A Good Whack

Back when I was living in my bachelor pad high atop beautiful downtown Cranford, NJ, there was still a small local A&P nearby (no wonder they went bankrupt).

But, as a budding curmudgeon, there were certain things I wouldn't put up with.  Once, in the checkout line, some sort of small rug rat was raising a fuss.  It was 4 or 5, so I couldn't quite understand why it's mother was trying to reason with it.

"Whack it" I thought.  Better yet, let ME whack it.  But no, she  continued to reason with it, with absolutely no results (as I suspected).

In my childhood, a good whack would have been delivered, and I grew up perfectly normal...as curmudgeons go.