Kids and toy stores

[Hello Kitty]

She curses and screams at you in front of the kid?!?! "You kiss your granddaughter with that mouth, lady?" Or how about "That's the worst tantrum I've seen all day!"

[Becks]

I'd say something like "Ooooooooooooh, looks like somebody needs a nap!!! And when you wake up you can have juice and a cookie!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[chainedbarista]

wow, multiple parental fail on so many levels, i don't know where to start, but i will:

leaves child unattended
child is touching a display (normal behavior, curious little critters that they are ) that could have injured her, again, because 'mommy' wasn't watching
a stranger has to fill in as protector
'mommy' curse out the stranger IN FRONT OF her child
'mommy' storms out, showing less self control than her youngster

wow.

*reread and realised it was grandma, which makes it even worse...oO*
as for this:

SC (interrupts): YOU KNOW, I'VE BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR 20 YEARS AND HAVE
NEVER TREATED A CUSTOMER LIKE THIS. WORRIED ABOUT HER, YOU'RE FULL
OF SH*T.

if this is any indicator of her behavior, i doubt she has many customers. i can understand embarrassment over her being reminded (due to the situation, not anything you did) that she was lax in her parenting, but this is well over the line.

she owes you an apology and needs some: ANGER MANAGEMENT.

i've also worked in a toy store; granted, it was over the christmas season (and a total nightmare) and short term, but it was enough to convince me that more people are less about actual parenting and more into the 'parent' persona. bah.

[Difdi]

We had a boy have a seizure in the toy department and fall and hit his head. We then had to page his parents/ guardians to find them. then while he was being treated by the paramedics one of their party was more intreasted in getting information on a big screen tv

Oh my. That's about the point where I'd be making a phone call to Child Protective Services, to tell them the story. If they're that bad in public, what are they like in private?

[Kalga]

Signed up just to make this post. Ello.

SC: THAT'S B*LLSH*T!!!
SC: THAT'S B*LLSH*T! YOU'RE FULL OF SH*T!
SC WORRIED ABOUT HER, YOU'RE FULL OF SH*T.
SC: THAT'S SH*T.

I could see where you guys are coming from with the whole 'cursing in front of little kids', but they're gonna hear it eventually.

You should see all these kids who stay at the library after school. They're Middle Schoolars (14 years old and less) at the library I use to work at, with no parent supervision. It would be ok if they did homework (in a perfect world) but they get in their cliques, they go across the street to the laundremat to buy cokes, they skate. Then the recent time when a kid got buggered at another library....yeah, like it would never happen to your kid. Why let the kids at the library if they are just goofing off?

Ooh. You hit my sore spot. I recently got a job at a library. My friends hang out in the back corner, are quiet (relatively), and they keep to themselves. But we're also the ones with the entire Hellsing series on the table. But then you got all the 'cool' kids, who are sitting 7 to a table. Suited for four. That is 175% maximum occupancy. Which is really annoying to get a cart of books around. And they're all hogging the computers for MySpace (different rant). My friends only use it for game when they're are at least 5 computers open. Which is luckily against the Internet Use Policy, so I can get them kicked off.

Sometimes they get so bad, we have to call the cops. They come riding up in their new Dodge Charger cruisers, and sort things out. Strangely, I've seen fights between the 'gangsta's' break out here. I look out the front door. What do I see? POLICE STATION!

Why must the stupid people hang out where I work?

And since when did cool kids go to the library.

Minimum wage isn't enough to deal with this.

[greensinestro]

I think this is why I never wanted to get any type of job that dealt with children, all because of crap like this. Just touching a child on their shoulder is a crime any more. I'm sure this asshat would have sued the pants off of you and your store had this flashlight dropped on the little girl.

[Enjis]

Does she have a sign (or multiple signs) saying "Lovely to touch, wonderful to hold, but if you break it, consider it sold (to you)"?

That way, they can't say they had no warning. If they can read SALE signs, we know (hope?) they can read those....

Sadly, those signs are not really legal protections. Any item that is in a store on display where anyone can touch it is fair game for being broken. It is considered part of the cost of doing business, and the courts will not fine the customer for ACCIDENTALLY breaking it. No store can force a customer to pay for something broken while it was on an open display. (showcase items and items not accessable normally would be different, I assume)
Note the 'accidentally' part in the above paragraph. Deliberate vandalism is still actionable...if you can prove it.

I used to always cringe whenever I saw people with big ol' baby stroolers and tons of bags weaving their way thru the china and crystal department...But, said the salespeople there, there was no way to make a customer pay for breakage.

Parents would let their kids rip open boxes of stickers and such in the children's department...drove me crazy, 'cuz you could not sell them after that....and not one parent offered to pay for the ruined item.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

This story reminds me of a non-SC story from a friend of mine. He has a daughter (she's 5 now, I think) and she is very well behaved in public. One day, he's looking for a new cell phone and tells her "You can look but don't touch" at the merchandise. He and the salesman are talking away about features, models, programs, etc... and then in the middle of a sentence he says in a very loud and low voice "NO." The salesman stops, looks around and sees that my friend's daughter has been taking packs of recharge cords off the racks and stacking them on the floor. She stops and starts putting them back.

The salesman asked my friend how he knew she was doing that, because he didn't look up or anything. My friend said "We've been talking for about 10 minutes... that's when she starts getting bored."