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May. 20th, 2004 01:22 amAt work, we have an escalator. This is important to note.
So, this afternoon, I'm upstairs straightening books and working on strays, when I hear the sound of someone walking on the escalator. No biggee, right? They're metal and sometimes people can make a real racket walking up and down them. But after two years, you can tell when someone's just walking up or down the escalator and when someone's fooling around. So I look over the edge and see this little boy - maybe four, five at most - walking up the down escalator. This is a HUGE no-no in our store. Management does not allow this because it's dangerous, and frankly, we don't want to get sued. So I start walking over, planning on getting on the escalator. Either he'll see me and stop, or he'll walk into me and I can have a little chat with him about behaving in the store. Downstairs, I can see Barbara also heading for the escalator, probably intending to call up to him.
I'm about five feet away when the kid falls and starts tumbling.
I start running, there's a woman who I assumed was the mother (turns out she was just a concerned witness) who also starts running, and downstairs Barbara and two or three other shoppers have come running. I get to the escalator, start going down it, and reach the kid, who's mostly unhurt but a little scraped up. He only fell a few steps, and his arms and legs are a little scratched, but not too badly.
If anyone wonders why most stores with escalators have firm policies about not playing around on them, it's because people who fall on them usually require plastic surgery. Those edges can really cut you up.
So I take the kid to him mother (who's in the cafe having a drink and chatting) and I tell her what happened and ask if she wants to look him over and see if he's hurt. She says no, he seems fine, and I tell her, "He does need to be supervised while you're in the store."
Her answer? "His brother was supposed to be watching him."
uh-huh. Okay. I leave to go get an accident report form, and when I come back what do I see? The kid, alone, on the damned escalator.
No kidding.
I take him back to his mother, reiterate that our store policy is that children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult at all times, and then ask her for some information for the accident report. Basically, an accident report is just us getting a written account of what the accident was, what injuries there were, whether any property (clothing, mostly) was damaged and - here's the catch - where the parent was at the time. It's good for us, because we have a written account of what happened, and it's good for them if - god forbid - there's an injury or a complication and they need to file an insurance claim.
She asks if she can finish paying for her books before we fill it out, I say sure. She starts paying and yelling at the older son who appears to be all of eight. Eight. This is the kid who was responsible for the four year old? EIGHT? Please.
Anyway, she finishes paying and starts walking away from me. Stacey, who was the cashier ringing her up, gives me a look and says "You gonna run her down?" To which I replied "Oh, hell yes." So I follow her to customer service, where she is telling her older son that no he can't have that book, they need to go, and I say, "Ma'am? Would you like to fill this out?"
Note, that all she has to do is say, "I don't think that's necessary." Or even, "I don't want to fill that out." It's not a friggin' law, it's just a safety precaution. What am I gonna do, arrest her? Please. She apparently is too stupid to realize that she could just say no, and that would be that. She grabs the youngest son by the wrist and starts to run out of the store.
I kid you not. She ran away.
The oldest son is looking at me like he has no idea what's going on, and he starts calling after his mom, "Mom? The lady was talking to you." She leaves the store.
I turn to the older son and say "Go ahead. You guys have a good night and I hope your brother's okay."
The woman comes back into the store and yells at the older son, then turns to me and says, "If you don't stop harrassing me, I'll report you!" Then leaves again, yanking the four year old along almost violently.
Report me? Report me?
To who, bitch? I'm the freakin Manager on Duty. You going to report me to me? Or maybe you want the store manager's name and number so you can call him and tell him all about how I expressed concern over your son's injury and asked you to fill out the report which you agreed to fill out? Or, no, wait! You were gonna report me to the cops, right? For harrassment, was that it? I bet they'd love to come arrest me for busting your ass.
Lady, if you were on the Internet, you'd be famous over at Fandom Wank.
And the worst part of it? her older kid's going to get screamed at when it never should have been his problem. Four years old is just too young to be unsupervised in a place like our store. We have 1000 customers on a slow day - which this was. And those are just the paying ones. How many people wander in and out that never buy anything and thus aren't tracked? Dozens more at least. There's an escalator, an elevator, and two other exits. A child that young can be hurt, or God forbid, stolen in a store that size and an employee would never notice. And you think it's okay to let him wander around?
The employees aren't babysitters. Four year olds are not mature young adults capable of looking out for themselves, and your eight year old son is not a father or a babysitter. Watch your kid yourself instead of sitting in the cafe drinking lattes and chatting with your boyfriend.
So, this afternoon, I'm upstairs straightening books and working on strays, when I hear the sound of someone walking on the escalator. No biggee, right? They're metal and sometimes people can make a real racket walking up and down them. But after two years, you can tell when someone's just walking up or down the escalator and when someone's fooling around. So I look over the edge and see this little boy - maybe four, five at most - walking up the down escalator. This is a HUGE no-no in our store. Management does not allow this because it's dangerous, and frankly, we don't want to get sued. So I start walking over, planning on getting on the escalator. Either he'll see me and stop, or he'll walk into me and I can have a little chat with him about behaving in the store. Downstairs, I can see Barbara also heading for the escalator, probably intending to call up to him.
I'm about five feet away when the kid falls and starts tumbling.
I start running, there's a woman who I assumed was the mother (turns out she was just a concerned witness) who also starts running, and downstairs Barbara and two or three other shoppers have come running. I get to the escalator, start going down it, and reach the kid, who's mostly unhurt but a little scraped up. He only fell a few steps, and his arms and legs are a little scratched, but not too badly.
If anyone wonders why most stores with escalators have firm policies about not playing around on them, it's because people who fall on them usually require plastic surgery. Those edges can really cut you up.
So I take the kid to him mother (who's in the cafe having a drink and chatting) and I tell her what happened and ask if she wants to look him over and see if he's hurt. She says no, he seems fine, and I tell her, "He does need to be supervised while you're in the store."
Her answer? "His brother was supposed to be watching him."
uh-huh. Okay. I leave to go get an accident report form, and when I come back what do I see? The kid, alone, on the damned escalator.
No kidding.
I take him back to his mother, reiterate that our store policy is that children under 13 must be accompanied by an adult at all times, and then ask her for some information for the accident report. Basically, an accident report is just us getting a written account of what the accident was, what injuries there were, whether any property (clothing, mostly) was damaged and - here's the catch - where the parent was at the time. It's good for us, because we have a written account of what happened, and it's good for them if - god forbid - there's an injury or a complication and they need to file an insurance claim.
She asks if she can finish paying for her books before we fill it out, I say sure. She starts paying and yelling at the older son who appears to be all of eight. Eight. This is the kid who was responsible for the four year old? EIGHT? Please.
Anyway, she finishes paying and starts walking away from me. Stacey, who was the cashier ringing her up, gives me a look and says "You gonna run her down?" To which I replied "Oh, hell yes." So I follow her to customer service, where she is telling her older son that no he can't have that book, they need to go, and I say, "Ma'am? Would you like to fill this out?"
Note, that all she has to do is say, "I don't think that's necessary." Or even, "I don't want to fill that out." It's not a friggin' law, it's just a safety precaution. What am I gonna do, arrest her? Please. She apparently is too stupid to realize that she could just say no, and that would be that. She grabs the youngest son by the wrist and starts to run out of the store.
I kid you not. She ran away.
The oldest son is looking at me like he has no idea what's going on, and he starts calling after his mom, "Mom? The lady was talking to you." She leaves the store.
I turn to the older son and say "Go ahead. You guys have a good night and I hope your brother's okay."
The woman comes back into the store and yells at the older son, then turns to me and says, "If you don't stop harrassing me, I'll report you!" Then leaves again, yanking the four year old along almost violently.
Report me? Report me?
To who, bitch? I'm the freakin Manager on Duty. You going to report me to me? Or maybe you want the store manager's name and number so you can call him and tell him all about how I expressed concern over your son's injury and asked you to fill out the report which you agreed to fill out? Or, no, wait! You were gonna report me to the cops, right? For harrassment, was that it? I bet they'd love to come arrest me for busting your ass.
Lady, if you were on the Internet, you'd be famous over at Fandom Wank.
And the worst part of it? her older kid's going to get screamed at when it never should have been his problem. Four years old is just too young to be unsupervised in a place like our store. We have 1000 customers on a slow day - which this was. And those are just the paying ones. How many people wander in and out that never buy anything and thus aren't tracked? Dozens more at least. There's an escalator, an elevator, and two other exits. A child that young can be hurt, or God forbid, stolen in a store that size and an employee would never notice. And you think it's okay to let him wander around?
The employees aren't babysitters. Four year olds are not mature young adults capable of looking out for themselves, and your eight year old son is not a father or a babysitter. Watch your kid yourself instead of sitting in the cafe drinking lattes and chatting with your boyfriend.
