Kids ... watch them or leave them at home

Oh boy. This may take more than one blog entry. Where do I start? Windows? Noise? Toys?

First of all, when I see any kid between the ages of, say, four, to high school at the mall on a weekday before three o'clock, I wonder: why is this kid not in school? Ooh. How about the mom in the minivan who was at the mall before it even opened. At SIX O'CLOCK in the MORNING! Our SM asked SallyS and I to come in at 6 to help her change the mannequins in the window. So, SallyS and I got our coffees and sat in the parking lot waiting for SM to arrive. Since it was 6AM, none of the mall entrances was going to be open. We get there, and there's this minivan sitting on the roof of the parking structure where all mall employees are supposed to park. She gets out, pulls out one of the wheely contraptions that people use to drag things around and a lawn chair. What in the world is she doing with those things and at SIX IN THE MORNING. When she gets back in the minivan, we see she has a little girl sitting in the vehicle. She had to be about four or five, and she still had her blankie. SallyS and I asked each other and ourselves, why in the world is this woman at the mall at SIX when it didn't open till TEN? And why in the world is that little girl not in bed? Or getting ready for school? Turns out, they didn't leave the mall till about two. We weren't stalking them. SallyS saw them when she was going back to work.

Secondly, ladies, keep your children out of our display windows. Mannequins are heavy and will hurt if fallen on top of children. Don't you know how to keep an eye on your kids? I don't know how many times my SM or myself has had to tell a kid not to go into our windows, to get out of our windows, or to tell a parent to keep their child out of our windows. One day, when I was coming into work. I was walking past another store and some kid was bawling his eyes out. Do you know why? He tried to climb into another store's display window, fell down, and got hurt? first of all, what business does your child have in our window? Second of all, why aren't you watching your kid? Third of all, do you care if something heavy falls on your child?

Let's see... some examples, you want? These two ladies come in with two girls, probably around three/four and five/six. The older one starts to go into the first window, and I tell her she needs to stay out of our windows. The mom is on a cell phone, not paying any attention to either girl. They go down a little further, where I can't keep an eye on them anymore. The younger one goes into our window, and my SM tells her she needs to come out. She proceeds to tell her NO. Mom, on a cell phone still, has to go down and get her. They go down to the petite part of the store. Mom still on a cell phone. Both girls itching to get into the windows. But they see my SM watching them.

Moving on... here's a short one. Lady, if your kid/baby is crying bloody murder... don't you think it's wise to take care of the kid and see what they want? Get them out of the store, and out of the mall, and back home. Especially the wee little ones. Subjecting them to "hazardous materials that may cause cancer, birth defects, etc." There's a sign at every mall entrance with that warning. I see mothers bringing their newborns to the mall all the time. What are they thinking? Shouldn't they be at home? Okay, I have to admit I like seeing babies all the time. But that's only when they're behaving because that's when they're being taken care of. I have a regular customer who comes in all the time with her grandson. Adorable little thing. One time they came in and I was behind the cash register so he couldn't see me. I said hi to them and his head perked up and he looked around for me. Oh, but is he mischievous! At least he stays in his stroller and doesn't do a lot of crying. One time, this little girl (had to be about three) knocked off all the socks on the lower sock rack. What a mess! Actually, she was two! I remember asked her mom if she was two years old. Her mom was like, how did you know? They don't call them the terrible twos for nothing.