When you make the decision to pierce your kid's ears, it doesn't matter how old she is — you are still trusting someone to put a hole in your child's body. Yes, people get heated about whether parents should do this or not, but once a mom or dad has come to a conclusion about what's right for them and their child, there's a certain level of expectation for how it should go. After one mom did some research and took her child to get pierced, she was left shocked, as pretty much everything that could go wrong did — and now she wants others to know what happened at the Piercing Pagoda with her 2-month-old daughter.
Marlyn wanted to get her 2-month-old baby girl's ears pierced, but wasn't sure where to go at first.
She did some research and read about Piercing Pagoda's child ear-piercing policies. "I looked for many places to get my baby girl's ears pierced and their website stated 'professional ear piercing done by professionals,' also that their system is '100% safe' and that they dealt with babies," Marlyn wrote on Facebook. "Well that is all a lie."
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When she went to the kiosk, she had high expectations -- which were quickly shattered.
Marlyn and her sister took her infant to the Piercing Pagoda location at Neshaminy Mall in Pennsylvania, and she wants other parents to know about their awful experience. "First off, the staff gave me the biggest attitude [and] did not even look at me when I approached them. When they pierced my baby’s ear, according to the girl, the gun got stuck and all I saw was her pulling off the earring she wrongly pierced and attempting to do it again while my baby is screaming…" she wrote. "I told her that I didn't want her ears pierced anymore and that I would like a refund … [she] was mumbling curse words at me and slamming the kiosk door."
"I ... showed her how she completely missed the dot on her ear lobe [and] she answered me with 'THEN GO SOMEWHERE ELSE,'" Marlyn recalled.
According to Marlyn, she asked to speak to a manager, who basically shrugged off her complaints. Marlyn described how the woman continued to yell at her and blamed her for not holding her baby the "right" way.
"Yet she was the one that instructed me on how to hold her then she continued to blame me and told me my arm was in the way … ok? If my arm was in the way why would you attempt to blindly pierce my baby's ear?!" she wrote. "I told them how unprofessional they were and they both told me and my 2-month-old 'to get the f*ck outta here then.'"
Marlyn says she left but the manager followed her to the food court, where things got even uglier.
"[He was] yelling and threatening to call someone to come 'beat the sh*t out of us' simply for asking to speak to a manager," Marlyn wrote. "The guy continued for about five mins to yell in the middle of the mall at us and following us to the food court. There he continued to yell and curse and was told to stop cursing by another woman because there were children present in the food court … he did not care and started yelling at the poor older woman to shut the f*ck up and calling her a b*tch."
The altercation only ended when security got involved over the employee's threats.
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Some shared that they have had similar experiences when getting their kids' ears pierced.
And others pointed out that stories like Marlyn's are why parents should take their kids to trained professionals, not kiosks at the mall.
One person even recommended taking babies to the pediatrician to get their ears pierced.
Not every office will pierce ears, but if your pediatrician does, it offers a sterile and professional environment.
But most importantly, parents need to know the risks of using guns and consider places that don't pierce with them.
Although it's possible for mall kiosks to disinfect their piercing guns, they can't be sterilized to kill all "viable microorganisms," according to Good Housekeeping. "Piercing guns can not be sterilized because they are made of plastic. The plastic would melt in an autoclave, which is what we used to sterilize instruments like needles, jewelry, and any tools we might use during the piercing," John Joyce, a professional piercer, told the mag.