Had no clue they weren't together

[joetheman]

I just read a topic in this forum about someone who thought a young kid was with his mom but he and his dad were actually not together and then they walked off and the guy found out they were unrelated.

Similar thing happened to me. This kid is in line right next to this guy. The guy is buying a newspaper and something else, I forgot. The kid is in front and he hands me several bottle return slips totaling about $3.50 right as I'm in the middle of ringing up the guys two or three things. I figure the guy just gave them to the kid so the kid could help out or something. So I take the bottle slips off the guys bill, he pays and leaves, and the kid leaves too.

About fifteen minutes later the kid (he was like five or six I think, maybe seven) comes back and he's like "wheres my money?" in his little innocent kid voice. I was really confused but I started to understand what happened. I called over a supervisor and explained the situation. Eventually the kid's dad showed up and they got their credit for the slips.

Kind of a silly mix up but how was I supposed to know? The guy was probably like hey cool I randomly got 3.50 off my bill.

[Difdi]

There's the old saying about Ass-U-Me. Better to get a viewing of catbutt face from asking if a kid is with the adults, than to assume he is (or isn't). Safer, too.

[sms001]

Even better is to assume that your child might need guidance during a transaction and go in the store with him and walk him through it.

[Fandangoose]

Never assume, because you make an ass out of the parent(s). Oh, wait, they do that all by themselves.

[Wal*MartDude]

Never assume, because you make an ass out of the parent(s). Oh, wait, they do that all by themselves.

That is totally true! 110%!!! I've noticed since working at Wal*Mart that the parents 99.9% of the time are even worse then their kids! It's scary how mean the parents can be to their kids!

[Spork4pedro]

I get this problem about once a week at my store. I'll have an adult ordering with a young (12 and under) kid standing practically on top of the adult, so I usually assume that the kid is with him/her (especially if the adult is ordering multiple drinks) Once I'm done with the order is usually walk away to make the drinks since (I think) no one else is in line. Sure enough the little kid is still standing there, looking all confused. So I go over to ask if he/she needs something and then they silently hand me some money without ordering! (First time some kid did this I was thinking it was some leprechaun surprise...WOO! Money for me!! yay! ) and of course 9 times out of 10 the kid is ordering a long order and has no clue what the family wants!

Why can't parents just get out of the damn car with their kids?!