your workplace = pro bono daycare facility

[Auto]

What I'd like to see is a sign that reads :

Attention customers, we cannot legally watch your children.
We will call child services over any unattended children.

this is what we do. an unattended child triggers a 911 call. mom and dad are free to talk to the cops/child services folks about our free babysitting services.

[Twotall]

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?

Dear God, yes. Several years ago, I had a summer job in the local amusement park. There were two or three kids we would see EVERY week day, and never in the company of adults. Apparently their parents bought them season passes, then dropped them off every morning, told them to "go have fun" and picked them up again after work. And our park was not very big, you could do all the rides and stuff in about two to three hours.

One kid in particular we really felt sorry for. He was there every day from we opened, and just wandered around taking rides, always with an expression on his face that clearly said he was sad, lonely and bored. Still makes me feel bad to think about.

[cinema guy]

One kid in particular we really felt sorry for. He was there every day from we opened, and just wandered around taking rides, always with an expression on his face that clearly said he was sad, lonely and bored. Still makes me feel bad to think about.

Aah! Not only do the parents leave him, but they leave him on his own. Makes me

[Zeeko]

Were those parents sent a bill for any destroyed merchandise?

No, and the only reason is a bogus address was given - we have a picture of them in the store now.

[Mr. Security]

Well I noticed a few former Library workers posting here so that's good to see as they understand what I will mention maybe. I'm Security at the major main Library in my city and I have a variation on the Kid trouble makers. The Mentally disabled that get dropped off by there group homes. We have this one women who is in her early 40's but has the mental age of around 7 years old. She is in Monday to Friday 11am -9pm without fail. She usually gets dropped off by a group home worker or social worker but when it come time for her to go home at 9pm at night she has to take the bus home. The group home never picks her up at the end of the night so she has to wait downtown at night for the bus. The group home expects us to babysit her the entire day. We have to take her lunch/supper and put it in the staff fridge and get it for her when she wants it. Store her jacket and bags in our office, If she has appointment she will give us a sticky note and we have to reminder her about it. Since she has the mental age of about 7 she get's very scared really easy and will misinterpret the slightest things. If someone brushes up against her she thinks that the person punched her or if someone she doesn't know says something to her like "could you move, please" or something as harmless as Hello, how are you? she won't register it right away and when she does she can't remember exactly what they said so she thinks up the worse things and then thinks they said "fucking move, Bitch!" or "fucking N***er(she's Aboriginal by the way, not African-American) and when this happens she will freak out and start to cry and scream and takes us and staff a long time to calm her down. She'll even freak out if someone looks in her general direction for to long


There was this one time when she had an "accident" in her pants and was going completely ape shit. We could not calm her down at all. She just balling and screaming. She didn't have a change of clothes so I called her group home as we had there number encase of an emergency and when I called they told me this

GHA = Group home asshole
Me = well me of course
MHW = Mentally handi-cap women

Me: Hi I'm security over at the library and I understand that MHW lives at your group home, Well she has had an "accident" and is extremely upset and we can't calm her down. We need you to come down with a change of clothes and come get her

GHA: (in an irradiated tone) Well we can't come down there and she has a plan in these type of incidents, she should know what to do!

Me: Well she is very upset and doesn't have a change of clothes we really need you to come down and bring her some clothes

GHA: (Still in an irradiated tone) No we can't come down!, there are plans in place for these thing and she knows what she has to do

Me: Sir, Please she obviously can't think of "the plan" and won't let any of us help her we need you to come down

GHA: (even more irradiated tone)No!, she knows what she has to do, were not coming down! *click*

It took us another 30mins but finally we calmed her down and got her some clothes from lost and found.She has had a few "accidents" after this but this was the worse. I checked with my mom who had been working in and out of several group homes for around 10 years and she told me that" they are there responsible for them and that in these incidents they must send somebody down so I was pissed that day that the group home did nothing and kept on saying "she knows what she has to do" The thing is were are in a catch 22 with her. She doesn't mean to be a burden, she mentally handi-capped and can't help it but there are some days when you want to yell at her to fuck off and go away. I swear where just one big ass group home

[chainedbarista]

mr. security, it sounds like the health dept (or applicable dept) needs to know about the actions of this 'care' facility. what they're doing not only sounds unsafe but possibly breaks laws or rules of some sort.

maybe it's time for the authorities to know about the 'fine care' they provide for their patients.

someone with the mental capacity knows and can remember 'the plan?' wtf?

[XCashier]

mr. security, it sounds like the health dept (or applicable dept) needs to know about the actions of this 'care' facility. what they're doing not only sounds unsafe but possibly breaks laws or rules of some sort.

maybe it's time for the authorities to know about the 'fine care' they provide for their patients.

Absolutely. I wouldn't leave a seven-year-old on her own at the library for hours on end, a 40-year-old with a mental age of seven is no different. Definitely contact the authorities about this facility, they've got to be breaking some laws or ordinances.

The woman's family might have something to say about it, too.

[Broomjockey]

I believe that they were hypothetically saying this to said adult, not the child.

I believe that wasn't the point. The point was the use of a deragatorry term towards children who haven't done anything, and we have several members who object to that term most strenuously.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

My mother once used the museum as, not so much daycare, but as my entertainment for 3 days while she was at a conference. :blush:

Differences: 1) I was in my teens, 2) I know how to be quiet, 3) I love history and even though it was a small museum, I enjoyed looking at everything 2 or 3 times, 4) I had a book and they had a lovely, enclosed graveyard in which to read. If anything happened, I had her contact information & was expected to handle it myself, unless it was something minor enough that any adult could handle it.

[South Texan]

My mother once used the museum as, not so much daycare, but as my entertainment for 3 days while she was at a conference. :blush:

No need to blush. You were old enough to take care of yourself and could entertain yourself.

[poofy_puff]

Dear God, yes. Several years ago, I had a summer job in the local amusement park. There were two or three kids we would see EVERY week day, and never in the company of adults. Apparently their parents bought them season passes, then dropped them off every morning, told them to "go have fun" and picked them up again after work. And our park was not very big, you could do all the rides and stuff in about two to three hours.

One kid in particular we really felt sorry for. He was there every day from we opened, and just wandered around taking rides, always with an expression on his face that clearly said he was sad, lonely and bored. Still makes me feel bad to think about.

Was this at Canobie Lake?

[South Texan]

Dear God, yes. Several years ago, I had a summer job in the local amusement park. There were two or three kids we would see EVERY week day, and never in the company of adults. Apparently their parents bought them season passes, then dropped them off every morning, told them to "go have fun" and picked them up again after work. And our park was not very big, you could do all the rides and stuff in about two to three hours.

One kid in particular we really felt sorry for. He was there every day from we opened, and just wandered around taking rides, always with an expression on his face that clearly said he was sad, lonely and bored. Still makes me feel bad to think about.

Oh, the memories that post brought. When I worked at Six Flags Over Texas in the 70's, we had several kids whose parents bought them season passes then dumped them at the park every weekday with just enough money for food. Some of these kids were no more than seven. We got to know many of them by name.

After a few days, the Fun of the park wore off and boredom set in. We really started to feel bad for these kids who just wandered around. Too much of anything gets old. Soon the park had to contend with thefts, vandalism, disruptions and a few injuries these kids caused when they started to look for something else to do. Of course, whenever the park called the parents regarding an injured kid or the damage the kid had caused, the parents would blame the sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds working there for not watching their children properly.

[Twotall]

Was this at Canobie Lake?

Sorry, a few thousand miles East of that... Kongeparken, south-western Norway.