This happens at my neighborhood store. Virtually every shift, mornings or nights, this cashier always has her 4-year-old there, and sometimes her 6-year-old, too.
It always blows my mind… you can bring your kids to work at a 7-11?? This is okay??
Tonight they were there and she was telling the person in front of me in line that she had gotten in trouble. The other customer says, “Oh, for having your kids here?” She says, "OH, NO… for not being (finger quotes) “in control.”
So you can have your kids at work at a 7-11 if you’re in control of them??
And she definitely was NOT in control, as they were running all over, climbing on the counter, etc.
Does anybody else think there’s something wrong with this picture?? And how come I and every other working mother I know have to pay the big bucks for the babysitters and daycare and she doesn’t?
I should clarify, when I said “virtually every shift” I meant the ones she works.
What happens if she’s at work (with kids) and the place gets held up? What if her kids destroy something or leave the premises without her knowing? I can think of a hundred other situations that could happen, each worse than the last. I don’t understand some parents, I truly do not. This is something I’d never do to my child. I know it may be very hard to find a trustworthy sitter or daycare but come on… that is one of the worst places to have small children running loose. She thinks she’s “in control”? Nuts, I say… nuts.
My sentiments exactly. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks this is entirely inappropriate. I do tend to have a stick up my ass when it comes to kids’ safety, so I thought maybe I was being too harsh.
My across-the-hall neighbor lets her 2- and 3- year-olds play in the parking lot and grounds of our apartment complex unsupervised and that gives me little heart attacks on a daily basis. :eek:
Anyway, I was thinking of expressing my opinion of her mothering skills, but I’m not PMSing and I didn’t think it would be a good idea to make a scene… not today anyway.
She strikes me as extremely ignorant and beligerent, though, so I’d doubt she’d take my advice.
I completely agree that this is a far-from-ideal situation.
Still, have you even stopped to consider what her alternatives might be?
Possibility 1: Pay someone to take care of them, which would probably cost almost as much as her 7-11 wages pay. Trustworthiness is not the only consideration mitigating against low-income workers using childcare, you know.
Possibility 2: Give up work in order to look after them at home, which might leave her without the money to provide for their food and shelter. And, of course, then people will be ragging on her for being a “welfare mom.”
You say you are concerned for her kids’ safety. How safe will they be if she can’t afford to feed and clothe them, or if they get carted off by the state because she has no money and no-one to help her look after them?
Again, i want to reiterate that the situation is not great, and i agree that the environment for the kids is sub-standard, but it’s worth remembering that someone in this situation often has only a limited range of options.
Well, she’ll be obnoxious but hell, the truth hurts! I think you should at least comment on the safety of her kids while in the store. Ask her what she’d do if the place was robbed at gunpoint. That might take a moment or twenty to sink in but hopefully it will and then she’ll think more about her childrens’ safety than her own ignorant convenience.
“Yes, Bobby Jo… this IS a “convenience” store but they mean for the shoppers, not the clerks.” :rolleyes:
Oh, hell no, I don’t feel sorry for her. I’m a single mother, as a many of my friends. I KNOW poverty and hard choices, my friend, I live them daily. Yet I struggle, and sacrifice, and suffer. I made a choice to have children, and my idea of decent parenting does NOT include bringing them to work at a convenience store and it never will.
There ARE some standards of decency. IMHO, I think this crosses it.
She may have neighbors who can babysit, family members… or she can try and get daycare through the state by being a “welfare mom”. I see nothing wrong with getting a little help via the government if the person ISN’T abusing the system. She’s at least working and the Dept of Economic Security can pay for her daycare if she’s eligible. There are ways.
Millions of parents, throughout the ages, have been in this exact situation. Yet, you don’t see many offices filled with the secretaries’ kids, or a hospital with all the janitors’ and lower-wage workers’ kids, etc.
I had state help for daycare at one time and they cut me off when I reached $9/hour wage at work. A 7-11 in Tucson, I don’t think she makes all that much, so she should qualify.
After paying for daycare, I make about as much as I would if I stayed home and collected welfare, so I walk in her shoes. You make choices, you sacrifice, you figure something out. You don’t just take what’s the easiest thing for you and go ahead and take them to work.
I cannot understand this. First, convenience stores can get some pretty scuzzy characters in them. I’m not saying it’s a bad place to work*, but it’s not really SAFE even for adults, even if the place isn’t held up. Second, the store is NOT childproofed. There’s glass bottles and all sorts of sharp edges around. I would not want to see ANY child of 4-6 years wandering around in a convenience store without extremely close supervision. Third, the kid or kids are probably annoying the hell out of at least some customers. Fourth, what happens when the kid needs his nap or a meal? Are the customers supposed to wait around until Mommy is done with Junior? Fifth, there’s health issues…convenience stores ALWAYS sell food, and have food prep areas, even if those areas are just serve-yourself fountain drinks. I’m sure that Mommy’s kids have had their grubby hands all over every candy wrapper, and I’m also sure that the kids have at least tried to binge on candy. Doesn’t 7-11 sell premade sandwiches, too? I haven’t been in one for at least 15 years, but I seem to recall them advertising their sandwiches. I have no idea how these sandwiches are packaged, but if the kids are opening the cooler doors, they may be raising the temperatures to unsafe levels.
This is just a really bad situation all around. I’m sorry if she feels that she can’t afford daycare (and it’s quite possible that she can’t even get it, as many daycares will only be open during weekday business hours, and her shifts might be crazy) but she really needs to either find a babysitter or another job.
One of the managers at a local fried chicken place kept bringing her grade-school kids to work with her in my town. I notified their headquarters…those kids were running around in the kitchen, playing near the deep-fryers! I had concerns about both the kids’ safety and food cleanliness. I KNOW that those kids hadn’t had a Food Safety course!
A couple of weeks ago, I checked out a new paper crafts store. Even though it had a great selection of products that I haven’t seen elsewhere, I won’t be going back. The owner had her two preschoolers in the store with her, and didn’t seem very interested in keeping them from bothering me as I shopped. I do not find children charming. Particularly random children (not related to me). There were an awful lot of rubber stamps around, on low shelves, that were a choking hazard. There were also ink pads on low shelves which could make a very colorful mess should Baby Doll (gag) get into them. There were also other chemicals.
I didn’t cushion my daughter in cotton padding when she was a child, but I didn’t intentionally expose her to unnecessary hazards, either.
It’s one thing to have a child in your own home, and do housework or work at home, as long as the child is not exposed to hazards. It’s quite another thing to have a child in a place of employment, where technically the worker’s full attention should be on the job. And I know that I’m not the only person who dislikes having to discourage random children from trying to engage me in conversation when all I want to do is pick out my merchandise and leave.
*I worked in a deli/convenience/liquor store in Las Vegas for a while. Most of our customers were very nice, but you really need to keep your wits about you in convenience stores, even if you DON’T work there.
After reading Lynn Bodoni’s post, I had a idea to email the company. Then I remember it’s a franchise. Can the mother ship really do anything to a franchise?
/hijack/BTW, why do all 7-11s have that funky smell?/hijack/
Does anybody here have an constructive ideas for what a woman in such a situation might do, or is this thread strictly for cheap expressions of moral superiority?
mhendo provided some useful ideas. However, without knowing the details of this woman’s life, it’s a little tough for us to judge. I’d have to guess she’d much rather not have the kids there if she could avoid it, since they’d likely driving her up the wall as it is (they’d probably drive me up the wall, anyway).
Ditto to what mhendo, Evil Captor and dantheman all said.
This is one of the most sanctimonious OP’s I have read in a looooong time.
What’s your problem trublmakr? Would you prefer that this woman left her kids alone at home (as does happen when people are unable to obtain or afford childcare)?
You could always offer to babysit them if your indignation runs so deep. :rolleyes:
Not so tough. My mom ran an ice cream store when I was a kid. And most of the time, we kids had to go to work with her. But we did not go anywhere near where the customers were. We either stayed in the back of the store on milk crates (being told to not tough anything and to stay out of everyone’s way) or during “rush” times, were sent back to the office which was the size of a closet. Not easy with 4 kids (ages 3-12) but it can be done. We were trained to never touch anything that wasn’t handed to us by Mom. If we were caught climbing on the counters or freezers, we had to clean them. And even though she was busy, Mom still kept a short leash on us. And I learned how to make change by age 7. “The bill is $3.47 and they paid $10. What’s their change?” “A five, a one, 2 quarters and 3 pennies”
I understand if she has not choice but to take her kids with her to work. I can’t understand letting them run wild in the store.
Isn’t it against store law?
If anything would happen injury-wise to the children, the store is liable.
Do they want to be?
Liability aside, I’d think that having grubby urchins run around in the store who were obviously in the charge of the employees would give the store a definite Third World feel, and 7-11 Corporate would frown mightily on that, seeing as it might impact their business.
I also gave some examples of things this woman could try, did I not? I said I wouldn’t bring my own child to my workplace but I did not spew forth poisonous venom declaring her an unfit mother or flavor my posts with my “moral superiority”. I never stated I was better than this woman, only that I’d never do what she has done. I think she could possibly get help via the state SINCE she has a job but not one that pays very well.
I don’t know her situation, never implied this. I do wonder about her choice and feel her choice is unwise and unsafe. I also wonder about 7-11’s policy regarding this issue.
There is a clerk at my local Citgo that brings her kids to work, too. I guess I never gave it too much thought as I’m used to seeing them there. I used to shop at “The Green Store”, a local privately owned store, where the kids were not only present, but worked there, too, stocking and sweeping, or watching tv or doing homework etc.
I wouldn’t complain about her. In my area child care runs about $65.00 a week for kids above 5 years of age (and about $135.00 for babies). Two or three kids in day care would probably use up her whole paycheck.
The problem isn’t so much that the kids are there as that they’re ill behaved. When I was a kid and my mom was a manager at a camera store, she often took me to work and I happily stayed in the back room with a coloring book or some Legos or whatever. Being a camera store, the danger wasn’t so much that I would hurt myself as that I would break some really expensive stuff, but I never played with the merchandise.