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Going to a theme park with your family seems like a dream vacation. There are endless amounts of things to do and ways to keep your kids entertained, and you’re making core memories. But the most magical place on Earth isn’t always magical for the people who work there. They have to deal with cranky kids, disgruntled adults, and more. Recently, one former theme park employee took to Reddit to share a truly unbelievable tale.
The person called out an “entitled” family.
“I want to preface this by saying children like me for some reason. They stare at me, want me to hold them or play with them,” the person wrote in the EntitledPeople community. The theme park worker went on to share a story about a time working in quick food service at a theme park. Even though the Redditor never explicitly name the workplace, all clues point toward Disney World.
“I felt a small tug on my shirt sleeve and looked to find a chubby baby hand holding it,” the person explained. “The baby girl was adorable with big blue eyes and not a lick of hair on her round head.”
It was a surprisingly sweet interaction.
“The baby reached out for me to hold her,” the person wrote. “Her mom gushed about how that never happened. How the baby was not usually social and didn’t like other people.”
Because of their usual interactions with children, the poster wasn’t surprised by the mom’s words but was surprised by what was about to happen.
“She told me it was okay to hold her and moved her closer to me. I was in a conundrum as I did not know this child but obviously interacting with small humans came with the territory,” the worker wrote. “I didn’t want to be rude or seem mean. The baby’s little arms were still up so I said ‘just for a second’ and picked her up.”
You’re never going to believe what happened next.
While the employee chatted with the baby, the mom, dad, and grandma “walked away disappearing in the crowd.” Now the worker was stuck with the baby and didn’t know anything other than the “physical appearances” of the adults and had no supplies for the little one. The employee ended up looking for the baby’s family for 30 minutes.
When the manager finally appeared, the theme park employee explained the situation and tried to hand off the tot. Instead, the manager “threw his hands up” and said, “That’s all you! You have to find her parents.”
“Another 10 minutes I’m walking with this kid before I spot grandma. She spots me as well and tries to turn around and leave!” the person wrote, adding that the grandma seemed “disappointed” after being caught.
“People, you can’t just drop your baby off to a complete stranger! Needless to say, I didn’t hold anymore children, not even for a second,” the Redditor ended the story.
People were stunned by the parental neglect, and the employee revealed something even more shocking.
“That’s not entitlement. That’s abandonment. You should have contacted park security as soon as you realized the family had skipped,” one commenter wrote. “Good for you for getting the kid back to its family, but this is probably not a one-off, and the family needs to be held accountable.”
The OP had a shocking response to all the people who wondered why security wasn’t contacted. “It happens often there believe it or not. That wasn’t the first time, first family, or longest situation,” the person explained. “I view it as an entitlement because they feel that it’s a park aimed towards children so we should be okay watching theirs.”
One commenter had a practical suggestion, writing this: “Honestly I would ask to go on the intercom and say ‘to the people who just handed me their big blue eyed 1-year-old (you didn’t specify her age, so it’s a guess LOL), I’ll be calling the police for abandonment and hopefully they’ll take the kid to the child into protective services, if you want your kid back, I’ll be near [this location], otherwise have fun explaining to officers and CPS about child abandonment.’”
