It's there for my kid to break!

[Lace Neil Singer]

I'm the same whenever kids try to go down our escalator where I work (we only have one that goes up) and most of the time, I will apologise to the parents for being sharp with their kids. Most of the time, they understand that I'm doing this to keep them safe.

My parents used to hate it when my brothers and I did that. XD Blame Gladiators.

Once when we got told off by a staff member for going up a down escalator, my parents apologised on our behalf, then let rip at us once we were out of the store. XD

[emax4]

"My baby didn't do nuffin'!"

Neither did the parents, including teaching them right from wrong, how to behave properly, learning to respect others, etc.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I predict in the not so distant future, little Johnny is going to be stuck under a vending machine.

Even better....

"This may be hard to believe, but I'm trapped inside two vending machines."

[Geek King]

Even if this kid doesn't end up in trouble with the law, he'll have issues. When I was still involved with the Boy Scouts, you'd see one of this type wander into the troop every once in awhile. They'd cause trouble which the rest of the troop would have to clean up (if the patrol was assigned a task, the whole patrol got in trouble if it didn't get done). The other boys didn't take long to figure out who the jerk was, and would have little to do with him. Soon, little Devlin would be leaving the troop, "because no one would be friends with him".

Nevermind that Devlin was suspended from going on camping trips because he was caught trying to throw away troop-owned cooking equipment, rather than clean it when it was his turn. Obviously every other kids fault.

[ShadowBall]

I honestly believe parents who neglect their kids like this - where the kid is in a situation where they can easily get hurt or killed - the parents are trying to get lawsuit fodder or they want their child to be harmed. That's why parents will just leave their kids at random places with no supervision and let them do whatever they want. Then when the child is scolded or removed from the danger by a random passerby, Mommy materializes to scream at them for daring to interfere with their precious child. Even if said child was about to pour water into an electrical socket.

How dare they stop Mommy's attempt at a post-natal abortion/winning the lawsuit lottery! Pay your co-worker no heed - you did the right thing. That woman would not have wrangled her feral brat if you told her to, and if he so much lost an eyelash while beating on the machine like a little ape, she'd be screaming bloody murder and suing left and right. She's just mad that you made her do her job rather than letting the big machine entertain her brat while she wandered off.

[Lace Neil Singer]

A lot of the time, it's cuz Mommy Dearest does genuinely think that staff/random objects are there to babysit and entertain her child. I used to encounter this kind of SC all the time when I worked in the pet section of the garden centre; a lot of SC parents used to leave their hellishly behaved children in the pet section while they went shopping in the garden centre.

I eventually got getting rid of such brats to a fine art. I had a sign up in Pets that told their stupid parents that the pet section was not a creche; when they ignored it, I called my supervisor who'd come and take the brat and put it in the manager's office. When said parents returned, found their child missing and panicked, I'd allow them a few minutes panic before telling them that their kid was safe and calling the supervisor... who'd then appear with the brat and give the parents a telling off as well as informing them that doing this again would result in being barred. XD

[Lovecats]

When I worked at Kohls (about 6 years ago) parents would leave their brats - er- kids in the small toy section back by Customer Service while they shopped. Of course, the little dears trashed it because strangely enough the people working CS had other things to do other than watch them.

[Rine]

I have no problems yelling at children these days. I really don't. I don't care if the parents get uppity with me...I always turn it around on them and say that I don't want the kid getting hurt or that we have everything on camera, etc.

I routinely yell at children playing on the escalators and I do so VERY loudly. So loudly that half the store is like ", oooh, Rine got out her mommy/teacher voice again."

I get dirty looks sometimes or kids continue to play, and then I really knock it up a level, "HEY, I SAID STOP PLAYING. NOOOW." They don't expect a store worker to be so rude. I know I'm rude, but I've seen far too many people fall down the escalator. I usually confront them when they come down and I point to an old stain on the carpet near the escalator.

"Know what that stain is from?"

"No," the little children always say.

"It was from a kid that fell down the escalator and cracked his head open. You want to add your own stain to the carpet?"

"No, ma'am."

"Don't play on escalators, then."

[dalesys]

"It was from a kid that fell down the escalator and cracked his head open. You want to add your own stain to the carpet?"

"Brains are purple?"

[Jay 2K Winger]

"Brains are purple?"

"Of course! Little known fact."