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Tis the season to not have to watch your kids?

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  • Tis the season to not have to watch your kids?

    As we get closer and closer to Christmas, I am reminded of many minor incidents dealing with children.

    I work in an OFFICE SUPPLY store. Unless they are getting school supplies, there's really no reason for children to be in our store alone. We don't really even have any game software to speak of (just some $9 older jewel case games). We don't carry children's desks or furniture. No toys.

    We ARE however right next to a major shopping center that includes 2 large electronics stores, a gaming store and several major department stores and a Toys R Us.

    So parents will actually DROP OFF their kids in our store while they get their kids stuff at Toys R Us! We have watched them send the kids in, go into TRU, come out then come find their kids.

    Meanwhile the kids are tearing up the place.

    Since when does it say "Babysitting service" along with copy center and office supplies? Don't these parents understand how DANGEROUS this could be? I have seen kids under the age of 8 being left in our store like that. The kids could get 'stolen' or they could damage something in our store just because they couldn't find a way to keep santa's surprise.

    Last week there was a kid (about 7 or 8) who sat for more than half an hour (nicely behaved) in front of our store. He said that his parents said to meet them in our store (apparently they were in TRU). He started to get fidgety and I was about to call the sherriff (literally phone in hand) to come try to find his parents when he spotted them outside. I really should have called the cops sooner, it might have been fun to watch them try to explain.

  • #2
    Quoth Mara-chan View Post
    I was about to call the sherriff
    You really should've.

    Child abandonment and all that.
    Unseen but seeing
    oh dear, now they're masquerading as sane-KiaKat
    There isn't enough interpretive dance in the workplace these days-Irv
    3rd shift needs love, too
    RIP, mo bhrionglóid

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    • #3
      I used to work for a toy store called Zany Brainy. They're out of business now, but they were sort of awesome for selling a lot of neat thinking toys. Our store was in the same sitch - strip mall with a fabric/craft store and a book store... so Mommy & Daddy would drop off their precious in my shop and go away for hours... or so they thought...

      I've called the cops for kids who were in my store for more than fifteen minutes
      without a parent/guardian. Especially if I watched them drop their kids off at the store.
      I remember one kid of maybe five point to another who was maybe seven and try to tell me that she was his mommy... yeah, I bet his mommy taught him to do that...
      If anything happened to those kids in your store, you know SPs(Sucky Parents) would try to hold you or your store responsible... but that's another thread.

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      • #4
        When I worked at the toy store we had to get a sign that said any child left unattended would have the cops called. Of course my manager was too spineless to actually follow through...so we had tons of children running around.

        Back on topic. Wouldn't it make more sense to drop the kid off at the gaming store at least? >.> If you're gonna be a crappy parent, at least let the poor kid be entertained.
        Pit bull-

        There is no breed of dog more in need of our compassion; in need of our call to arms on their behalf; and in need of what should be the full force of our enduring sanctuary.

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        • #5
          We didn't call the cops, but when I worked in a store in a mall (back when I was in high school), we called the mall security if we had a minor under about 10 in our store alone. We were a toy store, but you can't just leave children there alone! We called security once it got to about ten minutes (because maybe the kid wandered away and their parents would be right there -- we would give them a chance) and they would take the kids down to their offices, where they had a secure waiting room with toys and such and then the mall cops would try and find the parents through pages, ect.

          It caused some near break downs when the parents of said children came back and looked for their kids. They were start screaming at us and all we would say is "Look, your kid is not our responsibility". Then we'd send them on their way to the mall security or put them on the phone with them.

          Seriously. I would never ever ever EVER think of leaving my children somewhere out of my sight. If I don't want to take them with me, I leave them with a baby sitter or the Hubby or a friend. Who KNOWS what could happen to them!? Wasn't Adam Walsh taken from a store when his Dad was RIGHT THERE and look what happened to him? What if there was no parent or anyone there? Who knows how long it would be before anyone noticed the kid was gone!

          Some people just don't think. I feel bad for those kids.
          I am Wolverine.............and Wolverine does not do high kicks.

          He was a hero to me....and heroes are not supposed to die.

          Oh good, my dog found the chainsaw!

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          • #6
            Quoth persephone View Post
            Wasn't Adam Walsh taken from a store when his Dad was RIGHT THERE and look what happened to him? What if there was no parent or anyone there? Who knows how long it would be before anyone noticed the kid was gone!
            Adam Walsh was left in a toy store by his mother while she went shopping elsewhere. Incredible that, with all the attention given to the Walsh case, some people still do this.

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            • #7
              Quoth Eireann View Post
              Adam Walsh was left in a toy store by his mother while she went shopping elsewhere. Incredible that, with all the attention given to the Walsh case, some people still do this.
              Thanks for the correction. I thought they were in the same store. But still -- that's proof that bad things happen when you do this and it's not the best idea in the world!
              I am Wolverine.............and Wolverine does not do high kicks.

              He was a hero to me....and heroes are not supposed to die.

              Oh good, my dog found the chainsaw!

              Comment


              • #8
                When I worked in the pet section at the garden centre, there were sadly a lot of SCs who left their kiddies in the petstore while going round the garden centre. Some were well behaved and tho it used to bug me that their parents were treating the petstore as some kind of free zoo/babysitter, at least they were just standing quietly looking at the animals and not misbehaving. However, not all the behaviour of kids was as good; here are a list of the following crimes committed by badly behaved kids:

                1. Getting a rabbit out of its cage then setting it loose.

                2. Getting a budgie out of its cage then setting it loose.

                3. Tormenting the parrot. (tho the parrot got its own back by biting the child)

                4. Banging on the fish tanks as tho they were playing the bongos.

                5. Grabbing various pet accessories off the shelves and throwing them on the floor.

                6. Poking fingers into bird seed bags and chucking it on the floor.

                There were several instances of 4, 5 and 6; two of 1 and one of 2 and 3. We never saw the budgie again; it flew out of the door. Both times I managed to catch the rabbits that each kiddie released. And yeah, the parents did have to pay for anything damaged, any petfood wasted by being spilt on the floor and the escaped budgie.
                People who don't like cats were probably mice in an earlier life.
                My DeviantArt.

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                • #9
                  I haven't heard a think about Adam Walsh cause my TV never leaves the kid channel unless it's time for football. Even I know better then to leave a child anywhere unattended. Only time my son has been unattended is when he took off on me through the pet store while I was getting dog food. I was chasing him all over the store screaming bloody murder the second I could no longer see him. Turned out he just wanted to see the rats a little more but still my shrieking had a number of workers running to see what was going on and one making sure no one left the building till I found my son.
                  "It's not what your doing so much as the idiotic way your doing it." Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy 7.

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                  • #10
                    If I see a child left unattended for more than a few minutes, I call the cops. I've had some irate parents threaten and scream and whatnot, but I don't freaking care. They can scream all they want. All I'm concerned with is that kid being safe.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      A bit of a lengthy reply (sorry - got carried away reminiscing!)

                      Quoth Mara-chan View Post

                      We ARE however right next to a major shopping center that includes 2 large electronics stores, a gaming store and several major department stores and a Toys R Us.

                      So parents will actually DROP OFF their kids in our store while they get their kids stuff at Toys R Us! We have watched them send the kids in, go into TRU, come out then come find their kids.
                      Oh yeah... one of my first real "not newspaper delivery" jobs was at a software store in Dartmouth, NS (this was way back when I was 15 and the Tandy TRS-80 was considered a 'state of the art' computer that sold for $800). We were originally located at the end of the mall next the jumbo discount grocery chain store and parents used to regularly try and leave their kids in our store while they went grocery shopping.

                      The store owner was former Master Chief in the Canadian Navy and while he was actually one heck of a nice guy he could make himself seem REALLY scary and intimidating when he had to.

                      His favourite response when people asked to leave kids there to play a couple of games (as opposed to those that just sort of shooed the kids in our door and then quickly disappeared into the grocery store) was to growl that "This isn't an arcade!"

                      Most people took the hint but those that persevered (often responding "But it'll only be for a few minutes!") were then firmly told it wasn't a babysitting service either.

                      At that point the smarter people would take their kids and leave but every now and then somebody would stay standing there and start to explain how "It wouldn't actually be babysitting because..."

                      The boss would come from behind the counter, stand within their sphere of personal space, look them directly in the eye and, with a great degree of command presence, and in a tone of voice that sounded like a bored college professor, would say:

                      "Let me think... most arcade video games provide experienced players with an average of between 45 and 90 seconds of actual game play per quarter deposited. Your two kids look to be about 6 or 7 years old which means they'd be doing well to last through 30 seconds of game play per quarter deposited.

                      So... that's twenty-five cents for every 30 seconds spent here and as there's two of them, that works out to $60 per hour. That amount is payable in advance, in two hour minimum increments and there shall be no pro-rated refunds when you return for the children... assuming they're even still here when you do.

                      Now then... this conversation has already taken up several minutes of my time so it would appear that you already owe me three dollars before I'm even willing to continue speaking with you about this matter.
                      "

                      At that point he'd make the universal "Where's my money?" sign (hand out at mid-chest level, palm up and open with a slight wiggle of the finger tips) and then stand there silently staring them in the eye.

                      Nobody but nobody stood their ground against him at that point.

                      The truth is, this particular conversation probably only ever happened twice in the year-and-a-half that I worked there but it stands out in my mind to this day and it was my first really exposure to what I've come regard as the 'command presence baffle math' approach to customer problem solving.

                      In essence, if you can't convince them with a winning logical argument, adopt an air of absolute indifference and start to confuse the heck out of them with facts and figures stated as they were absolute universal certainties.

                      If you do it right, they'll give up, apologize for taking up your time and then wander away shaking their heads!

                      If you do it wrong, they'll verbally rip you a new one or report you to a manager for insolence and attitude.

                      -BJD
                      Sig Generator currently off-line for repairs. Please think of something incredibly witty & funny and then pretend you read it here. Thank you.

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                      • #12
                        Quoth WageSlaveofDoom View Post
                        I used to work for a toy store called Zany Brainy. They're out of business now.
                        I remember that store. They had some cool stuff and I was pretty bummed when they went under.
                        I am no longer of capable of the emotion you humans call “compassion”. Though I can feign it in exchange for an hourly wage. (Gravekeeper)

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Oh I have two great stories about this one that happened about 2-3 weeks ago and one that happened about 15-16 years ago.

                          2-3 Weeks Ago:

                          I went into work (seasonal worker at the big, red, almost bankrupt electronics store) at 11am. White I was clocking in I noticed a boy in a blue hoodie (maybe 11 years old) looking around. I asked if he needed some help at the time he said no and that he was just looking around. I figured his parents were over in TVs or car stereos or something and the kid was wasting time in games.

                          Well, about an hour or so later he comes up to me wondering where the computer games are. I show him and he thanks me. It seemed kind of weird to me that he was still there. Usually people don't take too long in buying anything in here. Being that I haven't seen the kid with an adult, I keep an eye on him. After another hour I go to one of my mangers and tell them about the kid. I'm told not to worry about it. I got off my shift at 6pm that day and the kid was still there. I felt sorry for him. He looked really lonely.

                          14-15 Years Ago:

                          This one happened to me when I was 4-5 and is exactly why people need to keep an eye on their children. No, I wasn't left by myself, but this is the reason I wasn't allowed out of my mother's sight in public until I was 12 years old.

                          My mother had needed to do some clothing shopping for me and my 2 year old brother so she took us to the mall. It was in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. JC Penny's was empty. It was literally just the three of us in the girl's and boys section of the store. We looked around for a bit when my mom noticed two mexican men paying far more attention to us, and especially to me, than what was appropriate.

                          Being that there is no one around, she takes us farther into the girl's section of the store until she finally (after a good 10 minutes) finds a store worker. She was a nice older woman who had us go hide in the changing room while she called security. Security said they were well aware of the two men and had been watching them for sometime. Seeing as there was an official complaint about them now, two officers (real cops not mall security) came up to them. The men bolted out the door. Right outside the store was a car waiting for them and I'm talking directly outside the doors waiting for them. Their full intentions were to kidnap a pretty lil' blond girl (aka me).

                          And this folks, is the reason you pay attention to your kids and to the people around you while shopping.
                          Honey and Thorns ~ Handmade Knit and Jewelry

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                          • #14
                            Quoth persephone View Post
                            Thanks for the correction. I thought they were in the same store. But still -- that's proof that bad things happen when you do this and it's not the best idea in the world!
                            Actually, I'm almost positive that they were in the same store- she let him stay in the toy department of a large store while she shopped in another department.

                            Message is the same though- it's not safe to leave your kids unattended while shopping.

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                            • #15
                              I didn't witness this, a coworker did but apparently a long while back a couple decided they wanted to see a movie without their kids. No big deal, sometimes I need time away from jr, but instead of a babysitter they took the kids(a 6yr old and an infant) to our store, gave big brother a bottle and said we'll be back in about 2 hrs. Well, needless to say, the authorities were called and parents had some 'splaining to do'. I'm super-paranoid about my kids and they are 11,9 and 6 but I need them in my view at all times....at least until they're 30!
                              "Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your software."

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