Safety Tips: How to Make Your Shopping Experience at the Malls and Stores Safe and Enjoyable
Posted: Friday, December 18, 2009
by Nenita Wells
Could I have prevented it from happening? We often asked ourselves this question after the fact. By being more cautious, more alert and conscious of your surroundings you will be safe while doing your shopping and enjoying the experience with your family and friends.
I worked in the Customer Service Counter at the mall. The most common problems we deal with everyday and especially during the holidays are the following:
- Children who can not find their parents
- Separated family members, friends or relatives
- Screaming and crying children
- Lost or misplaced shopping bags
- Lost coats, gloves, scarves, hats, prescription glasses, sunglasses
- Lost or misplaced wallets or purses
- Lost or misplaced ID's, Credit cards, ATM cards, gift cards, movie tickets
- Lost car keys, house keys, umbrellas
- Lost or stolen cell phones, cameras, watches, jewelries, iPod's
- Injuries, shoppers and visitors feeling sick
Shopping With Children
- Have a plan. Inform them of your plan--the names of the stores, location where you plan to shop and when you will come home.
- Let them know that they have to stay with you. Younger ones need to hold on to your hand at all times. If they get separated, teach them to go to a store clerk or security officer to ask for help.
- Set a central meeting place and time when you are going home.
- Take a picture of your kids with your cell phone before you go shopping. In the event you get separated, you can show the most current picture of your child or children for the security officers in the mall.
- Point out to your children the security officers at the mall so they will know where to go for help
- Have the children's cell phones and your cell phone turned on, in case you needed to contact each other
- Temporary safety tattoos with the telephone number of parents or guardian is another good idea for the younger ones.
- Make sure they know your full name and telephone number as well as your address.
- Talk to your children about not talking to or following strangers.
- The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children offers the following guidelines: Keep the child from being pushed beyond hi endurance. Remove the child's coat or sweater once you are indoors; overheated children can get awfully cranky.
- Keep children close by at all times, and do not let them wander around unsupervised.
- Find out if the malls or stores you are going to have procedures to search for a missing child.
- Keep the children safe, if you are using a cart, strapping the child into the cart seat is a good idea to prevent the cart from tipping over.
- Do not let the child push or steer the cart for you. Shoppers may not notice the child and is in danger of being struck or run over by other carts. Keep the child safe from injuries.
- According to the Escalator Safety Foundation, teaching your children to face forward, to hold on both an adult's hand and the escalator's handrail while riding, and to stand still and keep the feet away from the edge of the steps are probably the best preventive measures.
- Do not let them play, run, walk or sit on moving escalators.
- The National Safety Council recommends that there should not be loose or dangling drawstrings, shoelaces, mittens and clothing, they can get trapped in an escalator's moving parts.
- Make sure those little tiny feet are planted firmly on the steps.
- When you are shopping with a child in a stroller always use the elevator.
- Stay alert and be aware of what is going on around you.
- Park in a well-lighted area.
- Be sure to lock your car, close the windows.
- Avoid carrying large amount of cash; pay with a check or credit cards whenever possible.
- Do not overburden yourself with packages
- Make sure to hide your shopping bags and gifts inside the trunk of your car.
- Refrain from talking in your cell phone while walking to your car.
- Have your keys out and ready and before entering your car check that no one is hiding in the back seat.
- If you see any suspicious activity go back to the mall and have a security officer walk you to your car.
Dealing with Pickpockets
- A man's wallet should be in the front pocket of his pants not at the back pockets.
- A woman's purse should be held close to her body and the purse opening facing toward her.
- If you are using the dressing room, make sure that you do not leave your purse or wallet while using an outside mirror
- After paying for your purchases, make sure that you have your receipts, your change, your credit or debit cards and your purse.
- Avoid talking on your cell-phone at the mall while shopping. You become a pickpocket target if you are distracted.
- Keep your eyes on your bags at all time
- Never leave them unattended even for a few minute
- Consolidate purchases into one or two shopping bags.
- If you have three or more bags put them in the trunk of your car before you continue shopping.
- While using an ATM, look around and be aware of what is going on around you. Look out for anything suspicious, if there is one, walk away.
- Keep your ATM receipts; do not leave them in the machine.
- Make sure no one is looking over your shoulder while entering your PIN number.
- Make sure you have the card with you when you leave the ATM machine
By Nenita Wells
18DEC/2009
Resources: National Safety Council
National Crime Prevention Council
National Safe Kids Campaign
Detective Kevin Coffey
The Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
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If you like inspirational and motivational poems please visit: www.raindropsfromheaven.com
The author was born in one of the 7,100 islands in the Philippines, in Leyte where the famous American five-star general, Douglas MacArthur landed during WWII. She is one of eight children, and she has thirty-five nieces and nephews. She was raised by her parents to be a good Christian. Attended public school both in Elementary and High School in the Philippines. She went to college under the work and study program, earned her bachelor's degree with honors and her first paid full-time job was as secretary to the High School Principal, her first boss was a Benedictine Sister from Germany who was the Administrator of the Catholic school. She lived in New York City from 1977 to 2004 and now lives in Providence, Rhode Island. She loves to read and write poetry.
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More commentsAlthough you are writing about the American shopping experience, I think these tips apply worldwide.Welcome to Searchwarp Keira, You are absolutely correct in the sense that this tips can be applicable worldwide. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, read and comment. I appreciate it very much. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. ~Nenita~
Great article. Well done.Directly form the expert herself. I love the way it is set out: here are all the problems and here are all the solutions. Very useflul article and wonderfully well written.Hi Connor. It is good to hear from you. I appreciate your feedback, and your kind words. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, read and comment. I am glad that this is useful to you. Glad tidings. ~Nenita~
Excellent article Nenita. Great advice, especially for parents of young children. It breaks my heart when I see children wandering in stores searching for their parents and it's all too common especially at this time of year. Merry Christmas Nenita.Brianna, thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, I have witnessed this incident several times, a child separated from the mother but later on found each other. Merry Christmas to you, too. May your New Year bring you and your family joy.~Nenita~
Great article, Nenita. Just the sort of stuff we need to be reminded of at this time of year!Thank you Abigail. Welcome to Searchwarp. I am glad you stopped by, and took the time to read and comment. Happy holidays. ~Nenita~
Great tips, Nenita! Thanks for sharing them with us.Hi Lorrie. thank you so much for taking the time to stop by, read and comment. I am glad you liked it. Happy holidays and a joyous New Year to you and your family. ~Nenita~
Nenita, Great article as usual! Its really dissapointing that good people have to worry about these kind of things when doing something as simple as going shopping, but I guess thats just the kind of world we are living in today.Hi Greg. Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope that this piece is helpful, I am glad you liked it. I appreciate your taking the time to stop by, read and comment. Thank you also for the generous 5 stars. LOL Wishing you and your family happy holidays. ~Nenita~
That is a very good article. This article has a purpose why it is written...!This article is serve as a motivation to readers!Hi Sandy. I want to thank you for your kind words. I am glad that my article serves a purpose - safety. Thank you for taking the time to stop by, read and comment. Wishing you a wonderful holiday celebration. Best regards, ~Nenita~
Hello Nenita, Thank you very much for your valuable advice. When I was reading about Escalator safety tips, I remembered one horrible thing that happened in my nation. I think that happened in a super mall at Mumbai (Bombay). A piece of dress was got trapped into the escalator machine and the girl who was wearing it just died there due to strangulation.Believe me, there were no safety measures to prevent these kind of hazzards at that time. Once again, thank you for the tips. Wish you a happy holiday celebration.Hi Shawn. How horrible, no one tried to help the girl? If there was an emergency button you can press to stop the escalator from moving, that accident could have been prevented. Thank you for sharing this. My wish is that if this article can save a life, my mission is accomplished. Thanks again for stopping by and for taking the time to read and comment. Wishing you happy holidays to you and your family. ~Nenita~
Hi and thanks for writing this informative and most useful article. I love it just the way you wrote it. Excellent advice. Fact is you just cannot be careful enough. I've also seen the advice about not going to your car if a van (with the slider door next to your driver side) is parked next to you. It's too easy to abduct you.Thank you so much for you kind words. I am glad that this article is helpful and I appreciate your insight. It is just too scary come to think of it, all we can do is to be very careful and not park near the bushes or shaded trees. I appreciate your stopping by and taking the time to read and comment. Happy blessed New Year. ~Nenita~Love the way you write. My pleasure. Will be reading more soon.
Nenita, Great article very informative. Keep up the good work.Thank you so much. I am glad that you stopped by and took the time to read and comment. I really appreciate that.All the best to you and yours,Nenita
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