Boots employee smacking customer's toddler

suki1001

Carl31 wrote: »

Depending on the severity of the smack, if my kids were misbehaving in a shop i would expect them to be told off, in fact my son was told off not long ago for being ott in toys r us, quite rightly

How did the little girl come to have a smashable bottle in her hand anyway?

It doesn't say she had a smashable bottle in her hand - it says she picked some things off the shelf and some got knocked off.

Like many others, i suspect the 'smack' has been totally over exagerrated

I am one who thinks how hard the smack was is irrelevant, but the mother says if she hadn't had her clothes on it would have left a mark and that it was enough to shove her forward. We don't live in a society where you smack, tap or physically do anything to another child, especially if you don;t know them and even more so if you're representing a company.

If a child is unruly, it's the parents fault, so the shop assistant should have said something to the mother. She would have been well within her rights to do that.

meritaten

suki1001 wrote: »

I am one who thinks how hard the smack was is irrelevant, but the mother says if she hadn't had her clothes on it would have left a mark and that it was enough to shove her forward. We don't live in a society where you smack, tap or physically do anything to another child, especially if you don;t know them and even more so if you're representing a company.

If a child is unruly, it's the parents fault, so the shop assistant should have said something to the mother. She would have been well within her rights to do that.

er, no - you don't do that. as a sales assistant you don't say anything - you go find a manager and they tell the parent! sales assistants are not paid enough to criticise little darlings to the parents even if they are wrecking the store! besides which you are liable to get thumped! the manager deals with it - that is what they are paid the big bucks for!

suki1001

meritaten wrote: »

er, no - you don't do that. as a sales assistant you don't say anything - you go find a manager and they tell the parent! sales assistants are not paid enough to criticise little darlings to the parents even if they are wrecking the store! besides which you are liable to get thumped! the manager deals with it - that is what they are paid the big bucks for!

er no, - you can do that. When i worked in a retail chain(which wasn't that long ago) we were perfectly entitled to say, in fact we were told to ( "Excuse me, would you mind just keeping an eye on your daughter, she's playing near those breakable bottles and I'm just worried she's going to hurt herself." I had to resort to that several times and I never got any flack off any parents. If that doesn't work, then I'd have got the manager. But in this instance by the time you've got the manager - chances are the damage would have been done and no-ones around when someone cuts themselves on a bit of glass and sues you.

If there's a health and safety issue, which in this instance there was - I certainly think you've got to minimise that risk straight away. Managers are often not even on the shop floor.

andygb

krustylouise wrote: »

If anyone EVER laid hands on my child, pat, smack even wag a finger in front of her face and tell her off, I'd be fuming!

I think that telling off is sometimes required in this day and age, as some parents just ignore the bad behaviour of their children.
If you are not quick enough to administer some discipline, then don't be sirprised if someone else has a word;)

sassyblue

Just to say there was no glass broken, it was the plastic cap. I'm not even sure if dettol is in glass bottles anymore, pretty sure the last one l had was plastic?

suki1001

sassyblue wrote: »

Just to say there was no glass broken, it was the plastic cap. I'm not even sure if dettol is in glass bottles anymore, pretty sure the last one l had was plastic?

I'm sure I read it was broken glass - don't know where I got that from. however, broken glass, risk of a spillage, detergent everywhere, slip hazzard, it doesn't really matter I don't suppose - I think it was handled very badly by the shop assistant.

krustylouise

andygb wrote: »

I think that telling off is sometimes required in this day and age, as some parents just ignore the bad behaviour of their children.
If you are not quick enough to administer some discipline, then don't be sirprised if someone else has a word;)

I said wag a finger in front of her face. If my child is being disruptive in a shop and I have failed to notice and someone told her off I'd support then, depending on the severity of the incident and the way in which she's been told. There are ways of being diplomatic "ohh watch out sweetheart" or "please don't do that they might fall over" are all acceptable, a smack, pat, any physical contact or aggressive behaviour (including a wagging finger) are completely unnecessary. If harsher discipline is required or child fails to listen then you speak to the parents, a it's THEIR responsibility to discipline their child. Failing that ask them to leave, if their presence is causing so much disruption and distress.

SillyButSense

I'd have been FURIOUS if that had been my child... I myself have knocked things off a shelf out of pure clumsiness...should I be smacked on my bottom too It was inappropriate and uncalled for in my opinion.

Abbafan1972

Looking at it from the other side, when I'm out shopping, I look at some of the Mom's and hardly any of them are watching what their kids are doing in shops, they are too busy talking on their mobiles and texting!

I don't let my kids wander off in the shops, so I can see what they're doing and they know not to touch anything.

I even seen parents playing with their phones next to a main road and not looking at what the kids are doing. Whatever it is, can't it wait?

I was shopping the one time (it was in Boots actually), I was by the photo department and this little girl was picking up all the photo albums with her mucky hands (stuff people have to buy) and the mother didn't stop her, she just kept on saying "Kira, don't touch that" over and over again, but didn't stop her.

I think if I was the shop assistant, I would approach the parent and ask them to control their child, or get the security guard to do it.

LannieDuck

If it were my child, I'd have been livid. No-one gets to hit my child. Full stop.

The article I read said that the woman had already offered to pay for the damage when the shop assistant smacked the child. But as others have said, we do only have one version of events...