It is not a rare thing for retail employees to see kids running around a store while their parents shop or take care of other things. Usually, it is just a little annoying or messy, but in this story, things took quite a turn for the worse.

While the parents were shopping for new cell phones, their kids were playing on the swivel chairs without any discipline at all. Not surprisingly, one of the kids eventually fell off and got a big gash in the back of his head.

The employee had experience as a lifeguard, so he quickly sprang into action to apply pressure to the wound and get a co-worker to call an ambulance. Once all the drama was over, this guy cleaned up all the blood and was told that he should become a nurse because of how well he handled it.

Whatever his future career may be, everyone can agree that you have to be prepared for anything when parents don’t watch their kids in public places. Read on to discover exactly what happened.

Parents, watch your children in stores. Seriously.

Last night at the beautiful Schmee-Schmobile cell phone store where I work, a lady came in with her three children.

Ok, no big deal. As long as none of the kids are hurting anything, this shouldn’t be a problem.

While the eldest (around age 11) looked at cell phones, the younger two, (age seven and four) played on the pink spinning chairs near our front door.

After about 15 minutes, while Mom is ignoring her kids, talking to one of my co-workers, I hear a shrill scream-cry from the spinning chairs.

Well, hopefully this can be a learning experience for the kid (and the parents).

The four-year-old had spun the chair too quickly, fallen off of it, and hit her head on the corner of a coffee table.

Well, the back of her head is bleeding from a three-inch gash. I run to the back, grab a first aid kit and some gloves and apply pressure to the back of her head. (I used to be a lifeguard and taught first aid classes back in the day.)

It is perfectly understandable that everyone is freaking out about this. Seeing that much blood would be concerning.

Her mother and the seven-year-old freak out. One of my co-workers calls an ambulance, while the other tries to comfort the family.

While we’re waiting for the ambulance, the woman calls a friend to pick up the other two kids who are wailing and crying.

This is nobody’s fault except the parents and the kids. I sure hope they don’t sue the company.

The friend and the paramedics show up at about the same time. The friend takes the older kids in hand and starts asking questions about what happened.

I feel that they are questions that lead to the magical worlds of Lawsuit-Land and Free-Moneyville, so I stop talking to them and send my co-workers to the back room.

Wow, not everyone would just clean up the blood. This guy deserves a raise.

After they’ve left, and I’m cleaning up the blood on the floor, my co-worker Schmishmael and I have the following conversation:

Schmishmael: Hey, you know how the other day, you were saying you didn’t know what you wanted to go back to school for?

I agree with this. It seems that he reacted really well under pressure and was able to help deal with the situation.

Me: Yes…

Schmishmael: You need to be a nurse.

An employee who is able to respond to a crisis like this is very valuable. This person will clearly be going places in life, and I agree that becoming a nurse would be a great job for him. As far as the kids, hopefully, they are ok, and the parents actually learn how to keep them safe and under control.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a thrift store worker who is absolutely exhausted by having to thwart theft attempts until after closing.

Keep reading to see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

This commenter may have saved a kid’s life. Was he thanked? Nope, the inattentive parent just ignored the situation.

I agree with this commenter wholeheartedly. Permissive or ‘gentle’ parenting is terrible for most kids.

This commenter comes from a family of nurses. They also want to encourage him to become a nurse.

This commenter experienced a similar injury while he was a kid. How many kids need to get hurt before parents will parent?

This worker would definitely make a great nurse.

The idea of ‘hands off’ parenting has been proven to be nothing short of disastrous and dangerous for the kids. While there are times when parents can take discipline too far, it is often far worse to let the kids run wild.

When parents don’t pay attention, kids get hurt, and it is often left to strangers to help deal with the fallout. Had this parent kept their children under control, the whole event could have been avoided. Letting your kids run wild in public is not being nice, it is neglect. Parents need to do better. Stories like this can help people to change.