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- kim nakahodo - Profile | Pictures | Blog
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I don’t care what the calendar says – it’s holiday shopping season.
I have been working part-time at a retail toy store (I won’t name names, but there is only one chain left) for almost ten years.
During my tenure, I have seen some… interesting things.
My favorite has to be parents that use our store as a daycare center. Yes – this happens and it happens more often than you think.
Some people think that because our store caters to children that they can drop-off their kids to “hang out” for a few hours. I have seen kids as young as eight years-old be left at our store (he was left with his ten year-old sister.)
This is dangerous on so many levels. I can “What if” all day long on this one. What if your kid is abducted? Has a medical emergency? Is hungry/thirsty? Gets bored and walks out of the store?
When I see child-abduction stories on TV, I often wonder what the circumstances are. Did they leave their children in a retail store thinking the store clerks would watch them?
(BTW – when we realize a child has been left, we contact the police.)
I have also dealt with a lot of … bodily fluids.
We used to have a section of playhouses on display in the corner of the store. This was a popular area and a common place to see kids playing in the store.
One evening, I saw a little boy about 3-4 years-old squatting in one of the playhouses. I was wondering what he was doing so I got a little closer and I could hear him grunting.
I went up to the window and asked if everything was OK. He told me that he had to go poopie, “I see that,” I answered him back, “Let’s go find your mom.”NOTHING is so funny as to see a horrified mom’s face when you tell them their son just took a dump in the display plastic playhouse.
Holiday season means shoplifting/stolen credit card/bogus check season to retailers.
One of my favorite times busting someone was when this woman wrote a check and I asked for her ID. She handed it over and I looked at the photo….the ID picture showed African American woman and the woman who handed it to me was Caucasian.
I told the lady, “You don’t look like your picture.” She said, “Well – it’s my friend’s. She is sick so she asked me to do her Christmas shopping. She’s in the car, I’ll go get her.”
Then she ran out the door.
BTW… It’s only October and we have noticed a LARGE increase at our store of stolen credit cards/checks compared to last year. Be careful out there with your credit cards/check books.
I love swapping retail horror stories. (I also worked food service… I have TONS of stories for that too!)
Any other retailers/food service employees who want to dish their favorite horror story?
I worked at Paradise Diner in Oak Park Mall for a couple of years. Because of that, I do not enter the mall after Thanksgiving. And, yes I am serious.I have discovered the joy of being a SAHM, I can shop during the middle of the week while everyone else is at work! Even if I take both kids with me it is much easier in the middle of the week then on the weekends! I love hearing the stories from people who have worked in retail though! Some, okay most, are very amusing to me!It is just beyond me that parents drop their kids off & leave. Bad things just happen to quickly. I like hearing stories from retail/restaurant workers. You just shake your head & realize there are people really like that in the world.I've done both, worked at an ice cream shop for a few years, ten years later I still cannot eat ice cream! Worked retail for another couple of years. My husband actually mentioned returning for the holiday season. OH NO! You are a brave woman. Customers seem to get meaner during this time of year. And yes I do see more children being left. My favorite was when a woman washed her daughters fancy dress then tried to return it. She insisted that it was not in the washer then her daughter said "but mommy you said they would give me new one since the washer broke this one". I will not go near the mall during the holiday season. Is it just me or has thanksgiving been forgotten?:I did retail for years (managed a store, even) and that is why my shopping is done early. One of my faves, a gal returned a pair of jeans, our policy at the time was to allow returns for everything, so I could only say they looked worn, but not refuse the refund. She insisted they were not. After the return, I checked the pockets. She left more cash in them than the jeans were worth. As policy called for, it was turned into the store.
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