Mom claps back at stranger who shamed her for using her phone in Costco

RALEIGH, N.C. — One Raleigh, North Carolina, mom who was chastised by a stranger for using her phone in a Costco where she was shopping with her kids decided to clap back, ABC News reports.

Tracy Bennett was with her sons Elliot, 2, and Isaac, 7 months, on Sept. 27 when she tried to log on to the Costco app rather than continue to wait in line with the kids, who were beginning to fuss.

And that's when it happened.

According to Bennett's now-viral post, a man said to her "You see these babies? They fuss like that because they want your attention. Maybe you should get off of your phone and give them your attention."

She told "Good Morning America" she penned the open letter on Facebook because "we all think of the best things to say after a situation is over. I acted defensively when the guy made his comment."

Her letter reads, in part:

"First of all, I had no idea the toddler saying, 'Mama, pizza, mama, pizza' over and over and the baby making pre-cry warnings to alert me that if we don't move soon he's gong to lose it wanted my attention. Thank you for that brilliant analysis of the situation. Secondly, I had been in the Membership line for 15 minutes already. I pulled out books, snacks, patty cake, and even took to creepily pointing out items in buggies as customers left the store to entertain them."

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Bennett said she wished she had been able to explain to the man how harmful those comments can be to mothers.

"No one sees the constant, never-ending flow of attention we provide for our children," she said. "We are only human, and there are a lot of problems in a day to solve. Sometimes we have to direct our attention somewhere else for a moment, but it is always in the best interest of our children. That's not just something moms say, it's ingrained in us, it's how we operate. "

The response to her post, she said, is "overwhelmingly supportive."

"People are certainly entitled to their opinion and to express their opinion," she said, but "they should stop and think of how that opinion is going to impact the person they are sharing it with. It's always best to just assume the best in each other and move on. "

This story was written by Genevieve Shaw Brown for ABC News via GMA. 

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