"Can you watch my kids for me?"

[flyonthewall]

Was there an actual child? She seems to have problems.

She has two. They are about 8 and 10. Both are very well behaved kids who honestly don't need constant supervision. They are not the kind to wander or get into trouble. The 8 year old was standing next to her(looking exasperated) and the 10 year old was happily looking at displays. She asked me to "Find *child's name*." She said it so ineligibly that I thought she was talking about one of our products that is named similarly. It didn't occur to me that someone would ask a stranger to find *their child's name* when the stranger did not know of the existence of the child until she clarified.


Frankly, her freaking out was not warranted at all. The way she went about it made it seem like this was a toddler or special needs child. Which is quite different from a mature 10 year old who is more logical than their insane mother.

[WishfulSpirit]

First job was lifegaurding. Had to make a rule that any child under 6 had to be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or older. Because people would dump their kids on us all day, thinking that "indoor pool = all-day babysitting for only $3 a kid!) One mother of the year left a 10 year old, a seven year old and a 4 four year old at 8am. She'd pick them up at 10pm, after they'd been sitting on the bench outside waiting for her for an hour (we closed at 9pm).

[eltf177]

First job was lifegaurding. Had to make a rule that any child under 6 had to be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or older. Because people would dump their kids on us all day, thinking that "indoor pool = all-day babysitting for only $3 a kid!) One mother of the year left a 10 year old, a seven year old and a 4 four year old at 8am. She'd pick them up at 10pm, after they'd been sitting on the bench outside waiting for her for an hour (we closed at 9pm).

One hopes the police and CPS got involved...

[Gimli]

I used to manage a Blockbuster Video store in the 1990s and had one parent who would dump her two sons, aged about 6 & 8 on us for several hours on Saturday nights. Once I realized what she had done I asked the older boy for a phone number and called her to come get them. She proceeded to cuss me out until I told her either she was picking them up or the cops were, her choice. And if I saw them in the store unsupervised again that I wasn't going to bother calling her, I was just going to call the cops first. We were next to a major highway and there was no way I was kicking the boys out of the store, even when they got rowdy. She was the only one who ever did that with my store so far as I know.

[protege]

There was one dad who would bring in his daughter and stand in the corner and read a paper and I was supposed to play toys with her.

Ugh. Reminds me of the "slot car kids" at the hobby shop. At one time, the owner had set up several tracks downstairs. You'd go down the steps from the main floor, down a long hallway (packed with model kits) and into the slot car area. Just about every weekend, the same kids were in there, being loud and annoying.

These kids would come in every weekend with bags of quarters and would spend hours racing. Some of them (keep in mind the shop was in the Mt. Lebanon/Uppity St. Clair area--both were relatively rich suburbs) spent more money on slot cars than I spent on REAL cars. Annoying, spoiled kids, but at least they paid for their "track time."

What sucked, was if the room was closed off for restocking or someone chose to have their birthday party there. The tantrums these kids would throw...could be heard from space

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Back when I worked at Gamestore, one of the stores I was at shared a parking lot with the local Warehouse club store.

It was not at all uncommon for parents to drop the kids off with us while they went shopping. Normally if the kids behaved I didn't have a problem with this, most shopping trips were less than an hour anyway.

But there were some who took advantage. I remember once these parents dropping off two kids in our store and leaving them for close to FIVE hours. Finally they came back but by that time, the younger kid had wandered off somewhere. I hadn't noticed because:

1) I was, you know, helping customers
and
2) I'm not a frickin' babysitter!!

So the mother proceeds to rip ME a new one because I'd let her precious snowflake wander away. Let's just say she got an earful and a threat/promise to call the police if she ever tried to pull this again. Thankfully, the kid was found safe and sound in another store a few doors down from ours.

A different "Gamestore" location I worked at was located about 100 yards up the road from a high school. So I had usual rushes of teenagers in after school got out on weekdays. Most were just in and out types, no problem.

But then I noticed these two kids, one ninth grader and one tenth grader, constantly hanging out from the time school got out until sometime between 5:30-6. I eventually learned these two kids were siblings and managed to get one of their names.

After several weeks of this, I went down to the school, passed the name of the student on to the administrators and said this needed to be addressed with the kids parents, because if it isn't I'm going to be calling the police about it.

A few days later and the kids stopped hanging out for hours at a time.

[otakuneko]

"Sure I can watch them as they get themselves into all sorts of trouble. Oh you wanted me to prevent that sort of thing? Well, sorry, no can do."

[Kogarashi]

This is why I like the signs (frequently seen in coffee shops) that say "Unattended children will be given a shot of espresso and a free puppy."

[gerund]

2) I'm not a frickin' babysitter!!

But then I noticed these two kids, one ninth grader and one tenth grader, constantly hanging out from the time school got out until sometime between 5:30-6.

Acts of Gord

[Valentinian]

Back when I was working in the admin office in a Government department, a military guy brought his kid in, sat him down in the unused end of our office with a handful of pens and some paper, and walked off. Didn't speak to us, didn't ask if we were willing/able to babysit his son. He was rather peeved when my manager zoomed after him at top speed and informed him that was NOT happening, but dude -- on top of all the other reasons why that was a bad idea (what if we hadn't noticed and the kid had wandered off and got into trouble somehow?!), it was a secure building. To get anyone who didn't have a pass of their own in, you had to sign them in and keep them in your personal custody the whole time they were there. By walking away from his kid after signing him in, the guy was actually committing an actionable offense that could have got him in serious trouble.

(He stopped complaining that we should just watch kiddo for him once that was pointed out to him. >)

[taxguykarl]

The classic--parents who mistake retailers for babysitters. What happens when the kiddies get injured? I have no doubt the parents would try to sue.

[flyonthewall]

I feel fortunate that kid-dumping is something that my store enforces. Kids get marched back to management and their parents are called to pick them up. Don't pick them up in a polite and timely manner? Cops are called. They say it's for the child's safety but I know it's because parents are the real money source, not the kids.

^.^

[SmivMoc]

Had something like this happen back at the comic store. Mom brought in her two kids, 6 and under, and said, "Don't touch anything until I get back." I quickly pointed out that 1. We were not licensed for child care, and 2. The police station was just across the road. She ended up taking them with her.

[CarcinogenCrunchies]

I once worked at a convenience store where customers would routinely let their kids run all over the store while they did their own shopping. They were never pleased when they came to the register and I informed them that they also needed to pay for the candy that their offspring decided to start munching while they were unattended.

Parents also frequently left their babies in strollers or infant carriers at the counter. On one occasion, a mother whose toddler was left at the front of the store came to the register and commented on the "creepy-eyes dude" that had checked out before her. I informed her that he was a registered child sex offender. I hope after that, she ceased her practice of leaving the baby unattended.

[Seshat]

I once left a child with the customer service staff at a Target. But it wasn't my child.

I'd found the kid, lost and looking for his parent, inside the store. So I asked him to follow me, and brought him to safety - and to people who had access to the PA system.
(I don't know how things worked out, but he was happily drawing on some scrap paper when I left him.)