Opposite of Being Hit with the Ugly Stick

Don was telling a story about a friend of his in high school that got smacked by another kid's dad for doing something rude. The boys thought it was hilarious and I said that "in the olden days", any parent could smack any kid that deserved it. It wasn't like today where people got in trouble for that.
Andrew said, "Whoa. So you mean a grown-up could go up to a kid in a store and hit them and say, 'You are too ugly?'"