So Sad

Seriously!! Your daughter was hurt in their store so you need an
apology? What do you do when your daughter gets hurt in your house
(which I can almost guarantee happens due to poor supervision)? Do you
blame the product manufacture's of items in your house? I'm sure
probably. I'm very sorry about my rant it just really bothers me when
parents don't pay attention to what their children are doing - oh well
- good luck next visit to the grocery store!

I am surprised that their manager hasn't followed up with you. It's
best for the store to file an accident report for the store in case
the customer complains later of further injury or decides to sue. Then
there is record of "a scrape". Also the manager should have come with
a first aid kit to give some attention to your child if she/he had
been bleeding.

Businesses should do reports to protect themselves. It's also terrible
that in the name of customer service they didn't follow up with you.

What did she do? Get a small scrape?
Various trivial "injuries" can be very traumatic for small children.

An accident report is not necessary for a small scrape or bruise. What
is in order is a trip to the restroom to wash it and a bandage. If
your child is accident prone you may want to carry some in a small
first aid kit in your purse or car.

The sales persons lack of concern needs to be dealt with. I mean how
cruel can anyone be no matter if it was your daughters fault for not
looking where she was going or not.
And evidently she did not require outside medical attention since you
never asked for it, but I do agree that management could have handled
this much better.
ALL stores have incident reports to be filed in case anyone, an
employee or customer gets injured. Their lack of responsibility in
knowing how to do this needs to be dealt with. The manager needs to go
back to "Management 101" and learn how to deal with these issues and
where the paperwork is located IN ALL CC Stores.

Thanks for not asking for more than an apology...so many people put a
monetary value on incidents such as this.

Wow, if I filled out an accident report every time one of my kids
walked into one of those endcaps, I'd still be writing.

We've had neumerous fat lips, black eyes, and cut foreheads from those
things. Luckily, never bad enough for stitches, so it never would have
occured to me to even notify staff.

Did your daughter need stitches?

I guess I feel that the accident report was unnecessary because the
injury doesn't seem to be the fault of the store. In that case, a
follow-up phone call would also be unnecessary.

In these litigious times, even a simple apology from a store manager
can be cause for a jury to find in favor of the plaintiff, even if the
defendant isn't at fault.

What exactly is the OP wanting the store to do? Yes, the salesman
should have stopped the sales pitch on the web cam. Yes, someone
could have gotten paper towels or a band-aid or asked if she thought
her daughter needed medical attention.

But, having worked in retail & in management, I can tell you exactly
what the manager & asst. manager were thinking. "Oh, great! This kid
hurt herself because she or her mother weren't watching & now they
want us to take responsibility for it. Circle the wagons!!!"

I don't get why filling out an accident report is such a big deal to
you..... from the letter it sounds like all they had to do was fill
out an accident report and you'd be happy.

In a perfect world, everyone would care about everyone else but
unfortunately this is not reality.
We've got to remember that retail store employees often don't have
your or your child's interests as their top priority. Your child is
your responsibility and though you'd hope that others would help in
any situation, store employees also have other responsibilities than
making sure a child doesn't hurt themselves - that is the parents
job.

My wife, who lives in the mountains, also thinks you may want to look
at yourself before blaming others.

Yes, they should have stopped trying to sell you anything, especially
while you were tending to your daughter.

Yes, they should have asked if she was ok, or if you needed anything.

Yes, they should have filled out an accident report (which you would
not have gotten a copy of, by the way) and called it in to their
insurance company.

No, nobody from the store or probably even the company would ever
again contact you about this, but you would have heard from an
adjuster.

If there was a trip to the doctor involved, they would have determined
liability, and in all likelihood, would have reimbursed charges,
regardless of any negligence on their part.

That is all.

I assume your daughter is ok, since there is no mention that she isn't
- I'm really glad. All parents know how scary it can be when anything
happens to your child.

This is mostly a response to the discussion that's happening down by
the first comment, but it seemed to me that it warranted new-comment
status. (I did want to add, and this doesn't fit below, Carla, I'm
sorry your daughter got hurt, but I'm glad your husband doesn't have
to worry about there being someone at home to stick up for her when
she needs it. I'm sure he'd rather be with her too (and I hope that
the day when he can be comes quickly), but it must be some comfort to
him that she has a mother like you while he's away.)

Carla, yes, I do think the mention of your husband needs to come out
of the letter. The only reason it would belong in there is if it made
a difference in how Circuit City should have reacted, or if it made a
difference in the way that employees did react. If the employees knew
about your husband and made a nasty comment about military dependents
or something, then it would be relevant. It is obviously relevant to
your daughter, because everything that happens to her is important to
both her parents, but being relevant to a letter is different.

I also think that you phrased things in a way that could be misread
pretty easily, especially "How about an apology? How about a little
compassion? My 5 year old daughter was hurt in your store." Because
the mention of your daughter being hurt came right after you said you
wanted an apology and some compassion, at first I thought you were
asking that they apologize for your child being injured, and you're
definitely not getting that because they're not going to admit that
they caused your child's injury. Now, though, I see that you are
asking for an apology for how the situation was handled at the store.


I would suggest rewriting your letter. Here is how I would probably
choose to edit it, although I am not suggesting that you just accept
my edit. I just think you're more likely to understand what I'm
getting at if I edit than if I try to explain it (I'm really loopy
from meds at the moment and I'm longwinded in any case :) ).

So, one way to rewrite:

Recently I was shopping in a Circuit City store when my 5 year old
daughter wasn't paying attention and walked into of the end cap
displays, and she was bleeding and crying. It wasn't your store's
fault that this happened, but I want you to know how your employees
reacted to this incident.

As I sat on the ground with my crying daughter in my arms, trying to
stop the bleeding, the salesmen continued to try and sell me a web
cam. I asked for the store manger so that we could fill out an
accident report. 15 min later an assistant manager showed up. I asked
him to fill out an accident report. He disappeared.

5 minutes later the manager shows up and asked if he could help us. I
explained to him what happened. I told him that I would like to fill
out an accident report. He left to go get the "official" paperwork
that was necessary, but returned in about 5 minutes and handed me a
piece of blank letterhead and said to write it down on that. I had him
make me a copy of what I wrote and made him sign it so that he could
fax it off to the corporate office. I also left my phone number with
him so that I could be contacted concerning that matter.

Six days later I called corporate to find out what is going on and of
course nothing was ever faxed. I filled them in on what had happened
at the store.

I feel as if nobody at Circuit City takes my daughter's injury
seriously. Worse, I feel as if nobody at Circuit City cares that this
was handled so badly from the start. When a customer's child is
bleeding, it is time to stop the sales pitch, show some compassion,
and write out what happened. In this day and age, stores worry about
liability. Shouldn't it be very important to make sure that the exact
details got written down, including the fact that the accident wsan't
the store's fault?

I would like you to apologize to my daughter for the way she has been
treated concerning this matter. Her mother shouldn't have to be the
one that informed you and followed up on the matter. I don't want her
to learn that it is okay for people to stand there and watch her get
hurt and just keep trying to sell her mother a webcam instead of being
kind.

I was shopping with my mother at Home Depot a couple of years ago. We
had my son (age 7 at the time) & my niece (age 5 at the time) with us.
The kids climbed on a low shelf, despite being told not to, and as we
were getting them out, my niece knocked a ladder onto my mother's
foot. It hit her big toe, causing it to immediately start bleeding
profusely. This was not the fault of the store. The salesperson on
that aisle directed us to the restroom, where I helped my mother stop
the bleeding with wet paper towels. After that, I walked to the
employee breakroom, right around the corner, and asked for a bandaid.
Then we left. No accident report, no apology, no assistance from
employees or visit by the manager. No follow-up phone call by
Corporate. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, my mother's
toenail came off & it is still not 100% the way it used to be.

By the way, we had to return to the store the next day to complete our
purchases & yes, we still shop there to this day. In addition, my dad
served 3 tours of duty in Vietnam & died at the age of 37 while he was
on active duty in the Navy.

Now, tell me...how is ANY of that the fault of the store?

My assumption is that your kid had an accident and ran into/bumped her
head/did something to cause her own injury. Otherwise, this letter
would have contained information or details as to how a display is at
fault.

Kids get hurt when they are simply behaving as kids behave.

Perhaps you can prepare her for life by saying, "Accidents happen" and
by not blaming a store for what happened to your kid.

If the injury was caused by your daughter's neglience (e.g. climbing
up on the display, etc) then I can understand why an apology was not
forthcoming. But it doesn't negate the store's responsibility to
respond appropriately and in a timely manner.

And the fact that someone still tried to sell you a webcam while you
were trying to comfort your daughter is ridiculous. I think that's the
part that gets to me the most.

Some folks are asking how the injury occurred. Frankly, IMHO, it does
not matter if the accident was the result of horseplay or a problem
with the end cap.

Would it have killed any of these employees to simply ask how they
could help, and to fill out proper paperwork?

I know there is the whole" an apology admits guilt" assumption,
however, this is a little kid. Compassion doesnt cost a cent.

The OP isnt even asking for a single thing, just common sense!

I have worked in the grocery business for 15 years and we also have
Endcaps. I have seen alot of accidents with Adults, but very few with
children.

Most accidents that children incur are due to them running, climbing,
standing up in carts, or horseplay.

That being said, it does negate Circuit Cities responsibility to fill
out paperwork correctly.

We have customers fill out the forms, as well as get witness
statements from our employees. Then they are faxed to an outside
source to handle any claim.

It does not sound like she was hurt, it sounds like you are mad at
circuit cities response, which is fair. I would just be curious to
know how the injury occurred.


Good Day

I'm curious, how was your daughter injured by an endcap?
The fact that your husband is serving in the desert shows bravery and
courage on his part, however it doesn't belong in a letter to Circuit
City.