Mom Bullies Dress Shop Owner Who Sold The Prom Dress Her Daughter Wanted To Another Classmate
We are in a golden era of insane and shameful parenting, and this might take the cake.
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock For many teenagers, prom is the pinnacle of their entire high school career, and as such, it can create huge, dramatic feelings. That's where parenting comes in, of course — it is the job of moms and dads to help their kids navigate those feelings in a reasonable and healthy way.
It seems we are unfortunately living in a golden era of parents who simply have no interest in doing that, however! The situation an Illinois business owner is facing is a prime example. Buckle up, because this is insane.
The dress shop owner is being bullied by a mom for selling a prom dress to another student.
Kasia is the owner of a Chicago bridal and formalwear shop called Kasia's Bridal & Special Occasion Boutique. Like many bridal shops, this time of the year is all about prom dresses, and hoo boy, has it gone sideways — like, the police might need to get involved sideways. Over a prom dress.
In a video about this debacle, Kasia described how many high schools these days have dedicated Facebook pages for students to share their prom outfits. This probably sounds like a fun way to document this rite of passage, but it goes far deeper than that.
She explained that often, the main function of these groups is to make sure no girl buys the same dress — which is pretty ridiculous on its face (this is not a real problem! Who cares!). But it would all be fine and good if it were just about managing those logistics.
However, like anything involving social media, it has instead become a handy way for students and parents alike to bully each other. Kasia has now found herself on the business end of this insanity.
It all started when Kasia sold out of a prom dress a student wanted.
Kasia explained that the President's Day holiday is a busy time for prom sales, and she nearly sold out of a specific dress that a girl and her mom had fallen in love with back in December. So when the girl suddenly came out of the woodwork after President's Day, Kasia had just one of the dresses left, in a size not even close to the one the girl wanted.
Now, a normal parent would simply tell their child, "Oops, oh well, we waited too long and we'll have to go find a different dress." Because that is how life works! As a parent, it is your job to teach your child that sometimes one doesn't get what one wants and to teach them how to manage their emotions when that happens.
Reader, I regret to inform you that that is not what this mom chose. Instead, she began to interrogate Kasia. "She says… 'Well, who did you sell it to?'," Kasia recalled, which is an insane thing to say on its face. It's nobody's business, for starters, and Kasia could go to jail for sharing that information if things went sideways enough — which in this case, they absolutely did.
The girl she'd sold the dress to was a classmate of the mom's daughter.
Not only do schools now have Facebook groups about managing prom dresses, but Kasia explained that some schools actually use them as an approval system to confirm that a dress is one girl's and one girl's alone, which is frankly the most insane thing I have ever heard in my life.
In any case, it turned out that the girl Kasia sold the dress to was a classmate of this weirdo mom's weirdo daughter, so they knew exactly who bought the dress, and she had "confirmed" it in the school Facebook group.
"The girl that is upset that she didn't get the dress is a cheerleader for the high school, while the other girl's just somebody that isn't," Kasia explained. You can probably guess where this is going.
"This mom is screaming at me that I need to go and take that dress back? Absolutely freaking not!," Kasia said, because that's not how anything works. Go buy a different dress you lunatic! What do you do when you have an actual problem, self-immolate?! What are we even doing here?
The mom and her daughter then egged the other girl's house and began threatening the shop owner.
It is at this point I feel it is incumbent upon me to remind you, dear reader, that this is all over a prom dress. A prom dress! A prom dress that, 15 years from now, this girl will look back on in photos and laugh about how dated and ugly it was! I remind you of the above because where this story goes from here is brain-melting.
When Kasia refused their insane demand to force the other student to give up the dress, the mom and her daughter went and bought it at a different shop, then began bullying the other girl to return hers and harassing Kasia over the phone — which escalated to threats.
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"She [had] her dad call me and say that if I don't do something about this, that he's gonna get involved," Kasia said. Oh no, not her dad! I bet Kasia's really scared! But they didn't stop there — Kasia has also been told that the mom and daughter egged the other student's house. "Over a dress!" Kasia said. "You guys, get real. It's not that serious."
It's so out of control that Kasia is considering getting the cops involved. "If I get one more phone call, let this be known. I'm calling the police," she said. "And I might just as well call the police in her city because she's harassing this girl… I'm afraid for this girl's life at this point."
Kasia went on to say that the mom and her daughter are banned from her store because she 'can't stand bullies.'
If you're a parent like this, I beg and beseech you: First, go to therapy, and then, find literally anything besides living vicariously through your child to make your existence worthwhile. Join a book club! Take a baking class! Scream into a throw pillow until your vocal cords snap like twigs if that's all you can find time for, but for God's sake get a grip!
"If adults are bullying adults, then why are we surprised that this is happening in high school?" Kasia said. "You guys are raising kids this way?!... I'm not at all surprised that parents are going into freaking schools right now and losing their absolute minds about bullying and harassment." That sound you hear is every teacher in the country simultaneously yelling, "WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!"
Here's the real, tough love truth of this: This kind of parenting is abusive — not only to the victim of the child's bullying but to the child herself. It is an utter and complete dereliction of parenting duty — which is to say neglect — to let something so meaningless escalate to this point in the first place and not use it as an opportunity to teach your child much-needed coping skills.
It's easy to laugh at how dramatic this is (and trust me, I am), but this mom is damaging her child enormously. And it will turn her child into a tyrant. Given the unfortunate way our world works, it will probably get her everything she wants in life. But it will also make her a miserable, empty person with no sense of self — just like, from the sounds of it, her mother is. No amount of getting your way can ever solve that.
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.