I'm sorry, Ma'am, but this isn't Kinder Care

[February]

Okay, time for a story! Aren't you excited? LOL

I got to thinking about this the other day.

When I worked in the Stores (we're talking 1989 now) we had a huge problem with people just wanting to drop their kids off in front of our video screen and then shop in the rest of the mall and come back to get them later.

We had some customers who habitually used our store as daycare and management told all the greeters that if they came into the store with their children to be sure that they left with them!

When I was working the Plush Mountain zone (at the back near the screen) it was the worst, they'd cry, they'd be hungry, they'd ask to use the potty. . .and their mothers would be across the concourse in Victoria's Secret picking out wardrobe to go home and make them some siblings in

Once or twice we had to send a manager over to the other stores to get these moms.

Can you imagine. . .just leaving your kid or children as the case may be there were usually three or four. . .and just going off leaving them with strangers????

They'd take the plush from the displays and chew them and slobber on them too- let me tell you that it's a sinking feeling to be rearranging plush mountain at the end of the night and then pull out a mickey with. . um. . .nose stuff on it.

Anyone else ever have a kid left in their Disney Store or in the parks I'm sure it must happen a lot!

Enquiring minds want to know.

Bru

p.s. My husband did retail in his teens and once had a mother drop kids off at the Service Merchandise where he worked and left them. . .kid plays on treadmill, kid gets hurt, ambulance is called, kid is asked where mother is, and he replies "She went to work."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[vixen101485]

I had a friend that worked the Disney store in our local mall in the 90's and they said they had the same problem with the kid drop off bit. They actually would call mall security if the parent or guardian wasnt in the store.
After a few months of parents getting some flack from authorities it wasnt a problem anymore.

[DisneyMom]

I'm sorry, but it would be in my evil mind to call security, have them hold the kids for a while in a separate area, then feign dumbness when the caregiver returned for the kid(s). "Why, Timmy and Tammy were here, but that man said he was their Daddy, so he left with them. Is there a problem?"
Now, that is just my evil mind, I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING. However, how many tragedies do we hear about with a kid left unattended by their parents in a shopping mall? :mad:

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

I would think with all the info about predators, a parent would have a HUA if he/she left them alone!!! it takes a few seconds to "grab" a kid!

I like the idea of letting security take care of it!! thats what they are for!!

Doesn't this happen at WDW and DLR also?

[Cheshire Figment]

At the water parks we have a position called "I-Greeter" which is a lifeguard (usually on light duty) but breaks are provided by front gate people. They are at a fixed, well marked location. (At TL it is next to Singapore Sal's, the big store. I'm not sure where at BB.) There is a sand area for kids to play as well as a table with chairs and an umbrella. Most important are the Nextel and the log book.

If a child is found they are brought to the I-Greeter and information entered in the log. An announcement is made over the Nextel which goes to all lifeguards and managers describing the child and anything known.

Likewise anyone who loses a child is directed to the I-Greeter. Information is entered in the log and we radio out a description of the child that is being looked there.

One day this past August I was breaking about four in the afternoon and we had 31 entries in the log so far that day.

I did have one woman come to report two children missing, her daughter and a friend of the daughter. When I asked the age, the woman said 17!!! I politely asked the woman what the daughter (and friend) would say and/or do if reported as lost children. The woman decided that she would probably find them, especially since she had the car keys.

But seriously, if we have a kid there for over two hours we will turn the kid over to Security, and they may turn the kid over to the Sheriff's Office, figuring if a kid is misplaced for more than two hours and the parents don't notice and start asking about them the parents may have a problem.

[ktulu]

When I was working the Plush Mountain zone (at the back near the screen) it was the worst, they'd cry, they'd be hungry, they'd ask to use the potty. . .and their mothers would be across the concourse in Victoria's Secret picking out wardrobe to go home and make them some siblings in

Great googly moogly! Are you talking about the local mall here? VS is right across from the Disney Store. Once my mother-in-law's husband "accidently" went into there when we told him we would be in the Disney Store. I guess VC is his idea of Disneyland or something...

[vixen101485]

Good lord, now that you mention that bit about Vicky's Secret being near your Disney Store, it got me thinking.....the one mall here has their DS directly above a VS. LOL TOO funny. I swear they do that on purpose to give the dad's something to do while the kids and mom shop.

Forgot to add....when I say directly above I mean easily accesible by escalator or elevator right next to each store.

[Ms. Matterhorn]

.....the one mall here has their DS directly above a VS. LOL TOO funny. I swear they do that on purpose to give the dad's something to do while the kids and mom shop.

Hmm...my DH won't set foot in a VS! He's too embarrassed. Guys?

[February]

Hmm...my DH won't set foot in a VS! He's too embarrassed. Guys?

Mine turns beet red just walking past it and looking the other way the whole time.

Yup, our mall, which had three levels and was just ridiculously complicated, had to put the VS directly across, on the same floor, from the DS. . .

[Randy B]

I worked in a movie theatre in the laye 70s. Any time we had a G or PG film we would get a large number of parents dropping off their little darlings at opening time (noonish) and come back to pick them up at 6 pm or so. I remember one day I had several 4-6 year olds running foot races in the upstairs lobby (outside the closed balcony). When I asked why they aren't watching the movie they told me they saw it 3 times yesterday and were boored. Unfortunately any time the ticket price is less than daycare/sitter there will be those who choose with their pocket and not their brains.

On the other hand I remember going shopping with my parents and hated shopping. All that walking around and examining every detail of hundreds of identical (to me) things just drove me wild. (I STILL hate to shop and tend to get in and out of a store in the shortest time possible.) So to keep me quiet my folks would let me go over to the TV displays and watch whatever was being shown on all the TVs. But I was also taught to be VERY polite to the workers, an was always kept informed which department my parents were in. They also checked up on me frequently. So I guess the practice isn't exactly new, just the way that the "TV department" is now in a totally different store instead of at the other end of a huge room.

Randy