Store refused to sell mother children's scissors

[Liberal_in_LA]

WH Smith 'refused to sell mother children's scissors over safety fears'
Staff at a WH Smith store refused to sell a mother a pair of children’s scissors in case she let her three-year-old daughter use them unsupervised.

By Murray Wardrop
Published: 7:30AM GMT 05 Mar 2010

Nadine Martin was left shocked and angered after a sales assistant said she could not buy the brightly coloured scissors for her three-year-old daughter.

The high street chain yesterday apologised for embarrassing Mrs Martin, admitting that the staff member had been “overzealous” in applying safety guidelines.

Mrs Martin was buying art supplies for her daughter at the firm’s branch in Chichester, West Sussex, when the toddler spotted the scissors which were marked "3+".

But when the youngster placed them on the checkout counter, the woman sales assistant asked: “Will you be supervising her?”

Mrs Martin said: “She called another woman over and she said it was company policy that because my daughter had put the scissors on the counter it called into question whether she would be supervised using them.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7370616/WH-Smith-refused-to-sell-mother-childrens-scissors-over-safety-fears.html

[Warpy]

1. Kids only try to cut themselves once with blunt kiddie scissors

and remember for the rest of their lives that cutting themselves is a bad idea.

The saleswoman was out of line.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. ...

The saleswoman was out of line her mind....

[gvstn]

6. My brother was smart enough

to try the cutting thing out on MY ear. I don't know if he learned his lesson but I learned mine. I still have the notch in my ear to remind me should I ever forget.

[uncle ray]

13. revenge.

best served cold.

[theoldman]

3. I wonder if Bush's mother allowed him to have scissors when he was a child?

[zbdent]

5. she probably gave him his first beer ...

and, at the time, wasn't it more or less acceptable to put some form of alcohol on the nipple of a bottle when a child is teething? He went straight from one bottle to another ...

[HillbillyBob]

7. Would that she had given him them and sharp ones

then encourage him to run....(snarkasm in case anyone has any smart remarks)

[TK421]

12. along with a mirror, rolled-up dollar bill and play coke n/t

[Canuckistanian]

4. It's the Telegraph. Please ignore it.

They're one step BELOW Fox News, if you can imagine the concept....

[proteus_lives]

8. The UK is getting ridiculous with the Nanny-State stuff.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. It was bad when we were there and has only gotten worse since

[surrealAmerican]

10. This has nothing to do with government, thus it's ...

... "nanny store", not "nanny state".

[senseandsensibility]

11. or a nanny corporation

I agree. Hardly the same thing.