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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

a story and a PSA

sort of, i guess.

a friend of mine told me something recently that scared the living shit out of me. i mean, i got goosebumps listening to the story.

apparently, a woman was shopping at the local costco with her baby strapped into her infant car seat, attached to the shopping cart. most moms do this - it's an easy way to get shit done without screwing up naptime, and a ride in the car often puts a baby right to sleep. hell, a ride in the car usually puts ME to sleep. i never grew out of that, i guess. heh.

anyway, she was walking through the aisles, doing her shopping. she took three steps away from the cart to grab something from a shelf, turned around, and her baby was gone. i'm getting the goosebumps again, just typing this. frantic, she ran right to the nearest employee, who gave the signal and the whole store was shut down within minutes. the cops were called in, and they began searching the store.

most cops will tell you that in the time it takes to get to an employee and get the place locked down, the kid is already out of the store and off to who knows where. scary ass shit. and certainly not reassuring by any means, no?

but in this case, when they checked the restrooms, there was the baby - with her head already half shaved and a brand new outfit all set out to put her in. they apprehended the asshole who'd done it, returned the baby to her grateful, panicked mother, and all was well.

can you imagine?? as that mom, i'd be like "okay, step aside and just give me about TEN MINUTES with this fool." give. that. fucker. the. beat. down. of. his. life.

so the moral of the story is, never, never, never turn away from your child(ren) when out and about. not even for a second. hell, that's why i just strap the bean to my person instead of putting her in the cart. that may not fly as she gets bigger, but for now, you'll have to go through me before you can get to this kid.

10 comments:

  1. F dude. that is scary!

    so, you mean that parking your stroller with the kid still in it several tables away from you in a restaurant isn't a good idea either? [eyeroll]

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  2. We had a woman come in to my office once and she was going to stay for about 10 minutes or so, and she mentioned to me that she had LEFT HER BABY IN THE CAR!!!! He was 13 months and asleep. She jokingly said 'I could probably get arrested.' Um ya, you could!! I went out and stood by her car because unlike her (apparently), I care. I assume it's hard when you have a baby, wanting things to be convenient as possible, not have to wake them. But seriously, you need to watch your baby!

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  3. The story about the kid being abducte din Costco isn't true. You can read about it on Snopes. In an alternating version of the story, it is a toddler and he puts a wig on the kid. It's all chain emails, I'm afraid. That being said, someone could swipe your baby in an instant and it IS good to be dilligent like yourself. My cousin is autistic and one time he got mad at my aunt in Costco because she wouldn't buy him something. To revenge her, he started screaming that she wasn't his mother and to call the authorities. Them Autistic kids can be smart!!

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  4. I've heard this story several times. Did you friend know the person that this happened to?

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  5. Seriously that is so scary. I may be small, but I'm a tough bitch. Nobody should even try to mess with me either.

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  6. Didn't you ever see Kindergarten cop? The moral of the story is to teach your kid to scream anytime a stranger comes near. OR have a really ugly baby.

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  7. Abductions are scary shit. I don't have kids yet and it's something I am terrified of (because naturally I'm gonna have super adorable kids).

    BTW, people who leave their kids in the car need to be pummeled. I just heard a story on the news the other day about a kid who got left in his mom's car while she went to work and he died. Worst part is the mom is a nurse. DUH LADY!!!

    ReplyDelete

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