Yep that was me, on aisle 3

with the baby toddler stuck in the shopping cart surrounded by Price chopper employees.  Yep those were my children running up and down the cereal aisle unchecked, while I concentrated on the toddler with her head stuck in a shopping cart.  No, I do not know how she got her head stuck in a shopping cart, I just hope we don’t appear in the Evening sun today.  What?  You want to know what happened?  Okay here does.

So picture a normal shopping cart, now add on an extra section that holds 2 additional children on where you push, that is the cart we were using.  My cart was pretty full, and I had made it over to the cereal aisle where i was looking for Life cereal.  Princess and Rockstar were both sitting in the chairs, Littles was riding in the traditional baby seat.  I stepped away from the cart ( a whole 2 steps) grabbed the box and turned back around to the cart where I saw that Princess and Rockstar had departed their seats to look at the cereals and toys, and Littles was now holding in to the push bar with her head stuck between the metal push bar and the metal bar that holds the back piece of the  cart ( where the leg holes are) together.  I tried pulling her  down, I tried pushing her up, either way she was stuck.  About 3 minutes passed and an older lady looking for coffee 9 which we were blocking) realized what was going on, she found a store clerk to help, he tried to help for another few minutes before going for help and returned with the store manager.  He assessed the situation and went to retrieve a screwdriver, when he returned he had a 3rd employee with him,  all 3 together with the screwdriver tried to release Littles, as I held her up so she wouldn’t get hurt.  They decided to call the fire department ( the non emergency number), and then to go and look for a hack saw.  The cart was then cut apart with Littles still stuck in it.  We freed her, she was just a tad upset to say the least.  The shopping cart was now lay unusable in pieces.  Apparently they had had a safety training the week before.  This was not covered during the safety training, apparently this kinda thing had never happened before (imagine that!), Littles had found a new and unusual, way to get hurt with a shopping cart!  I wonder if this will be added to the training next time? 

All I have to say is thank G-d for fast thinking grocery managers, who are willing to cut apart their own shopping carts instead of waiting for the fire department to arrive.

~ by Robin on November 3, 2008.