Yesterday I had a customer come up to the counter with a stroller and ask if he could leave his kid there while he ran out to his car to get something
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No! No, No, No, No, NO! Cashiers are not babysitters. They are cashiers. If they had wanted to be a babysitter they would have applied to be a babysitter.
Besides that perfectly valid reason, think of the lawsuit if that guys little miracle had decided that the moment Jamie had to ring up an actual paying customer was the perfect time to make their break for freedom and took a header into the floor causing minor - but sueable over - damage to their precious little self.
I was actually afraid he was going to ignore me and just leave his kid anyways, at which point I would have called security. One of my co-workers (who has a three-year-old and had watched the whole proceding with a horrified expression on her face) said that if he took two steps away she was going to call child protective services.
And you have it exactly right. I am not a babysitter and I have other, actual job-things I'm trying to do, and I am not responsible for the safety of his child.
Ya knooooow....I don't think you're wrong, but I can also see where he was coming from. I think you did the right thing, especially because you were in professional-at-work mode, but if he'd asked me? (Assuming I weren't at work, though why would someone do that at a call-center?) I would've said sure. I know I'm not going to steal his kid.
If I were just a customer and he had asked me it still would have been weird and a bad idea, but it would have been less weird than asking a cashier, who is obviously busy and can't pay attention to his child. And it's nice that you wouldn't steal his kid, but the real problem was his attitude about the whole thing. It wasn't a, "OMG, I'm so sorry, can you maybe just do this?" It was, "This is perfectly normal, and I expect this of you." He didn't think it was weird at all to ask a total stranger to watch his kid. Loudly, in front of many people, any one of whom could have tried to take the kid (or the stroller, or stuff in the stroller) as soon as he left. I feel that not leaving his kid with strangers is an important life lesson he needs to learn.
Also, his reasons were stupid. It wasn't that cold out, and the parking lot isn't very big. His kid would have survived.
Also, also, that kid was totally going to bust out crying as soon as that guy left.
Okay, yeah. With all the additional information, I completely and totally agree with you now, 100% for sure. The sense of entitlement, especially, might have sent me over the edge into telling him to eat a bag of...um...poop.
Actually, although it may not be technically illegal, leaving a small child anywhere unattended by a parent or guardian (not a cashier) is grounds for suspicion of child neglect.
If the guy had left the store without the child, calling the police is the right response.
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Besides that perfectly valid reason, think of the lawsuit if that guys little miracle had decided that the moment Jamie had to ring up an actual paying customer was the perfect time to make their break for freedom and took a header into the floor causing minor - but sueable over - damage to their precious little self.
No. No no no no no no no no.
Good job Jamie. That guy sucks.
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And you have it exactly right. I am not a babysitter and I have other, actual job-things I'm trying to do, and I am not responsible for the safety of his child.
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Also, his reasons were stupid. It wasn't that cold out, and the parking lot isn't very big. His kid would have survived.
Also, also, that kid was totally going to bust out crying as soon as that guy left.
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If the guy had left the store without the child, calling the police is the right response.
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