(I work at a furniture retail store that has a children’s play area where parents can drop off their kids to play for an hour while shopping. Assuming we have room, kids need to be 37″-54″ tall and must be fully potty-trained, meaning not wearing diapers or pull-ups. These restrictions are written in two different places by the check-in window. A mother with two kids in a two-seat stroller set-up are in line behind my current customer. They fill out the card that is required to check kids in. After finishing up with my first customer, I greet the mother.)
Me: “How many kids today?”
Mom: “Two.”
Me: “All right, I have space for two. I just have to check TWO requirements first. I need to check heights; can you have them stand by the measuring wall?”
(The mom takes both three-year-old boys out of the stroller and they are both tall enough. Despite me saying that I had to check more than one thing, the mom tells the two kids that they can go inside. The two start cheering.)
Me: “And our other requirement is that any kids we take in must be fully potty-trained. Are they wearing pull-ups or diapers?”
Mom: “They are both wearing pull-ups.”
Me: “I’m sorry, but I can’t take them in, then. It’s against our policy.”
(The mom suddenly becomes very belligerent as her two kids start crying.)
Mom: “But the pull-ups are just in case! They had a long car ride here and I just put them on in case they had an accident while sleeping in the car.”
Me: “I’m sorry, but I still can’t take them.”
Mom: “Well, what if I just take them to the bathroom and take the pull-ups off, then bring them back here?”
Me: “I’m sorry, but that’s also strictly against policy. I still can’t.”
(Feeling bad for the two kids, I give them each a coupon to our bistro for $1 off so they can get a snack. Usually this mollifies parents, but the mom just storms off in a huff. Thinking that’s the end of it, I put the card with their info off to the side to toss later since I have another customer to speak to. About twenty minutes later, I spot one of my managers off to the side, speaking to someone I can’t see. I recognize the corner of the stroller from earlier and inwardly groan. Five minutes later, my manager calls the department phone.)
Me: “Hello, [My Name] in [Kids’ Play Area].”
Manager: “I just had a customer complain to me that you wouldn’t let her two kids in because they had pull-ups on.”
Me: “Ah, yes, I remember her. They were very… interesting.”
Manager: “Yeah, I told her that you can’t take the kids and she went on this rant about driving here and how she still puts a pull-up on her seven-year-old overnight and didn’t think it was a big deal…? And then she asked, ‘Well, what if I take their pull-ups off in the bathroom and try to check them in when someone else was at the door? And I told her, ‘We still won’t let you because that’s lying and I’ll be giving my employees your description.’”
Me: “Wow, that’s… yeah. I actually still have her card with her name and signature on it, so I can warn my coworkers.”
(My manager was pleased to hear that. I wrote a note on the card not to check this woman’s kids in and warned all my coworkers. Fortunately she didn’t try to come back.)
