On the flip side, Mom should have stopped him from taking her to begin with. A simple "Thanks but we're almost done here" would have been all it took..."
Look, I already feel incredibly guilty about having allowed this to happen to my daughter, so all these posts about how it's all my fault anyway are moot. I already know that it's my fault, and feel horrible about it, thank you very much.
Haven't any of you ever been in a situation where something happened, before you even realized it happened? I was looking at the papers I was signing, in my peripheral vision, I saw the guy approach, seconds later, they were gone.
I didn't automatically assume something bad was happening. I wanted to get my daughter, but I didn't want to be rude. If I'm over-reacting by worrying after the fact, then surely I would have been over-reacting if I snatched my daughter away from the guy or jumped in between them.
I only became alarmed when I saw them at the copier. I have worked in offices for 10-15 years, and honestly, I have never photocopied a child's hands for entertainment purposes. And although I have smiled and talked to the children of friends, coworkers, and clients who came to the office, I have never gone out of my way to seek out and spend time with a child who had nothing to do with me or my work. I wasn't talking to this guy, he isn't part of my case, we had never seen each other before, and yet he came into the reception area for no other purpose than to engage in conversation with my toddler, who as I've said before, was not being remotely disruptive, or even making any kind of noise.
No, I wouldn't have been as alarmed if it had been a woman. Most child molesters aren't women. I do think that if any mother on this board entered a room and saw their daughter bent over, with an adult male stranger pressed up against her bottom, you'd be alarmed, regardless of the context.
Perverts often find a way to touch/hold a child in an innocent looking way... to be able to lean up against the back side of a child seems to me an extremely arousing position for a pedophile to be in... if one was a pedophile.
That was my first, immediate thought. And if he has a bad back, as some posters have suggested, why is he going around looking for little kids to pick up?
Of course I'm not going to bring her to that office anymore. I wouldn't have brought her at all if it was a regular appointment. I only brought her because I've had to be away from them a lot this week and she was sad about me leaving, and I thought we'd just be in and out.
I will admit that I am very touchy when it comes to strangers and my kids. I have been known to get annoyed with store clerks and overly-friendly passers-by when they insist on teasing and touching my children. I'm just surprised at how many people don't seem to mind complete and total strangers putting their hands on their kids. If you love kids, fine, talk to them, wave, play peek a boo. But there are very few reasons to need to pick up or hold a child you don't know at all.
Edited to add: After thinking a bit, I realized that I just got back from
Disneyland, where I freely allowed many characters to hug and touch my kids. But even then the characters didn't pick them up. They would accept hugs, or give handshakes or pats on the head, but they didn't initiate the physical contact.
I know you said he looked flushed and flustered, maybe he has some health issues. Maybe a bad back, lung problems. 
.
