Mall bans unsupervised kids/teens

[ncmickeyluvr]

But how does that work? Security person spies teens loitering around the food court -- does he have access to those pictures with him at that moment, or does he take them back to see if they're already banned? Is the punishment worse for a kid who's already been banned? I'm just thinking that the ban portion of the law is not effective.

Great story about the boss' kid. Talk about wrong place, wrong time. In THAT PARTICULAR UNIQUE CASE, I see that the ban did punish the offender.Really? It's not very effective. About a month ago I dropped my 15-year old and her 15-year old friend off at that very mall while I did some errands in Charlotte. It was on a Friday afternoon/evening, the very time when I suppose the security people would've been searching for teens. They were there alone for a couple hours -- they were shopping for dresses for a semi-formal dance, and my daughter DID BUY a dress that evening. Her friend put one on hold and returned the next day with her mom to buy it. I did my errands and then returned to meet them, and we all had dinner in the food court.

We don't go to that area all that often, and I had no idea there was a rule about teens there. If I had known, I never would've dropped them off. Since I had other business in that area (but not in the mall), I wouldn't have been able to return to pick them up for a few hours, so we would've really been in some trouble if they'd been caught.

Which is exactly why I think that all of this arguing back and forth is silly. The Hanes Mall policy hasn't been put in place yet but it has at Northlake. There's not armed guards at the door checking ID's or anything. If your child is shopping and doing what they should noone is going to hunt them down and ask where their parent is BUT if they are loitering and causing trouble, they'll get tossed in a heartbeat. I'm sure someone will read this and scream "But that's not fair"....but it's private property. They pay the bills, they make the rules. Northlake is much safer since the policy....it started last June btw.

 

[N.Bailey]

Yes, the Constitution assures us of quite a few rights . . . but none of those rights give us permission to enter private property and shop.

Oh, you're absolutely correct. I apologize if anyone read my posts to mean any such thing. I just could not sit back and listen while someone argued that our Constitution does nothing more than protect rights that every human being on the planet is handed at birth, regardless of where they are born. I think it's sad that anyone would believe such a thing. It truly belittles the entire foundation of freedom and fails to acknowledge just how blessed we are to have these birth rights. It also reduces the deaths of those who fought and died so that we could have them. They were NOT simply given to us.

 

[N.Bailey]

That is kind of the crux of the situation right there.

Also, the preamble to the Constitution neither grants nor restricts rights. It merely sets out the goals of the document. How does a government ensure tranquility, that is a state of mind. The document does, however, spell out the process for declaring war which is not very tranquil.

I don't disagree that it in and of itself offers no rights (or denies them either), but this was written so much better than I could have ever done, so I just copied it. It's wiki for sure, but does anyone want to try to deny its truth?

The Preamble to the United States Constitution is a brief introductory statement of the fundamental purposes and guiding principles that the Constitution is meant to serve. In general terms it states, and courts have referred to it as reliable evidence of, the Founding Fathers' intentions regarding the Constitution's meaning and what they hoped it would achieve (especially as compared with the Articles of Confederation).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preamble_to_the_United_States_Constitution

 

[ratherbeatdisney]

lousy kids always trying to hang out and have fun at malls. Always joking around and having fun and being kids.... how dare they. we need to get them out on the streets somewhere , in alleys and shady scary parks so they can all start drinking the booze and smoking the pot without anyone around. meddling kids...

 

[CinderAngela]

lousy kids always trying to hang out and have fun at malls. Always joking around and having fun and being kids.... how dare they. we need to get them out on the streets somewhere , in alleys and shady scary parks so they can all start drinking the booze and smoking the pot without anyone around. meddling kids...

While I agree that kids are kids, being a mall employee I see a very different side than you. While there are teens that are perfectly capable of being by themselves at the mall without incident, there are some that are ruining it for the good kids. (By the way, there SHOULD be a law against parents leaving their children under the age of ten in my store while they shop elsewhere. Just beacause we have a childrens department does not mean we babysit!) Anyway, this is just a list of things I saw this week:
- Kids skateboarding in the store and trying to do so on the escalator
- teens harrasing a older man, yelling at him, berrating him. One of our managers had to step in and call security.
- Kids dropping things from the second floor onto people walking below.
- a large goup of teens playing hide and seek in our store knocking into people in the process.
- a boy of about 13 or 14 making very obscene jestures to a group of girls while his friends yelled things at them.
That was just this week. As I stated before, it is these bad kids that are ruining it for everyone. Security is called on these kids and they make the parents come get them but the very next weekend they are back to the usual behavior. Sad but true.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

lousy kids always trying to hang out and have fun at malls. Always joking around and having fun and being kids.... how dare they. we need to get them out on the streets somewhere , in alleys and shady scary parks so they can all start drinking the booze and smoking the pot without anyone around. meddling kids...

LOL, or in the care of their parents. The people who are supposed to be supervising them.

They ruin for themselves. No sympathy here.

 

[Disneyadore]

Guys, the Constitution does not give us rights. Our rights come from our creator. We are all created equal - people of every age, race, religion, creed have the same rights. We are born with those rights - we don't achieve them at a specific age. The only place where that has been altered by the Constitution are where exceptions are explicitly made in amendments.

The Constitution was created to limit the government, not to create the rights of the people. The only reason that some rights are actually listed is because the writers thought them to be the ones most likely to be abused by the government in the future, so a "Bill of Rights" was created as the first set of "amendments" to the Constitution.

So, our rights are almost boundless. Yes, private institutions also have rights, but don't pretend for a second that their rights are the only ones that matter to the Justice Department. And, even when private institutions are allowed by the courts to discriminate, it is still discrimination. It is still an action driven by prejudice toward a group of people. That is not something that I will support...

Well in that case the laws that prohibit people to enter the US illegal are worthless? I could go to a lawyer and demand entrance? Good to know. We would love to become legal US citizens but never will get access unless we come with millions of Dollars.
O and we could provide in our own financial needs and promise not the hang out in the malls,so no worrier there.

 

[luvsJack]

Which is exactly why I think that all of this arguing back and forth is silly. The Hanes Mall policy hasn't been put in place yet but it has at Northlake. There's not armed guards at the door checking ID's or anything. If your child is shopping and doing what they should noone is going to hunt them down and ask where their parent is BUT if they are loitering and causing trouble, they'll get tossed in a heartbeat. I'm sure someone will read this and scream "But that's not fair"....but it's private property. They pay the bills, they make the rules. Northlake is much safer since the policy....it started last June btw.

Your description makes it make much more sense! It is basically the thing our mall does without the actual rule. If they are causing trouble they go and they can be banned (of course there is the occasional kid that gets banned over and over).

A person who works at our mall says that the few problems they have are usually caused by kids between 13 and 15. She said these ages are not usually doing any shopping and many do not have money to buy food with either.

 

[luvsJack]

LOL, or in the care of their parents. The people who are supposed to be supervising them.

They ruin for themselves. No sympathy here.

Don't you think, though, that at some point they reach an age where they are a bit too old for constant parental supervision?

 

[jenrose66]

They've had this policy at my local mall for a couple years now. I don't have a problem with it...Teens/preteens do sometimes have a tough time acting correctly without adult supervision.

 

[luvmy3]

Don't you think, though, that at some point they reach an age where they are a bit too old for constant parental supervision?

That depends. There are plenty of 16 year olds who don't need constant adult supervision but unfortunately there are those who do in order to "behave".

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Don't you think, though, that at some point they reach an age where they are a bit too old for constant parental supervision?

Sure. But they have no business becoming a problem for others. I think that he parents/community has a responsibility to them. Not business owners.

 

[merryweather20]

LOL, or in the care of their parents. The people who are supposed to be supervising them.

They ruin for themselves. No sympathy here.

This part made me laugh. As I've read through this thread, I couldn't help but think I've never seen any of this behaviour, that others are complaining about, but I sure do have a beef with children who come with adults. They always seem to be on those wheeled shoes, even if they aren't they're running around, and they leave a mess in the food court.

I'm good with teens but I wouldn't mind them banning families, after all they've ruined it for themselves. No sympathy here.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Well in that case the laws that prohibit people to enter the US illegal are worthless? I could go to a lawyer and demand entrance? Good to know. We would love to become legal US citizens but never will get access unless we come with millions of Dollars.
O and we could provide in our own financial needs and promise not the hang out in the malls,so no worrier there.

Actually, you will note that the Constitution does give our government the right to restrict rights in certain areas - and the protection of our borders falls into that realm. Hate to rain on your parade, or ruin your joke. At least you cracked yourself up...

 

[luvmy3]

This part made me laugh. As I've read through this thread, I couldn't help but think I've never seen any of this behaviour, that others are complaining about, but I sure do have a beef with children who come with adults. They always seem to be on those wheeled shoes, even if they aren't they're running around, and they leave a mess in the food court.
I'm good with teens but I wouldn't mind them banning families, after all they've ruined it for themselves. No sympathy here.

Our mall banned those too

 

[Disneyadore]

Actually, you will note that the Constitution does give our government the right to restrict rights in certain areas - and the protection of our borders falls into that realm. Hate to rain on your parade, or ruin your joke. At least you cracked yourself up...

So the government has the right to restrict rights is certain areas and the malls don't?
You deny people access that will cause no trouble or money to the society to America but if a mall or whatever restricts access for a few hours you yell discrimination?
Talking about cherry picking the laws you like.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

So the government has the right to restrict rights is certain areas and the malls don't?...

Again, hate to ruin your joke, but I conceded that point a long time ago in this thread. But carry on cracking yourself up...

 

[disney4us2002]

I haven't read every page of this but I wonder about those 16 and 17 yr olds who work at the mall? Are the stores not permitted to hire those under 18 anymore? I do understand some of the concerns and agree that there certainly are some obnoxious teens in the malls but I also was thrilled when my ds got his driver's license this summer and was able to take his younger brother and go school shopping without me having to tag along.

 

[luvsJack]

Sure. But they have no business becoming a problem for others. I think that he parents/community has a responsibility to them. Not business owners.

True, I agree that they do not have any business doing that; but not all teens become a problem. Truth be known the majority of teens do NOT become a problem.

A mall is a private business and as a private business can set most any rule they choose to (unless of course the rule is proved to be discriminatory). I do know that many malls (not all, but many) would lose money in the process of doing this. Teens do a huge amount of shopping.

From a business prospective, I would think enforcement would be better along the lines that the pp described. If the teen is not causing problems and is indeed shopping then they aren't asked to leave. Checking ID's at the door of the mall is just ridiculous and personally I would stop shopping there if our mall started doing such a thing. Besides it would add personnel costs to the mall, security cannot be catching shoplifters if they are busy checking IDs.

 

[luvmy3]

True, I agree that they do not have any business doing that; but not all teens become a problem. Truth be known the majority of teens do NOT become a problem.

A mall is a private business and as a private business can set most any rule they choose to (unless of course the rule is proved to be discriminatory). I do know that many malls (not all, but many) would lose money in the process of doing this. Teens do a huge amount of shopping.

From a business prospective, I would think enforcement would be better along the lines that the pp described. If the teen is not causing problems and is indeed shopping then they aren't asked to leave. Checking ID's at the door of the mall is just ridiculous and personally I would stop shopping there if our mall started doing such a thing. Besides it would add personnel costs to the mall, security cannot be catching shoplifters if they are busy checking IDs.

I don't think they put this rule in effect lightly. The mall and the businesses are there for one thing to make money. If they stood to lose money by instating this rule, they wouldn't do it. I'm guessing they had enough of a problem with loitering, troublemaking and worse (fights, shoplifting, weapons) and not enough teen shoppers to make them put these rules in effect. As others have said, the no teen rule on weekend nights has brought in more families and adults and I don't know any family or adult who just goes to the mall to hang out, they are there to shop, unlike the majority of teens who are there to just hang out.