Who's in charge?...

We are in the process of remodeling portions of our house. As such, I have been spending a lot of time at either Lowe's or Home Depot. There was an interesting incident during a recent trip to Home Depot that got me to thinking. I was in the plumbing section, standing amidst a virtual forest of faucets on display. While pondering the vast amount of choices before my eyes I noticed a little girl, about two, walk by. Her mother was about fifteen feet behind her and, as she walked by, said to her daughter,

"Tuscany. Will you please hold my hand so I don't get lost?"

Eager to take a break from rationalizing the amount of money I was to spend on faucets, I turned to take a closer look at this woman. She appeared, from a cursory scan, to be relatively intelligent and certainly in control of her mental faculties. I must admit that I immediately became perplexed. For I not only found it difficult to believe that this lady could get lost in Home Depot, but I was mystified at the way her polite requests were so rudely ignored by her master. By this time the daughter had cleared our aisle and was rounding the corner into the next one. The mother, once again, vainly repeated her appeal for assistance from her daughter. For all I know, she's still wandering around that Home Depot waiting for her daughter to acquiese.