Toying With Trouble

Because our department store has a large toy section, my manager had a process for dealing with customers who did this:

Customer: “I’m just going to leave my son here in the toy section while I shop.”

The boy looked no more than four or five.

Manager: *Looking at me, shouting loudly.* “[My Name]! Take this kid back to the office and call the police to tell them that a parent just abandoned their kid with a total stranger and walked off!”

Customer: *Hissing and taking her kid back.* “Alright! Alright! Jesus, so dramatic!”

In the few years I worked there, the manager’s process always worked. He wouldn’t mind if older kids were left to browse quietly, but the younger kids would always get this treatment.

It wasn’t a bluff either, as one parent still left their young kid in the toy section despite this, and he called the police. The parent was not happy, but my manager said to this mother as she was being escorted out by the police:

Manager: “I did the exact things I said I was going to do, and you’re mad at me?”

If parents left their kids in our section and didn’t tell us, the manager would make a store announcement along the same lines:

Manager: “To the customer who has lost a child, they are in the toy section. We will call the police to pick them up if you’re not here within ten minutes.”

That always worked as it gave the benefit of the doubt to cases where kids would genuinely wander off but was also passive-aggressive enough to shame the entitled parents who thought they could use the toy department as a daycare.