Laura Ashley does not employ on-site babysitters...

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Even though I don't work there, I think this just fits better in Sucky Customers than in Sightings...

My mum works for Laura Ashley. Very posh store. The front of her store specialises in women's Fashion- but not regular fashion, although very nice, its aimed at women over a certain age- and the larger portion of the store towards the back is dedicated to Home. So on display they will have beds, sofas, tables, bookshelves, mirrors, pillows, bedding, curtains...loads of things. They also have paint, wall paper and huge bolts of fabric. I visit the store frequently to visit my mum, and just yesterday she was tying up a massive bolt that she had been measuring out for a customer. It is rare that I ever see children in the store. Its just NOT a kid store. To be honest, as its such an expensive store, first of all, chances are the people buying are of an older age, and second of all...you probably wouldn't trust your kids running around all the breakables and probably send them next door to Pets at Home to look at bunnies while you shopped!

Anyway, my mum is having to do some overtime today because there is a major health and safety inspection going on today. Why? Last week, a couple of with 2 kids were in the store. The mother and one child were looking in Fashion, while the father was being served in Home. The remaining child, a rather small girl, was amusing herself by jumping on the display beds. Now, my mum said that they don't consider if their place to tell kids to get off the displays anyway, but knowing the store personally, the staff would have been busy- as mum said her father was being served. Home is a quieter section normally.

The inevitable happened- the girl fell of the bed, hurt herself.

The couple phoned head office and complained and now this H&S check is going on.

Yet another example of people refusing to take care of their own children. And an example here of people with more money than sense- you need a lot of money to shop in L.A, but I would have thought you ought to have a lot of sense if you're going to have kids...

[Slayer]

Ouch, that's pretty bad. And you're right, the outcome was inevitable. Pretty lame to call HO over it to complain about their own stupidity.

Though why don't the employees feel it's okay to tell kids to get off displays? That seems pretty mandatory, lol.

At my work, the first half of the store is primarily glass shelving and lots of breakable gifts. I have no qualms with yelling or telling kids to stop running or to stop touching things if I feel like they're going to break something. It's the first things I do if I feel the parent isn't watching the kid, because as you said, we're not babysitters.

[PepperElf]

probably because some parents get offended if you tell their children to behave.

although i disagree that Laura Ashley is for older people. My sister has a taste for the prints for clothing. Mom doesn't though.


then again sis and i aren't always normal. i personally LOVE alfred dunner fashion, which drives mom crazy because she says it's for old people.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

I think their reasoning is that its not their responsibility to be running around and watching a bunch of kids. I'm sure if they saw them playing with breakable things like glass or china it would be a different story (there is one section just filled with lamps). But in the case of the kid jumping on the bed, well, I think from the sounds of it, the staff were busy. In the Home section, the only member of staff would have been serving her dad. Not to mention that people do sit on the displays (I had an interview there once and I filled out my form on the sofa they invited me to get comfy on!). I think there's only one adult bed and a small child's bed on display...not sure which one she was playing on.

Well, as I pointed out to my mum, if they had told her to get down, the parents would have probably bitched at her for "telling our precious baby what to doooo!"

[emax4]

IMO I believe that if the parents were found guilty by negligence in an instance like this, they should be banned from stepping foot in the same stores in all locations until a set period of time. Better for the business in losing a few dollars than risk losing who knows how much more in a settlement.

Oh, how i recall walking through a JC Penny's store with my parents and seeing the beds on display further ahead. I'd get a running start and jump on the "bed"...

...only to find out that it was just a "display" with sheets, blankets and pillows on a plywood box. OUCH!

[EricKei]

From the OP, it sounds to me like the kid was totally unattended/unwatched -- which is 100% the *parents'* responsibility. Naturally, the store is (potentially) getting in trouble over it >_<

[starsinthesky]

This reminds me of a woman in GA who left her kids at a B&N all day, 3 days in a row because she said she had errands to run and couldn't take them with her. She got arrested for it.

[Slayer]

I guess the way I read it is that someone saw her jumping on the bed.

I've probably told kids to stop doing shit 120+ times over the years and maybe 5? parents said their kid was fine. Everyone else scolded their child. I work alone mostly now so i tend to have to excuse myself in order to do so and haven't been bitched out yet. I must be super lucky!

[Ironclad Alibi]

Maybe those kids would like to jump on a waterbed?

[Spork4pedro]

We had this problem a lot back at the House of Fabrics I used to work at. Some rich Housewives (similar to those on the Real Housewife of OC. We actually had a couple of the ladies from the show buy from us.) would drag their kids store to store while they shopped and if we said anything about their precious angels knocking over bolts of fabric, jumping on displays etc. they would freak out that we were traumatizing their babies!

The worst were the kids that liked to play hide and seek in the rug racks or swing on the larger bolts. They would yank the rugs down and a couple times they managed to knock the metal pole holding it up out of its track. Another kid (maybe 5-6 y/o) decided to lay on top of a 75 lb bolt of chenille and knock it off the rack. If my CW hadn't grabbed him in time the kid would have had serious injuries. the mom just screamed at him for touching her son!

[Lace Neil Singer]

Reminds me of an incident that happened at the supermarket. This woman was pushing a trolley round the store with her little girl climbing all over it as tho it was a moveable jungle jim. My collegue asked the woman politely to stop her kid clambering about the trolley cuz she might fall and hurt herself. The woman's response?

"Excuse me, it's my child not yours."

Ten minutes later, a blood curdling scream rang out. Yes, the girl had fallen and hurt herself; she'd been climbing around the trolley when she slipped, fell and bashed her head on its metal rim, splitting it open. There was blood everywhere, the girl was screaming fit to wake the dead and the mother was in hysterics. It was a shame that the child paid the price for her mother's stupidity.

[Moosenogger]

Can you call social services and offer them the store footage showing how the parents were completely neglecting their child? That would be a nice way to hit the parents with the clue stick.

Newsflash: It's not the store employees' job to watch YOUR kids.

[PepperElf]

"Excuse me, it's my child not yours."

part of me wishes that managers would respond to that with "then you can leave"
and when the SC's refuse then they can say "Well then we'll call the cops and you can explain to THEM why you're letting your child jump on the trolley"

[Nemesis44UK]

I think it's godawful that H&S get involved with that. FFS, it is always the responsibility of the parents to watch their own kids.

I wouldn't dream of giving a store person a hard time if my kids did something dumb/annoying/stupid.

[Android Kaeli]

And people wonder why I ignore kids who are climbing all over everything. I really don't want to be pulled into the office, again, because someone not only decided that I shouldn't be asking their kids to stop playing around the store but yell at me for it as well. A retaill store is NOT a playground, I learned that when I a younging -- apparently that's not a lesson taught anymore.