That Could Have Been Gruesome

[BrassCowboy]

Backstory: The shopping carts in our store are quite small. Almost like miniature carts. They can still seat a small child though, like a regular cart. The only problem is these things are very light and not very safe.

Story: A guy comes thru my line with 2 kids. One is in the cart the other is running around aimlessly. He is, of course, ignoring both of them. Anyways, the kid in the cart reaches over to grab some candy from the candy rack and he leans over far enough that the cart tipped over. Yes, with him still in it.

Luckily he was fine. He cried for like 30 seconds and then stopped. The only damage done was a pile of chap stick on the floor. Still, WATCH YOUR KIDS! It could have a whole lot worse. I could have been cleaning brains off the candy display tonight.

[AFpheonix]

Gah, no doubt, that could have seriously been ugly if he was close enough to a fixed structure. Yeesh.

I didn't have anything like that today, just a little boy running around with a rabbit in a basket, of all things. He took it out and stuck it on my counter and asked if we'd watch it for awhile, to which we all chorused "No!!!!!".
Poor thing, it looked kind of pissed off, really. That, and we had to lysol the heck out of the counter where he'd set it down.

[lordlundar]

But he won't watch them, and if anything happens, he'll just blame the store.

It's sad when the staff are more concerned for the children than the parents.

[Becks]

But he won't watch them, and if anything happens, he'll just blame the store.

It's sad when the staff are more concerned for the children than the parents.

Truer words have seldom been spoken.

[Bugg]

Yeah, I often find little kids (real little, like maybe 2 or 3) wandering out the front door into the parking lot..no parents in sight, a few times the parents are on line at the register, not even aware the kid is gone, a few have even given me an attitude about it...hell if they don't want him I'll take him, I have lots of chores to do

[trunks2k]

But he won't watch them, and if anything happens, he'll just blame the store.

In this particular case, he would have a good argument. It is not unreasonable that a parent with a child properly seated in the cart would have their attention turned for a few moments, even if the parent is very good at watching his kid. It is also a reasonable assumption that a child sitting in the cart is going to reach to grab things. Ergo, it is a reasonable assumption that a cart built to let children sit in them should be able to stay up if a child should reach for something. This cart obviously isn't built to do that. It is a danger to children, it is even noted by the OP that the cart is dangerous.

[Sunsetsky]

While I believe that alot of parents should start keeping a better eye on kids, your store should have more stable carts. Even the best of the parents can't keep their eyes on their kids every second. Children are going to be moving around a lot and the cart they are sitting in should support that.

[Brighid45]

Having worked in a store with hazards of that type, I can tell you that cashiers or other people at the bottom of the food chain can complain till the cows come home about such potential dangers, and (generally speaking, there are exceptions) management will do little or nothing. They have their own mandate from the higher ups, which usually is to minimize overhead and maximize profits, period. I've seen it happen time and again. The only way things change is if customers bring lawsuits, and even then the company will usually get rid of employees first before they'll redo stuff.

If you as a customer see potential dangers in a store, go to the customer service desk and tell them about it. I'd bet any employee who cares has already done so; adding your voice to theirs might get things changed, you never know.

[powerboy]

Back when I was working at walmart, I saw a lot of hazardous things. Whenever I would tell management what I saw, they just shrugged it off. Until a customer or DS would complain about it.