WHAT is with parents and crying children

Malika

Well-Known Member
Another idea (also involving a recorder of some description, though this one doesn't have to work): go up to the offending parent and say, in your best radio journalist voice: "Excuse me, ma'am, but I am with XYZ Radio and we are doing a feature on the effects of hours of crying, non-stop and without any parental involvement, on babies, parents and fellow customers! Would you mind participating?"
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I would record the kid on a cell phone and then standing there dial (or pretend to dial) CPS and ask for someone to come take care of the child as you have video of him/her crying nonstop for an extended period of time with NO one even attempting to care for him. Heck, call 911 for an abandoned child.

Trust me, this will stop the problem far more long term than announcements, etc.... If the boss fusses at you, tell them you are a mandated reporter because your volunteer work and you don't want to go to jail because someone finds out you didn't report clear neglect.

Don't BOTHER to be quiet when you make the call standing near the child. It will likely scare the begeebers out of some parents, then at least while you are there they will behave.

I have been in some big thrift stores, even a goodwill that was about an acre in floor space for shoppers, but hadn't heard of ANYONE spending a full day there. Must be the new thing for some reason.

Heck, if my mom had EVER heard of either gfgbro or I doing something like that? We would NOT have our children any more. She would take them and flat out refuse to give them back, telling us to call the cops if we wanted. Dad would then take us out and beat some sense into us - and he did NOT hit us after age 6 or so for me and only older with gfgbro when he flat out got up in his face and refused to comply with all other discipline. Even now I am pretty sure he would beat me for that.

As for your coworkers, how on earth do they function if they can't tell sarcasm from the real world?

I would NOT announce the free kitten/espresso thing because now so many kids get energy drinks even when they can't drink from a sippy cup. Last week I heard a mom griping to the checkout lady because WIC and foodstamps wouldn't pay for the 5 hr energy that her baby "needed". Kid was maybe one, and dear mommy poured a 5 hr energy in his bottle right at the checkout!

When the cashier (a lady I know and like) told her that she was nuts and it was NOT good for the baby, the mom said that it was healthy because it was "decaf" and this way he didn't need a nap or to sleep as much at night so they didn't have to stay home because he was asleep. She also griped because the most popular restaurant and bar in town made her leave at 10 because the rule is no one under 21 after 10. The cashier and I both were dumbfounded.

I swear some people think babies are pets. I just hope this lady never needs her kid to care for her in her old age. though part of me hopes the kid does and treats the mom like mom treated him as a baby, Know what I mean??
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have a Good Will story of my own! The other day when I was up in Fayetteville for my psychiatrist appointment I stopped in at the Good Will store. That is the closest one to me so its a treat for me to get to go to one. They dont seem to get as good finds as some of them do but once in a while I can get some good things. Tony really needed some new jeans and winter shirts. Thats what I was looking for anyway. I really didnt know if they accepted debit cards or not because I remember being sort of shocked the last time I was there that they accepted something other than cash so I couldnt remember what that other thing was...I sort of thought it was debit cards since checks seemed rather odd to me. But no...it was checks. So anyway I asked the lady at the desk if I looked around and shopped and brought it to the front would she set it aside to watch for me and then I could cross the street to the ATM at the gas station. My theory on this was with my back and knees, if I didnt see anything I wanted, I didnt need to come back...lol.

She said sure. Nice woman.

Well I found several nice pairs of jeans for Tony and then I hit pay dirt. I found two leather coats. One for Tony that was $15 because the zipper doesnt work but the snaps are fine. Its a name brand that I cant think of because its not in here with me but its dark brown and light brown. Real leather. For Cory I got a real black leather bikers jacket. All the zippers everywhere and they all work perfect. It was $20. Tony looked at the black jacket and swore Cory wouldnt fit into it. I said he would. Cory came over and put it on and it fit like a glove.

But what really got me was I gave all my stuff to the lady at the front desk and I went to go get my money. I came back in and I had to get in line to pay. No problem. In fact, I looked over a rack of shirts to see if there were any I missed. To get in line because of the way the racks were lined up and the way the people were forming the line, I had to nicely ask a man to excuse me while I walked around to get to the back of the line. Well at the back of the line was a shopping basket. Just the basket. I stood behind the basket. This woman comes up to me and gets in my face and says "your trying to cut in line!" Then she grabs her basket, grabs her son and gets right in front of me where I assumed she was the whole time! I looked at her and told her, uhh...I thought you were there already lady. Then she told her son...who was about 4...to sit with the basket while she went to do more shopping.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
That would bug me too. Why would she have the kid be in line if she was still shopping? Makes NO sense. Unless the lines take half an hour or something. Even then, why not keep the kid with you and wait until the line is gone? No goodwill or thrift store here is that busy all day. The lines are not usually more than 4 people at the busiest times and it isn't a steady flow. This is true in both OKC and Tulsa, both of which have more than 2x the people of Fayetteville. I looked it up because I wondered if it would be because there were so many more people in the area, but that isn't it at all.

Do these people not worry that someone will take their kids? What is wrong with them? In this day and age, how is it that they can be sure their kids are not taken, or abused while they are in the store? My entire family thought I had lost my mind when I still insisted that Wiz could not go into a men's room at age 8 or 9. We lived in Cincinnati and within ten miles of our home there were 9 episodes of kids being molested in store bathrooms while mom was outside or shopping in the store - in 6 months!! Reports of that were so very NOT uncommon that there was NO way that my kids were going into ANY restroom alone. A year after Jess was bornmy folks drove up to see us and my dad actually kept a log of what stores/restaurants/gas stations had places he could change a diaper or take J into the restroom with him and have her stay in a stall and not see anything. He wanted to be able to take her back to OK with-o my mom with him just in case there was an emergency of some kind. It was NOT a long list, and overall Cracker Barrel was the best at having places for men traveling with small children to tend to them. There was NEVER any question that he would let a 7 or 8yo go into the men's room alone, and even then he wouldn't be in any other area but right outside. Even when he took the kids somewhere when they visited he waited to use the bathroom until she came out so he knew that she wasn't in there hurting or needing help. He also would have an employee watch them if he had to use the restroom. I didn't expect that but his little bro was sending him copies of the articles that we were reading.

A friend of mine's husband worked as a parole officer when they lived in Hawaii and he had a LOT of sex offenders to monitor. One day a discount store mgr came in with a videotape. It showed a nice looking mom with four or five kids all walking in a line behind her. they were all behaving but as they walked past a circular clothes rack a head came out and an arm went around the littlest girl in the back of the line and pulled her under the rack. Two minutes later she comes out crying and her dress is all messed up and her underwear wasn't pulled up. Store security didn't catch it until later and managed to identify the mom by tracking her to the register later. They caught the man on tape and it came to my friend's husband's office because they wanted him to violate the man's probation because it would take too long to get warrants to arrest him. TWO MINUTES. That was all it took to change the rest of the girl's life. the man did go back to jail and new charges meant he stayed a long time. My friend's husband had to find a new line of work because it was just too hard to deal with all of what he saw.

Why do these parents not even think of this? I know a lot of people thought I was over-protective, but the kids you are talking about are so young and defenseless that they are just prey to any predator's whim. It makes me sick. by the way, that chain of discount stores stopped using circular racks because this incident and a couple of similar ones in various locations.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Here's the rub.....okay I've complained to Loss and Prevention. They have to give you (us) permission to even post a sign in the restroom that asks women to flush, or (not kidding here) USE the waste baskets in the corner to PUT femininine hygiene products in as nearly all women using the restroom throw the wads of toilet tissue NOT in the commode but ON the floor or in the corner. Strangest thing I have ever seen. And yeah - you guessed it - I have bathroom detail. I even had to bring in my own small trash cans to USE because to get small waste baskets IN the restrooms was - filling out a requsition form from the supply list, waiting for an okay, waiting for the okay to come back, ordering them, waiting for them to be ordered, waiting for them to come in, be delivered, then processed, and lableing. I'm not exaggerating in the least. The entire process takes about three months??? Okay so I can't use ANYTHING from donations either - against store policy. OMG - I amnot even allowed to post a sign that say FLUSH after you use. Maddening.

So the prospect of me recording anyone? Nada. They actually ARE recorded. By the store. They are watched via closed circuit tv - all these stores are. Most retail stores like this have anywhere from 15-40 cameras. When I complained about the children crying I was merely told - "These are OUR CUSTOMERS they pay YOUR salary. Again - the mentality is .......since I do not have to be there every day? IT doesn't bother ME.

If someone had to clean up a small trash can size wad of unsanitary hygiene used products from 2 stalls and hear screaming children all day? I would imagine RULES would be changed. Or if someones DAUGHTER had to be doing it? THings would change. When it's not YOUR problem........it's NOT a problem. Know what I mean?.

I also noticed there were not COMPLAINT or SUGGESTION cards that people could send in........maybe some of those need to get around.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
isn't this a Goodwill? They have CORPORATE offices and they have a CORPORATE image. some of this won't bug corporate, but if you shop there and complain as a customer, things are FAR more likely to change. So will complaints made in your husband's name, etc.... Plus see if they have a corp employee idea program, or even a volunteer idea program. WHle even the state level won't say boo, the head honchos likely will - ESP if customers complain.

I have NEVER heard or seen anything as nasty as what you say people do with used toilet paper and feminine products. I don't want to visit your part of the country if I have to go anywhere in public. I thought we had a lot of crazies here, but we got NUTHIN compared to where you are!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
If they don't notice that a sign is needed, then how are they going to notice if you put one up? What is the worst they would do? Throw it away? Esp as they are NOT going to waste time trying to figure out who put it up. For all they know a customer got grossed out - esp if you write the sign to sound like one.
 
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