also suffered from acne.

​@@vickiweber4718 Me too! Would you not have loved a decent concealer shade range, and any skincare that wasn't Sea Breeze or a St. Ives scrub? 🙄

Parents don't care . Either they were dropped off , or parents want a few minutes to shop without being asked if they can buy something a million times . . Not an excuse , but just an observation

I suppose in bigger cities kids could walk to the mall not requiring any driving. But yeah, I hear ya

I live near a big city and work in a big city and honestly there are no malls in "the city ". They are all in the suburbs and the stores are you know standalone locations in a shopping area. These aren't the places that are having issues I don't think. It is the suburban malls and the suburban Outdoor lifestyle centers that are seeing these issues. Also I think kids in the city no better. I think it is the suburban kids who are entitled and just think that they have to have everything and nothing applies to them

I was dropped off at malls when I was 12 and never would have destroyed property. That didn’t used to happen often and if it did, the manager would call security. We were scared of consequences, getting in trouble, having authorities or our parents called etc…. Even if an adult had just said “if you don’t stop, we will have to call security”, that would have been more than enough to get me to stop. Kids need to learn to navigate independently and malls are a perfect, relatively safe, controlled place to do that in the tween stage. Supervising them until they are 16 is helicopter parenting and will actually stunt their development. A lot of kids go off to college by the time they’re 17 or 18 so there has to be a stage they learn to be “on their own.” I think the problem lies more with the fact that the difference today, is that no rules are enforced and nobody says anything when they see these kid acting up. For fear of being filmed or accused of bullying children or having parents complain about how their kids were treated? I’m sure they don’t think it’s worth the risk. It’s sad but it takes a society, not just parents to reinforce to kids how they’re expected to behave and we no longer have that. Even in schools, teachers are afraid to say the wrong thing or have their words twisted so the easier thing to do is nothing. And then the kids learn that when they’re parents told them they’d get in trouble for acting up, that was kind of a lie. It’s not fair to lay this entirely on parents, this is an uphill battle.

I agree. I am in my forties and have a 14 year old and a 9 year old. I would never let my kids do what some children have done. There is a lack of parental guidance and involvement. Although the city I live has an issue with 12-14 year olds stealing cars and shooting each other. It is sad what is happening in our society.

it’s all entitlement. and parents not parenting.

Agree entitlement . I know someone who has a daughter in ELEMENTARY school . She got drunk elephant and high end makeup for presents this year

They get their first IPad when they are 1 year old - personal iPad. I’m 30 and still don’t have one. I mean if kids grow up with an iPad which is so expensive even to this very day, iPad is a luxury!! Period! But kids treat it like water. I mean we treasured those ring candies more than they treasure iPad or other expensive things. And every year they want an upgrade and get it. It doesn’t stop. Parents don’t wanna deal with their kids one bit and and think let’s keep them quite through iPad and giving them what they want. People used to use pacifiers before but now pacifiers was supposedly “so bad” but iPads are the new pacifiers!

Y kids had iPads at 2 and 1 yo. They also know right from wrong

a lack of respect and a surplus of accessibility. I'm asking myself how they can even afford these things

I MISS JUSTICE OMG, I’m so grateful I grew up on rainbow cheetah prints and glitter and unicorns.

My mall still has a Claire’s but that’s not what’s trendy online so even if they have a space they can be bullied if they use those things while other kids are influenced to grow up fast online

I love this story. 😂

Lmaaooo not the death stare

OMG I know the product you're talking about. It was great for clearing my skin, but you definitely do not want to use it lightly! I would only allow my child to use it with my supervision and only if they had acne and would have seen an actual benefit.

As a once child, now skincare loving millennial who got burned from acne creams in the early 2000s because my mother decided NOT to ask anyone about possible reactions... Thank you. Save her from looking like I did.

Good job Victoria!

exactly. "my daughter is my best friend!!" NO SHE ISN'T and she shouldn't be. be a PARENT. you can have a friend-LY relationship, but you are a PARENT first and foremost and I'm so over the "I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom" bs. If I behaved the way I see so many teens behave now,, I'd never be seen on earth again. parents need to start being parents and stop trying to betheir kid's friend.

100%

literally. if i was a kid asking my mom for all this $$$ skincare she’d have just laughed at me and kept walking. now, kids are definitely gonna need something to cleanse their skin, moisturise and protect them from the sun, but if actives aren’t prescribed or directed by a doc or derm, they really shouldn’t be using them. and good skincare can be bought at the drugstore.

100% agreed, maybe this is me being raised in a working class family who would've never blown 80 euros on a moisturiser, but this all seems like such upper-middle class nonsense to me. my parents would never in a million years have given me the money to buy some Glow Recipe or LET ALONE Drunk Elephant shit, the concept of spending so much money on... skincare...? for an 11 year old would've (rightfully) seemed absurd to them. some Claire's once in a while or whatever, as a treat. i think my father would've actually laughed if i asked for the money to buy Sephora prices and both my parents worked (literal 12 hour shifts) so this "you don't understand, we don't have TIME to parent, i need the iPad :(" excuses are nonsense. parent your damn kids

​@@caseyc2497AMEN🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌💯

I agree with a lot of what you’ve said. The consequences are one HUGE missing piece. If Sephora workers begin to recognize a tween acting out of line with appropriate behavior, they should say “you’ll be charged for anything you destroy” or “you’ll need to leave and come back when you can act right.” But that also takes Sephora operations backing that up with policies around “you break it you buy it”-including testers and displays, which means assigning dollar amounts and even barcodes or POS buttons to ring up such a transaction. Additionally, offering workers decision-trees on calling center security vs local law enforcement based on whatever general security policy they uphold. It costs to participate in society. Sometimes it costs money, but all the time it costs effort and consideration of others. It is absolutely unreasonable to expect that children will learn this without practice. Parents can support their children in practicing by being nearby without hovering (e.g. “I’ll drive you and your friends to the shopping center and read a book in the car” or “I need to get something from Sephora-I know you love the store so why don’t you call a friend and you two can look around while I get what I need.”) The reality is, tweens have a right to exist in the world. They even have a right to act up-but they deserve to have consequences. They deserve that chance to learn and improve. They deserve better than people just bashing all youth instead of calmly and firmly telling them to their face to shape up or ship out. We want to compare them to ourselves, but all of us adults who know how to act in a store have been practicing for years. (Yes, there are also tons of adults who act just this same way, and that’s frequently just as multifaceted an issue). They just need practice, and you’re right-it takes the whole community to provide that for them (and it’s our responsibility to do so if we value the trajectory of our society).

Don't forget they have seen their parents disrespect retail workers so they think it's ok

i think some other places in europe are also like that; having to ask a store assistant to get a product for you if it’s not immediately on the shelf. we do that as well where i live, south africa. because we learn to have respect for spaces and items and places of business.

@@laur83 I only shopped at Sephora in Paris, Prague and various Cities in Germany, because we don't have Sephora in Austria, and it is the norm to ask a shop assistant for a product that is not on the shelf. Not only Sephora, but also in other stores, is the same. The main problem in German Sephora is that customers tend to steal their testers, which is for other customers absolutely annoying. The last time I was in Sephora, was in Paris last October, and I haven't seen tweens running wild there yet. Let's see, how it will be when I'll be in Hamburg in April. I hope that this madness will die down.

I'm in Canada and it's the same. I think it's actually like that everywhere, it's just common sense...If it's not on the shelf it is not for you to dig in for it. There is employees for that reason. Here the drawers are actually locked with a key, I don't know if it's like that everywhere since people talk about kids just willingly opening up drawers by themselves. I've worded in a Canadian Pharmacy when I was younger and the drawers weren't all locked but you didn't see people just opening them. Teens now are so intitled it's actually frustrating and embarrassing to watch. I'm only 26 years old and if I looked at myself just 10 years ago when I was 16, never in a million years would I've been comfortable and unashamed of doing the kind of things they are doing now...I know they aren't all like that but I have seen enough to be discouraged...

@@MrsDaedalus_ i’ve also shopped sephora in paris; one look from those shop assistants and those kids would be running out 😂 ugh, imagine people stealing testers. i get you want nice things, but that’s just gross tbh. i hope this trend of kids being disrespectful in stores doesn’t spread to other countries.

Sounds like the stores are going to have to put locks on the drawers and each worker has a key, so only the samples can be touched, not the products to purchase...and maybe a security guard or 2 to kick them out of the shop if they're just messing up the products!!

Such a valid point

Well said!

Not to mention parents are working longer hours for stagnant wages and they simply do not have the time to mind what their children are doing.

Yes! This! I have 3 kids, 21, 17 and 14. I’ve witnessed major shifts with the way we do life, the way kids are taught and what is available to them. Teachers do not stick around either. Every 6 months to every school year extra curricular teachers are shifted around.

@@erinwright30 That’s interesting! I can see how that’s a problem, no way to build relationships with them. I mean my band director was like my second father!

💯💯💯💯💯

Well said!

Exactly!!!👏👏👏

@@Banniegirl Thanks! I’m not always a big commenter because it can get argumentative at times and I try to avoid that, but I live in a world of teens right now 😂 so I have a lot of thoughts on the subject.

This is such a thoughtful comment, and I appreciate that your care about your kid's development and take responsibility for it. So many people don't, and why I understand Kelly's comments I think parents caring about how their kids act in public and being vested in them being better people is so important here.

You do sound like a grandma, plenty of kids in Sephora are respectful actually. I've also seen people in their 30's and 40's abusing testers and causing mayhem in crowded stores. Honestly this is a problem that could be fixed with better staffing and paying staff enough to care.

I'm gen x too and I 100% agree w you. These kids have never had consequences so they fear nothing and have no respect

it’s kids being kids with their parents and teachers not disciplining them. i definitely remember my friends and i having fun in stores as kids but we were never disrespectful like that. shows entitlement.

I have bad for news for you, and the bad news is that your generation does not have respect for the places they hang out at. As someone who worked in retail for years, I assure you that Gen Xers and boomers destroyed the store I worked at every single day. This is a bad behavior that every generation exhibits, but for some reason people feel particularly at liberty to complain about it when young people do it.

Teachers are supposed to teach and parents are supposed to do the discipline. Why do parents expect teachers to raise their children? LMAO ​@@laur83

Thank you! I can't believe elder millennials who were dragged under the sun for being "entitled" are now saying it to Gen Z.

Seriously I just have so much empathy for them. Being a teen was so hard and i didn’t have half of the streams of influence they’re presented with at every turn.

Yes! I think you’re so right! Most (kids and even adults) just need some guidance. It really does take a village, so thank you for sharing your knowledge with kids so they can learn! My 12 year old had the best experience with a Sephora at Kohl’s employee. She completed the whole transaction on her own, I was just in the background and the employee was so sweet to her! I think it was a positive experience that taught her important life skills.

I'm trying to understand it too. Some people have pointed out that as parents, we can't be stern or others will look at us weird thinking we are abusing them. The gentle parenting movement has gone to an extreme I think were it's all about their feelings disregarding other topics like respect and consequences.

Oh they are in the store , but don't care

at barnes and noble my sister saw a kid (~10) throwing books at people off the 3rd floor (its like an open/balcony kind of layout, basically the 3rd and 2nd floors can "look" into the center of the 1st) and when the employees tried to get the kid out of the store the dad defended the kid saying theyre customers so they have the right to be in the store??? total weird entitlement

Putting a screen in front of your kid at an early age is creating anti -social behavior. They aren't learning how to interact with each other face to face anymore. Having conversations, and learning give and take. Its all about what they can get. Its alarming, what are they going to be like as adults in the real world? Pre teens grabbing things out of someone's hand isn't normal or kids just being kids. Its anti-social , and pathological. I see behavior problems Turning into entitlement and just becoming bad people. I blame the parents, why have children if you don't teach them or spend time with them? Society isn't going to do it for you, its not a teachers role to discipline your kids. If you don't step up and do it, you have only yourself to blame when your kid gets in trouble with the law, etc.

Drunk Elephant's packaging hasn't changed in the last 10 years.

Same! I'm 40 but I like the cute packaging, my only gripe is the pastel or white writing on pastel packaging. Even if I wasn't visually impaired I still wouldn't be able to read the packaging. Is it lotion? Shampoo? Face wash? Moisturizer?!!?!

That was my interpretaion, I'm almost 26 but most of the makeup I'm drawn to is aesthetic K-beauty, and FlowerKnows cosmetics.

@@rubyannr6898thank you for saying this. In 2015 nobody accused Drunk Elephant of marketing to kids and they were using the same type of packaging as today.

The packaging isn’t the problem whatsoever; it’s social media. When an adult influencer recommends a product, it’s implied that the recommendation is for fellow adults. Children don’t care. They want to emulate the influencer they admire. Furthermore, advertising for kids vs adults was far more simple when commercials were on television because the demographic was more defined. An attempt at advertising to the right demographic is still made on sites like KZfaq and TikTok, but it’s not as precise or reliable. It’s more nebulous. For example, doll customization videos are for adults (the materials used can be quite toxic), but because the video is tagged as a “toy” instead of a “craft” by the algorithm, commercials for young kids may play on the video. No one watching the video is interested in buying that thing. A commercial for art supplies would make far more sense. But the algorithm doesn’t quite understand that. Similarly, kids may lie about their age or watch content that’s not intended for them. That’s going to skew what advertisements they receive. It doesn’t help that marketing and advertisements have been encouraging teens and tweens to “grow up” at increasingly earlier ages for the past two decades. Parents need to parent. The screen is not an efficient babysitter.

The adults are there , they just don't care

I agree. It’s so dangerous to leave your child unsupervised. It seems that many parents can’t control or simply aren’t interested in their children which is tremendously sad.

Completely agree with you. It’s wild to me that anyone would think that ripping something out of someone else’s hands and destroying things that don’t belong to you is “normal tween/teen behaviour.” Absolutely not.

Same here! I shopped at Sephora as a young teen as well. But I was always with my mom. Buying clinique chubby sticks, Sephora collection concealer and powder foundation, etc. Pining over the Naked/Naked 2 palette that was too expensive to ask my mom for. The most skincare I had at that age (12-16) was the Clinique 3 step set and/or neutrogena acne face washes and the grapefruit scrub.

Yeah, this is why I don't get the "death of third-places." We hung out at each other's houses in the 90s and 2000s? If we get some spending money, we'd go to ice cream places or check out makeup in drugstores.

Oh me too!! I loved going to the skating rink on the weekends with my friends! Some of my best memories ☺️

that’s how it should be. using products and things prescribed to them that work, are affordable and actually meant for kids their age. i’m sad for these new kids thinking they need drunk elephant to be cool or accepted or to look presentable.

​@@laur83I was having to explain to my 13 yr old niece that drunk elephant is overpriced and she has very good skin and no need for it. I took her to Ulta and helped her get a Skincare routine that was age appropriate for her as well as her skin type.

@@selfcarewithstephanie3519 that’s fantastic. i’m glad you were able to do that for her ☺️

Well said! So many after school activities are cost-prohibitive for many families, and it's a huge struggle if you have more than one child if you're a single parent or have a lower-income household.

Teens have always been entitled, I was bullied for not following late 00s trends and for doing good in class so it wilds me that those rude kids, now in their mid 20s with kids of their own, talking about kids nowadays being disrespectful. 🤔

Thank you for being a responsible parent. It’s rare these days.

I was this child. My mother and her sisters had perfect skin and because we don't share DNA, I had oily, pimply skin. She tried very hard but had no idea what to do with me. She couldn't teach me anything. So she gave me Stridex pads with no instructions. I was in TEARS most days. Turns out? I had to wash my face twice a day. She had no idea and it took me burning my skin on acne creams (the 2000s were a NIGHTMARE) as well as a few other misadventures when I figured this out. Thank you, MAC Counter at Macy's. You have to teach them. You have to teach them they don't need a retinol. You have to teach them how to talk to people in store and get good advice and you have to teach them how to act. I learned super late but I PROMISE you have to learn. Thank you for being truly amazing, you're going to teach her skills she can carry everywhere.

You could have been describing my childhood

There was no such thing as a " teenager" until the mid 1950's. In the 40's ,if you were under eighteen, you were considered a child. Legally at 18,you became an adult ,many people married at 18-19 years old back then . My mom married at 19, in the 50's. People were raised to be more mature because they had to be,there was no grace period between 19 and 30. Once you hit 18, you went out and got a job ,it was economically necessary. The 1970's things changed, people became more comfortable, middle-class, and money was plentiful. Teens could stay children longer. And so on, today, its an economic and social issue. We have let teens stay in an infantile state for far longer then necessary. Education has been dumbed down. People in their twenties act like teenagers. Playing video games into their thirties. Adult men addicted to porn and video games, taking no responsibility for their lives. And young women fixated on their looks and sex appeal to get what they want because of no self esteem. Its a sick culture we have now, social media in the last 20years has been the driving force behind this behavior. And not for good. Its toxic and has poisoned young minds into thinking they need things to make them happy. Children have been exposed to things they shouldn't be, and brainwashed into thinking they need things they dont. Parents need to monitor what their kids watch. And not allow social media until their teens are older. 16+ I'm Gen X and I've seen this slowly happen over the last 20years and it just seems to be getting worse. Parents need to take control ,and not shift blame to others because of their lack of interest in their own damn kids.....

Thank you for this! This whole phenomenon is rooted in the destruction caused by COVID. Our brains are rewired, and not usually for the better. Parents are worried and overworked - mostly just doing their best to hold it together. (This does not excuse the marauding tween hordes. That's just manners, and that starts in infancy.) I'm in a very privileged position in that I can work part-time to be available for my daughter, and even I got a bit neglectful in limiting her screen time. And she's in seventh grade, and has never been to a slumber party! This is not a normal time, and we can't expect people (especially kids) to just go back to the way things were. ETA: thank you so much for everything you do! You are so appreciated. 👏👏👏

❤🙏🏼

I wholly agree with you because I firmly believe the issue is more multi-faceted than "lack of respect" because people said that for every generation.