your workplace = pro bono daycare facility

[chainedbarista]

maybe this is just me being tired of all the kiddies coming and camping out, but recently a group of kids (all are around 8 or 9 yrs old) started coming in, asking for water, camping out for about an hour, disturbing the peace that most of our customers come here for, leaving a mess, then walking out.

hmm, something tells me that mommy and daddy have told their latchkey kids to come to the big green apron so that they won't have to 'be alone' while mommy and daddy are doing whatever.

um, no; i'm not paid to watch anyone's children, clean up after them or 'make sure they're safe' just because a few 'parents' (i use that term very loosely here) don't feel good about leaving junior at home, but are not nearly bothered enough to get them to a legitimate afterschool program.

it's not just the annoyance factor, but the culpablity issue, should any of their precious darlings get hurt while they're here; we don't have anything set up for this, plus we're not a damned playground, here for them to act like zoo animals.

has anyone else encountered this kind of issue, where kids are basically told by mommy and daddy to go to x location for a certain amount of time, then leave?

[Zeeko]

I get it every day! there are 5 kids that ALWAYS come in. Their mother works next door and they spend ages in here - you would have thought they'd get bored of the same shiny objects by now.

We had one unattended kid (4 i think) that actually pissed on one of the displays and when we told her parents when they wandered in the reply was "ah kids, what will they do next?" with a grin on their face.

[TheMyerWorker]

I hate kids who come into our department (computers, Im always scared the little shits will break something)

There was this one time where this 6 or 7 year old kid came in, and he started grabbing and holding onto random employees legs! He grabbed and held onto mine for like 10 seconds! I told him to let go of me and go away, but he wouldnt listen.

After a few minutes of this happening, I said to one of my workmates that we should call security, and the guy behind me said yeah get someone to sort that kid out, and he walked off, with the kid following him. Turned out it was the kids parent

[CanadaGirl]

We had one unattended kid (4 i think) that actually pissed on one of the displays and when we told her parents when they wandered in the reply was "ah kids, what will they do next?" with a grin on their face.

Were those parents sent a bill for any destroyed merchandise?

[powerboy]

At my last job, we would have little 4-6 year olds come in and stay for hours. Their mother and grandmother worked next door. There was also a group about 5-8 high schoolers that would come in everyday and play the games, while they only paid for 3 people. They never listened to anyone and the main owner, were afraid to kick them out, because they might sue. They always left a huge mess and Burger King wrappers.

[Bagga]

Because of the (perhaps over-exaggerated) equation Unaccompanied child = at risk of paedophilia, could you not call the social security people or the police, to at least warn the parents that what they are doing is parental neglect? Or maybe you could put up a notice saying that, and including a clause absolving you from any liability for anything that happens to unaccompanied kids?

[CaroPhoenix]

When I worked @ Roy Rogers, we'd get all the middle/high school kids coming in after school and hanging around until 6 PM. They'd eat, drink and be annoying.

At the Gaming Store, kids as young as 7 are dropped off by their parents (either in the evenings or on the weekends) where they can play CCGs (either Yu-Gi-Oh! or Pokemon) for hours at a time.

[Gurndigarn]

has anyone else encountered this kind of issue, where kids are basically told by mommy and daddy to go to x location for a certain amount of time, then leave?

I work in arcades. Any more questions?

[customersruinmylife]

I have had parents walk up to me and say "I need to go shopping, will you watch my kids?" Um, NOOOO!

[Imogene]

I have had parents walk up to me and say "I need to go shopping, will you watch my kids?"

"Gonna pay for me to take the classes required of the state to legally become a babysitting service? No? There's your answer."

[Marxfan]

"Sorry, ma'am, but I'm really not interested in being your kid's surrogate mommy today. If you don't want to look after them, you shouldn't have had kids. Now take your crotch droppings elsewhere!"

[hawkchick11]

The last winter I worked at the mall, we would have the same girl (maybe around 9 or 10) come in every day to the store and buy something small with her $20 and just wander around. Turns out her parents would hand her $20 and drop her off at the mall on the way to work instead of paying for a babysitter. Mall security put a stop to that one after about a week.

[Dreamstalker]

Oy. I was a latchkey kid in the 80's/early 90's and knew better than to bother store staff. If I wanted to go hang out at the five and ten or the coffeeshop while mom was at work, fine (as long as I called her to tell her where I went and called again when I went back home), but I had money to get my own comic books or snacks and tried not to bug people.

Of course it helped that my house was nearby so I could just go back home and read if I got bored (my mom had also taught me how to deal with strangers, this was a fairly small town where the few local characters were generally harmless and actually quite polite).

[Sylvia727]

Ugh, we're next to a middle school, and while they're always annoying Fridays are officially ing Fridays. Stealing soda and making a mess are the biggest concerns, while regulars refusing to come in on Fridays on the next. We go around and beg people to fill out a complaint form so we can kick them out. Because of corporate, we have to see a problem, give a warning, see another problem, and then ask the offender and only the offender to leave. PITA.

They've knocked over the stall dividers in the restrooms, stomped on mustard packets, and screamed and giggled so loudly that parents of four-year-old children have moved to another section. One time my Awesome Manager got so fed up with it she kicked every single one of them out, and the father reported her to the cops for "harassment". Apparently, she hadn't finished eating her invisible sandwich. However, at the time we offered free food to any cop who wanted to eat in our dining room on Friday afternoons, because they were just that bad. Corporate got involved, but the cops told them not to sweat it, there was no merit to the claim. The dad was convinced that because his little angel got straight A's, that was proof of her good behavior. He also said AM only kicked her out because "she dresses dark".

We had one employee, Kyle, who had been there forever and had no patience with any of them. They knew him and would behave for up to five minutes when he yelled at them. Once, some kid decided to mouth off at Kyle. Actually cussed at him and said we couldn't kick him out even if he didn't buy anything and bothered the customers. Kyle didn't say anything to him. He turned around and stomped towards back of house, ripping his apron off. He said to AM "I'm ing clocking out" (In the middle of the lunch rush! In front of customers!) and AM just nodded. The kid's last lonely brain cell fired a neuron at his survival instinct and the brat ran like hell down the street. By the time Kyle had finished clocking out they were all long gone. Good thing, too, because Kyle could have put him in the hospital, and that would have cost him his job.

I'm not advocating violence towards 14-year-olds. I'm not, I swear I'm not. But I'm just saying, we haven't seen that kid since. I'm just sayin', is all. You can't prove nuttin'.

[MystyGlyttyr]

My mom would once in a while bring me to work with her at the library when I was younger. Of course, she also taught me how to behave myself, how to read by the age of four (I was on Sweet Valley High by the time I was five!), etc. By the time I was six, I knew how to take the big shelf of returned videos and go put them away so that I was helping out. (Some Saturdays, my mom worked by herself so I would tag along for just such an occasion.)

So by the time I was old enough that she felt comfortable for me to go into an arcade or bookstore on my own, I knew how to behave, how to put things up behind myself, and how not to be a pain in anyone's ass. And she'd never leave me longer than an hour or so anywhere.