Irresponsible People!!

Grrrrr anyways, today at my workplace, this woman was shopping with her son. He was almost 2 so he could walk around the store by himself. Basically I was just playing games with him and all that while she was looking around. Then it suddenly got really busy and I had to go help a bunch of other people, so I left him to play by himself. Around probably .. half an hour later, the woman came to the counter to check out. After buying her things, she called out for her son, but he wasn't answering. The store is pretty small, so there aren't many places he could be. We asked everyone in the store if he was near them, but he was nowhere to be found. Then this woman had the freaking audacity to ask me why I wasn't watching HER son. Supposedly she had assumed that since I was playing games with him, I was taking responsibility for her son while he was in the store. Well I am sorry I am not working there to babysit little kids, I am there to help customers find things and such. I was just playing with him out of my own free time.

Anyways .. turns out he had left the store. BY HIMSELF. Not even 2 years old. So she started panicking and she and I went to look for him. She was basically ranting the whole time we were looking for him, so I said we should split up. Now I understand it must be really scary losing your son and all but then she should concentrate on finding him instead of complaining. After walking three blocks, I found him at a tapioca store, called his mom, and brought him back to the store.

After getting back to the store, she just started yelling at him. And I was like -censored. But only in my mind, because obviously it wouldn't be very smart to get involved. I guess it is understandable that she would yell at him because it is partly his fault for walking away. But come on, not even 2 years old. At least she should take some responsibility for not watching him. She has to take some of the blame too. I almost cried when I found him but she just yelled at him. -censored-censored She is just lucky that he was able to walk THREE WHOLE BLOCKS without being run over or kidnapped D:<

 

people like this shouldn't even have kids. a lot of times i see this with mothers being too caught up with shopping n forgetting where their little kid went. when i was in sales n i c these types of kids running around, i just let them b. not my problem. put the kid on a leash if u don't want to loose them

 

next time make sure you don't leave a kid by themselves then just leave..you should bring him/her to parents so they have 100% responsibility. because right after you leave the kid by himself, many things can happen and you could be partial responsible.

i can see how the mom can be mad because you were playing with the todler so its a definite that the todler is safe....but also parents should never let kids walk around themselves because malls are easy target for kidnapping and stuff

anyways the kid was found and no one was hurt...life goes on

 

bitch should be schooled how can you trust random strangers with your 2 year old, stupid mom.

 

she's definitely an irresponsible mum for leaving her kid.at my daddy's shop,the kids are always moving around,either to walk around the counters or are leaving the store

 

wow you should've gotten involved and yelled at that bitch . i feel bad for the little boy. having such a irresponsible mom.. sigh...=/

 

She didnt even ask you if you can keep an eye on her son, so how can she assume you would take responsibility.... and after she found out, that he child is gone, she blamming other for her own fault.. Maan pak gong lee,

Even so It isnt a day care...., so how can she leave her child to total strangers, only because she want to go shopping.

I bet she didnt even thank you, for finding her child.

But how can that child know that he was supposed to stay in your store, untill she would return..... Maybe that kid searching his mom... -_-2

 

The first thing that should have been done was call the police as soon as someone said a child in missing. They can devote a lot more manpower to an area search than just a frantic mom and a few store employees. Secondly, the woman should be charged with neglect. The child is hers, she needs to attend to it, unless the store has some sort of agreed upon child care facility staffed with people just for that purpose. However, Kdotc raises a good point though. Even though the kid isn't yours, if you know the mother has walked away and is very obviously not paying any attention to it, then you should have ensured that the child is safely back with her before attending to other customers. The safety of the child's life is probably the most important thing at that immediate moment and I'm sure your boss would agree that even if you didn't have the legal responsibility, there is a moral one. If the boss doesn't think so, ask him or her how would tomorrow's headline with the store cited as the location where a child was kidnapped from, sound to them?

I remember once reading about a couple from Europe who, whilst visiting New York City, decided to leave their baby stroller (with baby) outside a bar for several hours as they enjoyed a few drinks inside. They were arrested by police and charged with neglect.

The woman (and child) got lucky this time. But you're right; the fault was all hers and hers alone. Had the police been there, she would have been arrested, and that would have driven the point home.

Finally, I'm glad the kid is safe. But with a mother like that, I fear for his life...

 

^ well yes i suppose you and kdot are right that i shouldn't have left him by himself. i guess i assumed, like the mom did, that something like this wouldn't happen. i always teach the kids how to play, play with them for a little while, then go off to tend to other customers. most of the time i assume that the kids know NOT to go off by themselves. the door wasn't open either .. but i guess anything could happen when customers are coming and going >:

and shadowchi, she did thank me .. but not in a really nice, grateful way hahaha. after she finished yelling at her son, she was just really angry so she was like THANK YOU and stormed out

 

finally someone comes in with "doh lay"

 

For once, I agree with you.

The way I see it, both parties were at fault. I understand why the woman had been upset, however, as a mother, it doesn't dismiss the fact that she's very negligent.

 

^I agree with Kdotc as well.

mother takes majority of the responsibility but you should have returned the kid to the parent after playing games with him

I mean just so you know yourself, the kid is safe back with the parent.

 

The mother should have kept an eye on her child regardless of whether you were playing with him or not; you can't trust anyone these days. She can't assume that you're responsible for the kid simply because you're working at the store. Kdotc was right, you should've brought the kid back to her mother before helping other customers. Anyway, glad that the kid was alright.

 

idk i kinda assumed she knew the kid was there .. because .. she was standing right behind us ... >.>

 

^ Shit thing about this is if anything happens to the kid, you can get sued....because you had a bit of duty in taking care of the child in that situation...Sad but its true

 

^ no, she can't get sue because it's not the store employees' responsibilities to take care of the child. if the mother gonna sue, it's the store that will deal with the legal suit; not her individually. Also, if the mother is to sue, she will end up getting arrested for child negligence. After all, the store didn't advertise to babysit children whilst adults are shopping at the store. Under such condition, the mother is to the one responsible for the child's well being.

 

^ Looks like I failed at Law XP

 

Anybody can get sued at any time; whether the suit ultimately prevails (wins or loses) in court is another issue. In any case, in order for a charge of negligence to be successful, three criteria needs to be met:

1. Subject must have an obligated duty to perform
2. Subject failed to perform obligated duty
3. Victim suffered harm as a direct result from subject's failure to perform obligated duty.

Additionally, as an employee whose routine conduct is controlled by her employer, there is another legal issue of Respondeat_Superior (let the master answer) which generally means that the employer should ultimately be responsible for any of their employee's behavior. This is the reason why when cops beat people up, the city gets sued. So yes, you're right; there is little likelihood of a successful suit (though that does not stop someone from a frivolous or vengeful suit, just to make you jump through the hoops, so to speak). Further, the store would bear the brunt of it (legal costs, etc).

Bottom line here is, did the store have an obligated duty to watch that child? The answer is NO. Hence, neither does any of the stores officers, employees or assigns. Again, the legal fault here is 100% with the mother. However, if that were my son or daughter standing at the counter confronted with such a situation, I would sincerely hope that they would have had the presence of mind to secure the child's safety before attending to other less life threatening issues.

 

^Ah, but like you said, the mother might just do it 'cause she can.

As a side note, I wouldn't take it personally. The mother was probably such a bi*ch 'cause she was panicking. True, she's a totally irresponsible mother, but when your kid goes missing, most people panic. And most people tend to take it out on someone other than themselves. It's stupid, but ah well, human nature.

At the end of the day, though, it was really good on you to help look for the kid, despite the horrible way you were treated by the mother.