Mother of the Year

[AnaKhouri]

Reading threads about unattended children made me think of this, though it happened some months ago and I have not seen the family in question in a while.

I close Monday nights. The store closes at 10; we usually get out about 10:30 (after everything is cleaned up). I work in a rather large 'independent' bookstore (2 floors, 55,000 square feet).

For a long time this one family would come in every single Monday night. Family consisted of Mom, Dad, and 5 kids ranging in age from 12 to about 3. Every single Monday night the parents would dump the kids in the Kids section and leave. As in, leave the store and go into one of the nearby restaurants. The kids would be alone for HOURS.

Not only in this irresponsible in my opinion, it is DANGEROUS. This is a huge store with lots of nooks and crannies and the employees are too busy to keep an eye on unattended children.

The oldest boy did a good job of keeping them in line and made them clean up their messes etc. But I don't think this is really something a 12-year-old should have to be doing.

Anyway, the last time I saw them...

I'm cleaning the store upstairs at about 10:15 when the 5 kids in question come up the escalator. They approach the closing manager and the boy tells her their mother left them and still hasn't returned, and he knows we are closed but he doesn't know what to do. Poor kid! Manager lady immediately sits them down and goes to the nearby restaurants to find their mother. About 10:30 she returned with the mother, who is entirely unapologetic. Even better, apparently Mother had a book she'd had us hold behind the Help Desk and wanted to peruse it even though the registers are closed. So she stands a while looking at a book, then she asks Manager Lady to look up some other books for her. ML is a real pushover so she does. Meanwhile we employees are standing around by the Help Desk glaring at her. Finally, at 10:50, she collects her kids (the oldest boy looked so embarrassed!) and leaves. Not a single apology, to us or to her kids.

Haven't seen them since, thank goodness. I just hope those kids are OK.

[phoenix_rising]

Ugh, what parents will do for a night alone. Too cheap to hire a proper sitter. I'm just glad the manager went and personally found their mother, though I bet the dad had a part in it, too, you know.

[Sliceanddice]

No offense but if i had been that manager, i would have called the cops first. Then i might have gone to the resturant. But most likely i would have sat with the kids and lets the cops deal with it. Im pretty sure that might be concidered abondment in some states.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Three letters for ya: CPS.

There's that girl from England, Madeline Whats-her-name (sorry, not familiar with the case) who got abducted when her parents left her alone in their motel room while they went to a nearby restaurant. You can't turn your backs on your children for even a second.

[Rolling Star]

My friend had that same problem at the Toys R' Us that she works at. She was so annoyed and yet worried that if the kid got hurt the store would get sued. A Store IS NOT a babysitter!

[Mike Taylor]

When I was at FAO Schwarz (and later at Build-A-Bear Workshop), we often had to call DCFS (Department of Children & Family Services) to come pick up kids who were left alone by their parents in our store.

[uknz76]

The Korean family who run a [bad] clothing store next to my bookshop used to do this almost every week. A couple of weeks ago I told the mother that we don't do babysitting. Apparently she couldn't speak English.
5 minutes later, when I told her [little s..t of a] son, that I couldn't get the book he wanted in the time frame he needed, the Mother learned English.

SC - You no get book, for you no want my boy here!
ME - I no get book in 2 day from America. If you wait 2 week I have book for you!
SC - You no like my boy!
ME - I don't like having to babysit someone else's offspring in my place of work. We are here to sell books no to watch for YOUR kids.
SC - [Blank look and leaves]

I may have spoken quite fast to confuse SC, it seemed to work I haven't seen them since.

[wagegoth]

Definitely call the police. It was not only dangerous, but probably illegal.

I am so sick of people popping out kids they don't want. Please, use birth control. AFPhoenix will be happy to sell you whatever you want.

[Marxfan]

Parents these days are so fucking oblivious, it's sickening. Once, back in my bagger days, a few registers down from where I was working, a mom was paying for her groceries while her toddler son sat in the cart playing with a plastic bag. It gets worse... he actually put the bag on his head past his nose! It was there for what felt forever, and the dumb bitch didn't even notice! Fortunately, he pulled it off and was fine, but Jesus Christ, what kind of fuckwit lets their toddler play with something that could suffocate them??

[MoonChild2007]

what kind of fuckwit lets their toddler play with something that could suffocate them??

The ones who have no responsibility over their kids and like to blame it on other people?

[Binky]

Its really sad that this sort of thing happens, what’s worse is that the store that gets lumped with these kids becomes (in the eyes of the parent) "responsible" for the child and so if anything were to happen to the child the STORE would be in trouble and not the parent. I really wish some parents would be more responsible.

I say if these parents come back tell them straight off that your not watching their kids, your not paid to babysit and if one or the other (or both) don't stay your calling the cops/banning them from the store. You should not be made responsible for their kids, and it’s not like this is a one off either, they have done it repeatedly.

[RammsteinGirl]

Yeah.. I would have definately called the police and let them find the mother. Then she could explain to the cops why she left her children alone in a store at 10:30 P.M. when they should be home in bed.

Why have kids if you don't want to deal with them? That's why I'm not sure if I ever want kids or not (I'm only 20 right now).. I want to be able to do what I want, when I want.. I want to travel the world someday.. and you really can't do that with little kids tagging along. Kids need stability (and attentive parents, in the case of this lady). So as long as I feel this way, I am not going to have kids.

[Fawn]

That is just.. OMG... *strangles air* BAH!

[Marxfan]

The ones who have no responsibility over their kids and like to blame it on other people?

Oh, yeah. I forgot.

[Auto]

When I was a kid, I loved browsing in bookstores. It was a great way to kill an hour while my mom or dad shopped in another store nearby.

From the time I was about 10, I was a big reader of adult titles and I liked checking out new books -- and maybe reading a chapter or two. I didn't bother anyone and once in a while, if I had enough money, I'd buy something. Usually it was a magazine or newspaper.

The clerks got to know me and sometimes pointed out books they thought I might like. In one store, when I was 16, the manager approached me one day with an offer of a part-time job. He figured I liked books and knew his inventory as well as anyone.

I was a mildly depressed growing up. Bookstores and libraries saved my life. They were safe and comfortable places to get away from an environment I didn't much like. The clerks and librarians seemed kinder and more tolerant than than anyone else I knew.

I know it sucks when parents use bookstores as free babysitters, and yes, calling the cops is often the best way to teach them not to do it again.

But I wonder how many of those kids feel the way I did -- that browsing in bookstores is a wonderful escape from a crappy homelife? And the last thing the kid wants to do is behave in a way that causes the store to kick him out or call the cops.