I work at a Barnes and Noble store in the children's department.
Parents often leave their children unattended for long periods of time. Some of those children sit quietly and look at books, some play with Thomas the Train.

Others play chase, take the stickers out of books, knock things over, create havoc.

Occasionally, a child will wander off in search of his or her parents, and we'll announce a "Code Adam" - immediately, we'll block the exits, send workers into the restrooms, and every other employee will stop what they are doing and begin a search for the missing child.

We don't know what was going on with the child in question - Was his misbehaving, did he look lost and the employee was being helpful. I don't know.

I do know that I consider it part of my job to keep an eye on these kids while they're in here. If they're creating a ruckus, I reprimand them; if they are opening packages or taking stickers out of books, I make sure the parents pay for them; if they pull out piles of books, I politely say, "Do you remember where those go? Let's see if you can put them back."

Now, if I could just get the parents to quit dumping off their books and magazines in my section and leaving their coffee cups everywhere, I'd be happy.