It is easy to get distracted while shopping, but as parents, it is essential that you always keep your children in view. You never know what kind of trouble they will get into or what kind of dangers they will face.

The mall store supervisor in this story was walking through his store when he saw a child who was left alone in a shopping cart while the parents walked away to look at products. That’s when the worker noticed a stranger trying to lure the child away using a cookie.

The child got out of the shopping cart and started walking toward the strange man until the worker intervened. When the parents finally heard their child crying because he didn’t get the cookie, they were initially upset that the employee was interacting with their kid. Once they figured out what was going on, however, they were thankful.

Read through the full story below to see just how scary this world can be.

Parents who don’t watch their children when shopping.

I was a supervisor at a store in the mall.

Part of my job was to walk the entire store and watch behaviors of the employees and customers.

I was standing at the front of the store and everything was going well. Then I noticed something rather odd.

A husband and wife came into the store with their son in a shopping cart-car.

You can never trust a kid to stay put.

I assume they thought because he was in there, he would stay in there.

They started picking out various types of panties. I scan the other rooms and see all is going well.

Then I turn my attention back to these parents, they are moving further and further away from their son.

I looked at their son and he is starring at something.

Oh wow, this is terrifying.

Mouth open, hand on his little car door, just starring.

I slowly step into this room to see what he is looking at. It makes me cringe when I think about this.

There was an old man standing outside the store holding a cookie out with a big smile on his face.

He said very low “Do you want a cookie?”.

The parents have no idea that their child is in danger.

I looked up to find the parents and they were on the other side of the panty table picking out panties.

The boy opened the door and starts walking towards him.

As he is walking forward the older man is taking stepping back.

As if red flags weren’t going off before, now I had full on sirens going off in my head.

Thank God this worker was paying attention and willing to step in.

I quickly stepped in front of the child and said “Hey Hun, Lets get you back in your car”.

I looked up and said, “Excuse me, mam”.

She didn’t look up. Her son is now trying to go around me for the cookie.

I step in front of him again and this time he starts crying. “Sir?”

Finally, Dad looks over.

The father looked up to see his son crying, trying to get by me. He walks over and says “Why is he crying!?”. His tone put off a vibe that implied I was making his son cry.

He picked up his son and I calmly told him the problem. “This man is trying to lure your son out of the store with a cookie. Do you know him?”.

I hope they don’t let the creepy guy get away.

The father shakes his head no in disgust.

I call for another manager to the front and for someone to call security.

The child starts a tantrum in his fathers arms and is reaching his arms out for the cookie in the older mans hand.

The man has a creepy smile on his face and puts the cookie in his pocket. The father starts shouting things at him.

Everyone working at the store is doing the right thing.

My manager walks in the room and her eyes are darting around assessing the situation.

We exchanged a look and she went for older man and I went for the dad.

He is furious (I would be too) and I did my best to calm him down and let him know security is on there way.

He is trying to look innocent.

I look out the door and the man is now on the other side of the mall smiling, eating the cookie and waving at the crying child.

The parents start interrogating me with questions while security and my manager were following the older man out of sight.

At least they talked to the guy. I’m not sure that he did anything illegal, so I don’t know what else they could do.

They ended up detaining him and taking my statement.

Later I found out the man was a registered *** offender. This still makes me sick thinking about this.

That man could possibly have been one of the worlds dumbest criminals.

I’m just glad I was in the right place at the right time.

I hope those parents know how lucky they are that this worker stepped in. This could have turned out so much worse. It is certainly a scary world we live in. Parents should pay much closer attention to their children to keep them safe.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who met a customer outside of work, and now they can never go back to their old relationship.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this terrifying story.

How can a parent leave their kids in the care of strangers?

So many parents are so naive.

Kids just don’t have the ability to resist cookies. That’s why parents need to watch them closely.

This person may have saved that child’s life.

How are people like this allowed to hang out in places where there are kids?

Stories like this, or those without the happy endings, are all too common in this world. While it is true that child abductions are relatively rare, it is extremely important that parents always pay attention to their little ones.

It only takes a second for a predator to snatch a child. This is why parents need to keep their young kids in view at all times. Thanks to the supervisor, this story doesn’t end in tragedy.