Unattended children

[The Borgified Corpse]

My friend runs a Halloween costume store in Fiesta Mall. Lately there has been this young kid (age 6 I think) who has been hanging around the store all the time. He's the son of one of the women who works in the nail salon 3 stores down. His mom never comes around to check up on him. On days when he doesn't have school, he's there in the mall for all 11 hours that it's open. He's desperate for attention and is constantly making a nuisance of himself at the Halloween store. What do we do?

 

[Deckerd]

Threaten to tell social services if she doesn't arrange proper childminding.

 

[Middle Earther]

You have to confront the mother.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Call Paul Bart, Mall Cop. There's no reason why your friend should be the kid's babysitter. Just imagine what happens if he hurts himself...oy. But, yeah, the mom should be talked to.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

6 years old and unattended? Good grief! She needs something better than that for him. Confront the woman and explain it's not safe for him to be unattended like that. If it continues, you may need to involve social services.

 

[the Dagman]

Ban him from the store if you don't want him there. If he is making a nuisance of himself, he is affecting your friend's place of business. He is running a Halloween shop, not a day care center. He could also complain to the mall management, his and the nail shop's landlord, if he doesn't want a face to face confrontation with the woman should she get angry that her kid can't have the run of the place. But it is just easier to tell the kid "Get out and don't come back" and perfectly within your friend's right to do so.

 

[Shatmandu]

Call Mall Security. It's their job to deal with loitering children.

To be blunt: it's your friend's job to sell French Maid costumes, not to deal with the situation.

Joe, going as a Twister matt

 

[Trekker4747]

Call CPS, tell them an abandoned child is in the store.

Extreme? Yes. But it'll teach some lessons.

Letting a friggin' kindergartner run around unattended in a mall is just stupid.

 

[JuanBolio]

Sign in my local bar: "All unattended children will be given a free kitten and an energy drink."

 

[iguana_tonante]

Call Mall Security. It's their job to deal with loitering children.

Sounds like a good idea.

To be blunt: it's your friend's job to sell French Maid costumes

I want one! Ehm, for my fiancee, I mean.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Yeah, I'd probably call mall security as well. Confronting the mother alone would likely just result in you getting yelled at or ignored or the kid being dumped off at some other store where the mother might not be so lucky to deal with such tolerant employees (not to mention customers who are potential kidnappers or molesters).

Telling mall security gets the incident on record in case she does it again, and gives it an added bit of seriousness that hopefully makes her come to her senses.

Does the mall have any kind of day care? Some of the larger ones do.

 

[Joshua Howard]

That is a really wierd situation. In any case, if her kid is old enough to safely wander around by himself, there is absolutely no reason why he couldn't be left at home. If he is not, there is no excuse for him being ditched to wander around in a shopping mall all day.

There is, of course, the possibility that it is a single mother who can't afford a babysitter, doesn't want to leave her child alone and isn't allowed to have him right next to her while working, who has concluded that this is the best possible solution.

If it were me, I would question how long it has been going on and how much of a problem the child is creating. If he was just a decent little kid who wasn't causing any trouble, I'd talk to him when I wasn't with a customer or busy and just let him stay. Sometimes getting mad about people's possible hard-luck situations only makes them worse.

In any case, as others have said... if he is a problem that can't be dealt with, the best course of action would be to nab Blart next time he rolls by.

 

[Trekker4747]

There is, of course, the possibility that it is a single mother who can't afford a babysitter, doesn't want to leave her child alone and isn't allowed to have him right next to her while working, who has concluded that this is the best possible solution.

Boo fucking hoo. The "next best solution" to hiring baby sitter or getting a friend or relative to watch your kid isn't to unload the little moppet on the seasonal-store workers down the hall. Thia kid is a child and shouldn't be home alone or walking around a mall alone. The parent is either retarded, careless or unfit.

 

[Maestro]

Trekker, you need to have a child of your own. I think you need some perspective on the reality of caring, juggling, and educating one's own child before you continue to karp about how others are doing at it.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

If he was just a decent little kid who wasn't causing any trouble, I'd talk to him when I wasn't with a customer or busy and just let him stay.

Acknowledging that the problem exists and repeatedly not doing anything about it is sort of taking responsibility for the child's continued safety though, and with as litigious as our society can be, I wouldn't want to have that going on in a store that I managed. I'm not saying they should avoid contact with the kid, but it's a bad situation that needs to be addressed before there's a problem that comes back and bites them in the ass.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Well, if the kid really is 6 years old, shouldn't he be in school?

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, if the kid really is 6 years old, shouldn't he be in school?

Maybe these are happening on weekends and in-service days?

 

[Miss Chicken]

Well, if the kid really is 6 years old, shouldn't he be in school?

The OP did say

On days when he doesn't have school, he's there in the mall for all 11 hours that it's open.

I feel sorry for the child. Spending 11 hours straight in a mall must be hard on him.

I think that mall security will just have to inform the mother that her current arrangements are neither safe or acceptable and that she will have to make alternative arrangements.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm sure it's not easy for moms like this, but the fact remains, letting the kid run around the mall is totally unacceptable. Either she finds another way, or the kid gets a nice new foster home. Emphasis on "home".

 

[Captain Ice]

1. He needs to pay a visit to mall security. Inform them of this situation and see what they can do about it.

2. If they can't or won't do anything about it, then he needs to call Westcor (Fiesta Mall's owner). Especially since the kid is bothering his patrons.