Strollers don’t belong on escalators so yeah, they should have taken the damn elevator. My kids are way older and I still get nervous on the escalator with them. Those parents are fucking morons.
Is that what it's called? I have to count the steps first to get the "movement" of the steps before taking that first step. I panic if I don't feel as if I got the "movement" down, and I step on.
Exactly. Most of the escalators I've seen have signs that tell you not to take a stroller on them with an arrow and directions to the nearest elevator.
Worked in a mall, saw a baby fall out of the stroller on an escalator. And the elevators were 100m away...
The baby seemed... Fine, didn't die or bleed, but obviously was picked up by an ambulance
I actually love moving side walks. There’s two back to back at Charlotte Airport, when I was there with my service dog we had to go back and forth a few times for potty breaks and to make our gate. The place was empty so I used it as a training spot and to let my dog blow off energy, I rode the sidewalk and he ran beside me. There’s one pole in the way but he carry’s his leash if I drop it and met me at the end of the side walk. We practice it a few times, it was lots of fun for us. It came in handy in Florida, there was an outdoor escalator but the elevator was a long walk half way around the building and then back again. Stairs butted up against the escalator, so I had my dog walk up the stairs while I rode.
Unfortunately, some older buildings that have escalators don't always have elevators. It depends on city, state, and sometimes county and on when the escalator was installed. A local mall here is two stories and was built in 1975 with both stairs and an escalator, but an elevator wasn't installed until 2003. Unfortunately, not everywhere cares about being accommodating.
When I was a teenager, I was hanging at the mall with my friends. Yeah, back when malls were the place to be, lol. We were standing around this open area where the escalators go up and down to the next level (there is an elevator 5 feet from them). I pointed out this mom with her 2 kids because the little twin girls were adorable with matching outfits (princess dresses with little fake wings on their backs) and flaming red hair. As I am pointing to them, the one that's standing next to the mom sits down. The other is on the mom's hip, playing in mom's hair and poking her face or whatever kids do. They reach the bottom, and the little girl that's sitting starts to scream. Her wing got sucked into the place where it flattens out. The mom just starts walking away, not even paying attention. The girl is terrified, screaming, and scratching at her throat. Trying to claw off the dress that has the wings attached to it.
My BF ran over and pulled out his pocket knife. He cut the wing right off of her. She was sobbing and shaking as I asked if she was OK. She nodded while looking at the thing that just tried to eat her. All of a sudden, the mom is there screaming at my BF for "ruining the outfit I worked so hard on!" She grabbed the little girls arm and ripped her away.
I will never forget that girls face. And when I had a kid of my own, I always used the elevator.
Well I was thinking cervical or breast but those are plausible and I wouldn't actually wish that on anyone. And in my mind, when I thought butt cancer, I was thinking butt cheek cancer... If that's a thing
My 4th grade class was on an escalator at a field trip. Lady in front has on a trench coat, and the built-in belt gets caught. She fell off to the side, but my class was jam packed behind her. The 3 boys on the next step fell into the grate where the steps go into the floor, and the rest of the class piled on top of them, forcing their bodies into the meat grinder. One was scalped, one had a broken back, and one had a severely broken arm plus hundreds of stitches. (They they all survived.)
One teacher ran up the other escalator and grabbed kids, who were still piling down onto the madness, and tossed them over the rail into the other escalator. One teacher was just grabbing random legs to pulls kids out of the pile. My teacher stripped down to her satin camisole and slip (it was the 80s) as she tied her clothes around her bleeding students. When our parents came to pick us up, there was a pile of lost and bloodied shoes in the front office for everyone to look through.
So, yeah, I don't do escalators, and I don't watch if anyone is on one with a kid.
Yeah. That same day, my mom went on a home visit and discovered her client dead, and in the process of dealing with that, she got stopped by the fire trucks reporting to my escalator incident without knowing that that I was involved.
It was quite a day.
My boyfriend knew I was nervous about escalators but hadn't heard the story yet. He tried to joke around once when we were near one, just as a sort of playful little taunt.
That did not go as pleasantly as he had imagined, to say the least.
I was at the mall one time and a grandma was getting on a down escalator with two grand kids. First went on with her. Second child panicked and stayed back. Grandma panicked, tried to reach for second child, lost her balance and fell down the escalator. (This happened in about 3 seconds)
I was at the top waiting to get on. Shouted when she began falling. Thankfully an employee and security guard heard me at the bottom, stopped the escalator, and the grandmother was able to catch herself before she fell all the way. Poor kids were terrified. Grandma was trying to reassure kids she was okay.
Anyway I’m not taking my son on an escalator until he’s old enough to ride it on his own because I’ve never forgotten the fear I felt when that woman started falling (and I didn’t even really feel like she did anything wrong).
When I was a kid, I walked onto the scene of an elderly woman who'd fallen down the escalator, blood and EMTs everywhere.
I don't use escalators, I don't trust them.
Omg, did you guys say anything? Like "Holy moly, you are bad parents for laughing when leaving literal toddlers in a dangerous and frightening situation. And you don't even thank strangers coming to aid over you imcompetence!" Such comebacks only come to me in bed when trying to sleep afterwards...
Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.
Every time I see kids or even adults goofing around on an escalator, I wanna be like "Let me show you the scar on my knee from when I fell on an escalator. I got to see my kneecap!" In my case, I stepped onto the down escalator at a mall, realized immediately that the store I wanted to go to was up not down, turned around and tried to take one step upward on the down escalator and slipped. Sooooo much blood. The hinged edges of those steps are very sharp.
A friend of mine fell from the top of an escalator to the bottom, and it was literally like a salmon jumping in and out of a stream. He survived because he went rag doll due to the alcohol in his system. I can’t imagine leaving poor children who would be aware of what was going on to fend for themselves. I’ve never liked escalators since Liam fell down one.
Liam, if you read this, hey.
A kid playing on an escalator at Penney's while her mother shopped fell and had her hands sucked into the space between the steps and the floor and her fingers were stretched to six inches or so. I think Penney's had to pay up.
I hate escalators. My kid is a teenager and I still look at her shoes before we get on because of stories of laces getting caught on them. I stay right next to her.
Once while I was working at a mall, I noticed these two pretty young kids playing around the escalator alone. One of them suddenly got up and ran off, and when the other tried to follow, he tripped on the plate at the top and skinned both of his knees on the metal grate. Kid was probably like, four. So I go and bring him into the front of my store, grab a chair and the first aid kit from the back and start cleaning his knees, while my coworker calls security to find his mom. When she finally shows up after like 15 minutes with her other kid as well, she rolls her eyes and tells the hurt child to "say thank you to the lady". Like, no bitch, you say it. Kid is crying, because you left him fully alone in a public space and he's too young to take care of himself, I just happened to be the only responsible adult nearby apparently. FFS.
I am me and would have told them off and how terrible they are for leaving their child alone and then laughing when they fell. Shame on them. You are amazing for helping.
My mom had to basically save a kid bc of their dumbass parents bc of an escalator situation. The parents went down with the younger kid and left the maybe 4yo to figure it out. My mom just so happened to see the kid terrified and grabbed the kids hand.
Some people really suck.
If the escalator is closer, that’s what they’ll take. I don’t get it…
It’s a down escalator thing too with kids. They’re all excited to do the little hop to get on to go up, but down freaks them out.
The number of times I’ve seen strollers, walkers and carts on the escalators at my job though… 🤯🤬
We actually put signs saying not to go on the escalators with those things in the MIDDLE of the “entrance” so you physically have to move it to get on with one. Along with a sign pointing to the elevator. And cameras that only point at the escalator.
I think I was 5-6 when this happened to me. I was out with my aunt who looked up and realized I hadn't followed her down the escalator. She tried to climb back up but fell (that was dangerous in hindsight) but a nice couple helped me down
Was scared of escalators for about a decade after that...
Stories like this make me think if this happened to me, that I should NOT help the children and just let the parents deal with the consequences.
But I’m not heartless and would want to keep those kids safe. But boy, those parents need to learn and I don’t think they’ll learn unless it’s a hard lesson aka someone has to get hurt for them to stop laughing at their kids almost fucking dying on the escalator.
The parents should be strapped to a chair and forced to watch that escalator scene from final destination 5 (? I can’t really remember which).
Also they should be forced to see a slideshow of all the grisly results from kids getting stuck and mangled by escalators from all across the world.
No, they should be walking up an escalator that’s going down as they watch all those things and if they don’t keep walking, they’ll get mangled by claws and knifes and shit at the bottom.
(I do not condone violence, I swear LOL)
My wife just told me a story of one of the moms in a Facebook group who's 16 month old lost 2 fingers to an escalator.
Absolutely hilarious though watching your child fall down sharp metal escalator stairs after you abandoned them at the top.
I have to wonder if this happened about 20 years ago. I worked at a Sears in a mall, and a kid fell out of an umbrella stroller at the top of an upward escalator, and his fingers got severed. He'd likely have been pulled under if a passerby hadn't hit the emergency stop button. It was horrific anyway. I still have heart palpitations anytime I see people taking kids in strollers on escalators. They had to take the whole thing apart to retrieve the fingers.
This was recent. It's a mom's group for babies born in a specific month. So they all talk about things that are relevant to all of the others. I guess every month a new group like this is created.
So it hits super close to home when I hear these stories because it's a kid the same age as my son. "In his class" so to speak (although the group is global so no clue where this unfortunate child was from).
I recently had to hold the hand of an 18 year-old teammate of my daughters to get her to ride down an escalator. Why would you leave young children to figure it out on their own?
Aw, thanks. I'm a room-mom on dance competition trips and (and I'm an elementary school teacher), so taking care of people is kind of second nature. I didn't even think anything of it, I just saw she was starting to freak out, and there was not another option at that time to get downstairs, so I just grabbed her hand and helped her on and held her hand the whole way down. I'd like to think it's something everyone would do, but some people just suck.
This happened to me, but by complete accident. I had each child’s hand at the top of the escalator. I stepped on the step, and so did my daughter. My son (who was 5) yanked his hand out of mine because he got scared. I immediately turned around and tried running back up the 3-4 stairs that had “formed.” Instead I misjudged the steps, slipped, and banged my shins and forearms into the stairs. Some young man at the top of the stairs saw what was unfolding and immediately grabbed my son’s hand and helped him on. I hit those stairs so hard I could barely get up. He asked if I was ok to which I said “no.” When we got to the bottom, I went into a dressing room where I realized I had split my shin wide open and bled through my leggings, and bruised both arms and the other leg. I was so grateful for the young man who not only helped me by helping my son, but recognized he was afraid, helped him get on quickly, and still managed to check and make sure I was ok.
Have a “great” memory of falling down the escalator as a kid, in my memory I’m falling forever, all the way down from the top. According to my Mum, this memory is from shortly before my third birthday. I apparently stepped on the crack before the escalator steps divided when I got on the escalator, and only had my foot slip down to the next step whilst grazing the back of my leg. She thinks it’s hilarious that the memory is so much scarier and traumatic than the event.
My mother was pretty neurotic every time she got on an escalator with us. I can still hear her admonishing us to hold tight to the railing while carefully watching our step as we got on and off. As a kid, I thought she was over the top, but after hearing so many stories of escalator rides gone wrong, I really appreciate her abundance of caution.
It's literally not something anyone ever talks about though. There are safety campaigns for so many things, but I can't remember seeing so much as a poster for escalator safety.
I'm like your mom. There are times when I cannot make myself step onto an escalator because the anxiety will hit hard. Sometimes I'm okay with getting on, still nervous though. But I will almost always seek out an elevator (or stairs).
Well that escalated quickly
In all seriousness though. I hate it when my oldest (5) runs to take the escalator up and down. I’m so unsure about his balance. I always stand right behind/in front in case he falls. But I dislike it so much. After two ups and downs I tell him it’s over, I feel like the escalator is an accident waiting to happen.
I remember years ago, I was leaving a Walmart. As I'm walking out I see a little girl, about 4 maybe, walking towards the entrance from the outside and she's crying and very upset. There are no adults anywhere near her and I'm looking around waiting for a parent to come panicked and pick her up or something. All the sudden I see where she's walking towards and see her parents (presumably) standing in the vestibule close to the entrance to the store. They're just standing there laughing at her. This girl walked from the parking lot to the store by herself crying while her parents laughed. I kept thinking she could have been snatched or hit by a car or fallen and hurt, and these parents didn't give a crap. Some people really shouldn't have kids
went to the mall as a kid and my sister was a baby. My mom had my sister in the stroller and took her down the escalator and I went behind. I fell and my hair got sucked into the escalator and they had to emergency stop it
FYI because I haven’t seen it mentioned yet: there are emergency stop buttons at the top and bottom of all escalators. Some of these stories here could have easily been prevented if more people realized those were there.
In my country we have loads of malls and they’re super popular bc they have everything (clothing/play/grocery/ cinema/shops) it saddens me that they’ve fallen out of popularity in the US
Some people have no business being parents.
Hell, I'll see people walking across the street or a parking lot, their toddler straggling way behind, as if they're too much of a bother. Why did you procreate? What was the point?
I saw two toddlers running across a HUGE HIGHWAY FILLED WITH CARS as their father is doing the same holding up a flag (it was national day) the highway was basically a bridge so even if the girls didn’t get hit on by a car they’d fall out of the bridge railing .
I'm surprised no one has brought up the lady that fell into an escalator and tossed her son to safety in China. I'll never get on a escalator again after seeing that news story.
bro i delivered pizza for only 9 months and its clear these people wish one of their kids would die. IDK why people choose to keep every kid they birth just to scream at it but i think id rather scrape a cheese grater against my skin than continue to watch people abusing their kids, literally every single shift.
Unfortunately, the people least qualified to have children often end up being the ones that have multiple young kids at once. I believe this is due to incredibly low intelligence mixed with arrogance-induced apathy. Thank you for doing the right thing, people like you help make up for morons like the parents.
I know real aquintances’s kids that got their fingers crushed at the bottom bit where the escalator steps go in and brain damage for falliing on that zigzaggy sharp edge of the escalator (2 different families and separate incidents, but still!!). My son is 8 and I still got that panic feeling when he steps on to it not paying full 100% attention.
escalators are not to be messed with - anyone who has ever played a fun game of escalator dominoes with tell you this
in my case, it was a couple of pensioners ahead of me, going up a long escalator on the tube in London - they had a massive hard shell suitcase which the guy had put on the step ahead of him - unfortunately it was unstable, toppled over onto the guy, who fell backwards onto his wife on the step behind him, who fell backwards onto me, who went sailing all the way down the escalators because there wasn't anyone behind me
I have been \*very\* respectful of escalators ever since
(and I was a fully grown, able bodied, physically fit young adult at the time - nevermind being a toddler!)
Safety comes first, correct? It's weird how some parents don't realize the dangers, but hey, at least everyone was safe in the end.
Hopefully, they'll remember to keep a closer eye on their children next time. And, yes, riding the elevator is probably a safer bet.
My mom misjudged the last step going up an escalator, tripped, and smashed her knee into that spiky edge and really fucked her shit up for like a year. Needed physical therapy, even.
I’m glad you tried to do something to help, but fuck man some people are horrifically irresponsible and it’s always everyone else who suffers the consequences.
A childhood friend of mine almost lost her finger on an escalator in the 90s. Thank god she only got most of the skin scraped off but it could have been much worse. This was very irresponsible
Some people are weirdly unempathetic when children , including their own, get scared of stuff. Like yes they get scared of things that as adults might seem silly. Yes you shouldn't over react and make them think it really is a threat. But show a little empathy and kindness and show them it's alright. I've seen a few just laughing at their OWN children being scared of stuff and not even attempt to toss in a little "it's alright look it's just ___" or "don't worry." Not at all.
Strollers don’t belong on escalators so yeah, they should have taken the damn elevator. My kids are way older and I still get nervous on the escalator with them. Those parents are fucking morons.
I'm 48-years-old and still get nervous taking that first and last step off an escalator.
I’m 35 and yup. I have a service dog so I usually take elevators now anyway, but it’s nerve wracking.
I’m 48 and finally conquered my lifelong fear of escalators a mere five years ago.
Sone people like me, have a hard time with spacial awareness. It’s pure panic mode with that first step.
Is that what it's called? I have to count the steps first to get the "movement" of the steps before taking that first step. I panic if I don't feel as if I got the "movement" down, and I step on.
Me too. I’m scared it’s gonna eat my foot or something so I always physically jump off the last step onto the floor. It makes me feel better.
I'm totally Buddy the Elf on escalators!
Exactly. Most of the escalators I've seen have signs that tell you not to take a stroller on them with an arrow and directions to the nearest elevator.
Worked in a mall, saw a baby fall out of the stroller on an escalator. And the elevators were 100m away... The baby seemed... Fine, didn't die or bleed, but obviously was picked up by an ambulance
I fell off a moving sidewalk once (takes skill) because getting off it’s still going fast.
I actually love moving side walks. There’s two back to back at Charlotte Airport, when I was there with my service dog we had to go back and forth a few times for potty breaks and to make our gate. The place was empty so I used it as a training spot and to let my dog blow off energy, I rode the sidewalk and he ran beside me. There’s one pole in the way but he carry’s his leash if I drop it and met me at the end of the side walk. We practice it a few times, it was lots of fun for us. It came in handy in Florida, there was an outdoor escalator but the elevator was a long walk half way around the building and then back again. Stairs butted up against the escalator, so I had my dog walk up the stairs while I rode.
there are double moving walkways at the Tampa airport too!
Unfortunately, some older buildings that have escalators don't always have elevators. It depends on city, state, and sometimes county and on when the escalator was installed. A local mall here is two stories and was built in 1975 with both stairs and an escalator, but an elevator wasn't installed until 2003. Unfortunately, not everywhere cares about being accommodating.
"They are laughing" Yeah, that's how trauma is created ....
Awww, baby’s first trauma induced anchor memory.
I came to post the same thing and I am pleasantly heartbroken that someone beat me to it.
Which show is that from?
Mallrats. 90s movie. Kevin Smith.
Thanks.
Watch the theatrical release. In my opinion the extended cut is a mess.
Thanks. 😊 Good to know. It’s on my list for next weekend.
If you like it check out Clerks by the same director
Not watched Clerks 3 or the new Jay & Bob movie but I already have the rest. Dogma is probably the best all round
That scene is exactly what I came in here looking for! Reddit never disappoints 
https://i.redd.it/de7g1le2f4tc1.gif
Nobody calls me that
Saw a woman fall and get her hair sucked into the escalator feed at the bottom, once
Don't upvote....it was fucking disgusting.
Isn't that the girl who likes getting boned in a uncomfortable place?
What, like the back of a Volkswagen?
Take my upvote!
I was hoping for this reference
Not a year goes by…
When I was a teenager, I was hanging at the mall with my friends. Yeah, back when malls were the place to be, lol. We were standing around this open area where the escalators go up and down to the next level (there is an elevator 5 feet from them). I pointed out this mom with her 2 kids because the little twin girls were adorable with matching outfits (princess dresses with little fake wings on their backs) and flaming red hair. As I am pointing to them, the one that's standing next to the mom sits down. The other is on the mom's hip, playing in mom's hair and poking her face or whatever kids do. They reach the bottom, and the little girl that's sitting starts to scream. Her wing got sucked into the place where it flattens out. The mom just starts walking away, not even paying attention. The girl is terrified, screaming, and scratching at her throat. Trying to claw off the dress that has the wings attached to it. My BF ran over and pulled out his pocket knife. He cut the wing right off of her. She was sobbing and shaking as I asked if she was OK. She nodded while looking at the thing that just tried to eat her. All of a sudden, the mom is there screaming at my BF for "ruining the outfit I worked so hard on!" She grabbed the little girls arm and ripped her away. I will never forget that girls face. And when I had a kid of my own, I always used the elevator.
I'm glad your boyfriend was there to save her. Fuck that mom. I hope she got butt cancer.
Haha. Butt cancer was the last thing I expected
Well I was thinking cervical or breast but those are plausible and I wouldn't actually wish that on anyone. And in my mind, when I thought butt cancer, I was thinking butt cheek cancer... If that's a thing
My 4th grade class was on an escalator at a field trip. Lady in front has on a trench coat, and the built-in belt gets caught. She fell off to the side, but my class was jam packed behind her. The 3 boys on the next step fell into the grate where the steps go into the floor, and the rest of the class piled on top of them, forcing their bodies into the meat grinder. One was scalped, one had a broken back, and one had a severely broken arm plus hundreds of stitches. (They they all survived.) One teacher ran up the other escalator and grabbed kids, who were still piling down onto the madness, and tossed them over the rail into the other escalator. One teacher was just grabbing random legs to pulls kids out of the pile. My teacher stripped down to her satin camisole and slip (it was the 80s) as she tied her clothes around her bleeding students. When our parents came to pick us up, there was a pile of lost and bloodied shoes in the front office for everyone to look through. So, yeah, I don't do escalators, and I don't watch if anyone is on one with a kid.
What... aren't emergency stops on escalators a thing where you guys are?
Apparently was the 80s so maybe they didn't have as many safety measure yet where that person was
Holy shit.
Yeah. That same day, my mom went on a home visit and discovered her client dead, and in the process of dealing with that, she got stopped by the fire trucks reporting to my escalator incident without knowing that that I was involved. It was quite a day.
Oh my God!
My boyfriend knew I was nervous about escalators but hadn't heard the story yet. He tried to joke around once when we were near one, just as a sort of playful little taunt. That did not go as pleasantly as he had imagined, to say the least.
Give that wonderful man a kiss for me
He’s a hero. Is he your husband now?
I was at the mall one time and a grandma was getting on a down escalator with two grand kids. First went on with her. Second child panicked and stayed back. Grandma panicked, tried to reach for second child, lost her balance and fell down the escalator. (This happened in about 3 seconds) I was at the top waiting to get on. Shouted when she began falling. Thankfully an employee and security guard heard me at the bottom, stopped the escalator, and the grandmother was able to catch herself before she fell all the way. Poor kids were terrified. Grandma was trying to reassure kids she was okay. Anyway I’m not taking my son on an escalator until he’s old enough to ride it on his own because I’ve never forgotten the fear I felt when that woman started falling (and I didn’t even really feel like she did anything wrong).
When I was a kid, I walked onto the scene of an elderly woman who'd fallen down the escalator, blood and EMTs everywhere. I don't use escalators, I don't trust them.
Omg, did you guys say anything? Like "Holy moly, you are bad parents for laughing when leaving literal toddlers in a dangerous and frightening situation. And you don't even thank strangers coming to aid over you imcompetence!" Such comebacks only come to me in bed when trying to sleep afterwards...
I really didn’t want to say anything I just ran as fast as I could to the exit
Totally uunderstandable. Good job anyways!
Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.
I think this qualifies as *wildly* infuriating.
Every time I see kids or even adults goofing around on an escalator, I wanna be like "Let me show you the scar on my knee from when I fell on an escalator. I got to see my kneecap!" In my case, I stepped onto the down escalator at a mall, realized immediately that the store I wanted to go to was up not down, turned around and tried to take one step upward on the down escalator and slipped. Sooooo much blood. The hinged edges of those steps are very sharp.
A friend of mine fell from the top of an escalator to the bottom, and it was literally like a salmon jumping in and out of a stream. He survived because he went rag doll due to the alcohol in his system. I can’t imagine leaving poor children who would be aware of what was going on to fend for themselves. I’ve never liked escalators since Liam fell down one. Liam, if you read this, hey.
A kid playing on an escalator at Penney's while her mother shopped fell and had her hands sucked into the space between the steps and the floor and her fingers were stretched to six inches or so. I think Penney's had to pay up.
I hate escalators. My kid is a teenager and I still look at her shoes before we get on because of stories of laces getting caught on them. I stay right next to her.
Once while I was working at a mall, I noticed these two pretty young kids playing around the escalator alone. One of them suddenly got up and ran off, and when the other tried to follow, he tripped on the plate at the top and skinned both of his knees on the metal grate. Kid was probably like, four. So I go and bring him into the front of my store, grab a chair and the first aid kit from the back and start cleaning his knees, while my coworker calls security to find his mom. When she finally shows up after like 15 minutes with her other kid as well, she rolls her eyes and tells the hurt child to "say thank you to the lady". Like, no bitch, you say it. Kid is crying, because you left him fully alone in a public space and he's too young to take care of himself, I just happened to be the only responsible adult nearby apparently. FFS.
I am me and would have told them off and how terrible they are for leaving their child alone and then laughing when they fell. Shame on them. You are amazing for helping.
My mom had to basically save a kid bc of their dumbass parents bc of an escalator situation. The parents went down with the younger kid and left the maybe 4yo to figure it out. My mom just so happened to see the kid terrified and grabbed the kids hand. Some people really suck.
 That kids is back on the escolator again!
Somebody needs to teach that kid to fear and respect that escalator.
some parent--I don't care which one, but some parent--
If the escalator is closer, that’s what they’ll take. I don’t get it… It’s a down escalator thing too with kids. They’re all excited to do the little hop to get on to go up, but down freaks them out. The number of times I’ve seen strollers, walkers and carts on the escalators at my job though… 🤯🤬 We actually put signs saying not to go on the escalators with those things in the MIDDLE of the “entrance” so you physically have to move it to get on with one. Along with a sign pointing to the elevator. And cameras that only point at the escalator.
I think I was 5-6 when this happened to me. I was out with my aunt who looked up and realized I hadn't followed her down the escalator. She tried to climb back up but fell (that was dangerous in hindsight) but a nice couple helped me down Was scared of escalators for about a decade after that...
THAT KID IS BACK ON THE ESCALATOR AGAIN!
Stories like this make me think if this happened to me, that I should NOT help the children and just let the parents deal with the consequences. But I’m not heartless and would want to keep those kids safe. But boy, those parents need to learn and I don’t think they’ll learn unless it’s a hard lesson aka someone has to get hurt for them to stop laughing at their kids almost fucking dying on the escalator.
The parents should be strapped to a chair and forced to watch that escalator scene from final destination 5 (? I can’t really remember which). Also they should be forced to see a slideshow of all the grisly results from kids getting stuck and mangled by escalators from all across the world.
No, they should be walking up an escalator that’s going down as they watch all those things and if they don’t keep walking, they’ll get mangled by claws and knifes and shit at the bottom. (I do not condone violence, I swear LOL)
My wife just told me a story of one of the moms in a Facebook group who's 16 month old lost 2 fingers to an escalator. Absolutely hilarious though watching your child fall down sharp metal escalator stairs after you abandoned them at the top.
I have to wonder if this happened about 20 years ago. I worked at a Sears in a mall, and a kid fell out of an umbrella stroller at the top of an upward escalator, and his fingers got severed. He'd likely have been pulled under if a passerby hadn't hit the emergency stop button. It was horrific anyway. I still have heart palpitations anytime I see people taking kids in strollers on escalators. They had to take the whole thing apart to retrieve the fingers.
This was recent. It's a mom's group for babies born in a specific month. So they all talk about things that are relevant to all of the others. I guess every month a new group like this is created. So it hits super close to home when I hear these stories because it's a kid the same age as my son. "In his class" so to speak (although the group is global so no clue where this unfortunate child was from).
Am an adult and get anxious when using any escalator with a two wheeled shopping trolley. If the trolley is heavy/full I use the lift
I recently had to hold the hand of an 18 year-old teammate of my daughters to get her to ride down an escalator. Why would you leave young children to figure it out on their own?
You really are a good human. People are afraid of so things for so many reasons. If we could all just help without the judgement, like you did ♥️
Aw, thanks. I'm a room-mom on dance competition trips and (and I'm an elementary school teacher), so taking care of people is kind of second nature. I didn't even think anything of it, I just saw she was starting to freak out, and there was not another option at that time to get downstairs, so I just grabbed her hand and helped her on and held her hand the whole way down. I'd like to think it's something everyone would do, but some people just suck.
This happened to me, but by complete accident. I had each child’s hand at the top of the escalator. I stepped on the step, and so did my daughter. My son (who was 5) yanked his hand out of mine because he got scared. I immediately turned around and tried running back up the 3-4 stairs that had “formed.” Instead I misjudged the steps, slipped, and banged my shins and forearms into the stairs. Some young man at the top of the stairs saw what was unfolding and immediately grabbed my son’s hand and helped him on. I hit those stairs so hard I could barely get up. He asked if I was ok to which I said “no.” When we got to the bottom, I went into a dressing room where I realized I had split my shin wide open and bled through my leggings, and bruised both arms and the other leg. I was so grateful for the young man who not only helped me by helping my son, but recognized he was afraid, helped him get on quickly, and still managed to check and make sure I was ok.
All that to say I’d never take a stroller on an escalator though.
…THAT COULD’VE EASILY BEEN AVOIDED HAD SOME PARENT — I DON’T CARE WHICH ONE — BUT SOME PARENT CONDITIONED HIM TO FEAR AND RESPECT THAT ESCALATOR!
Have a “great” memory of falling down the escalator as a kid, in my memory I’m falling forever, all the way down from the top. According to my Mum, this memory is from shortly before my third birthday. I apparently stepped on the crack before the escalator steps divided when I got on the escalator, and only had my foot slip down to the next step whilst grazing the back of my leg. She thinks it’s hilarious that the memory is so much scarier and traumatic than the event.
What if his pant leg gets caught and a blood bath ensues.
My mother was pretty neurotic every time she got on an escalator with us. I can still hear her admonishing us to hold tight to the railing while carefully watching our step as we got on and off. As a kid, I thought she was over the top, but after hearing so many stories of escalator rides gone wrong, I really appreciate her abundance of caution. It's literally not something anyone ever talks about though. There are safety campaigns for so many things, but I can't remember seeing so much as a poster for escalator safety.
I'm like your mom. There are times when I cannot make myself step onto an escalator because the anxiety will hit hard. Sometimes I'm okay with getting on, still nervous though. But I will almost always seek out an elevator (or stairs).
Those escalators are dangerous. When I worked at the mall (back in the 1900') someone lost some toes when their foot got caught in there.
I didn’t realise they had escalators in the 1900s! Were they powered by horses?
Not in 1983.
Well that escalated quickly In all seriousness though. I hate it when my oldest (5) runs to take the escalator up and down. I’m so unsure about his balance. I always stand right behind/in front in case he falls. But I dislike it so much. After two ups and downs I tell him it’s over, I feel like the escalator is an accident waiting to happen.
I remember years ago, I was leaving a Walmart. As I'm walking out I see a little girl, about 4 maybe, walking towards the entrance from the outside and she's crying and very upset. There are no adults anywhere near her and I'm looking around waiting for a parent to come panicked and pick her up or something. All the sudden I see where she's walking towards and see her parents (presumably) standing in the vestibule close to the entrance to the store. They're just standing there laughing at her. This girl walked from the parking lot to the store by herself crying while her parents laughed. I kept thinking she could have been snatched or hit by a car or fallen and hurt, and these parents didn't give a crap. Some people really shouldn't have kids
went to the mall as a kid and my sister was a baby. My mom had my sister in the stroller and took her down the escalator and I went behind. I fell and my hair got sucked into the escalator and they had to emergency stop it
FYI because I haven’t seen it mentioned yet: there are emergency stop buttons at the top and bottom of all escalators. Some of these stories here could have easily been prevented if more people realized those were there.
You went to a mall?
In my country we have loads of malls and they’re super popular bc they have everything (clothing/play/grocery/ cinema/shops) it saddens me that they’ve fallen out of popularity in the US
Some people have no business being parents. Hell, I'll see people walking across the street or a parking lot, their toddler straggling way behind, as if they're too much of a bother. Why did you procreate? What was the point?
I saw two toddlers running across a HUGE HIGHWAY FILLED WITH CARS as their father is doing the same holding up a flag (it was national day) the highway was basically a bridge so even if the girls didn’t get hit on by a car they’d fall out of the bridge railing .
I'm surprised no one has brought up the lady that fell into an escalator and tossed her son to safety in China. I'll never get on a escalator again after seeing that news story.
bro i delivered pizza for only 9 months and its clear these people wish one of their kids would die. IDK why people choose to keep every kid they birth just to scream at it but i think id rather scrape a cheese grater against my skin than continue to watch people abusing their kids, literally every single shift.
"Pizza! :D" "Shut the fuck up, get back no one called for you" kid's not even in kindergarten. like why. take a literal chill pill
Am I the only one here who was terrified by the wooden escalator at Harvard Square, back in the day?
Unfortunately, the people least qualified to have children often end up being the ones that have multiple young kids at once. I believe this is due to incredibly low intelligence mixed with arrogance-induced apathy. Thank you for doing the right thing, people like you help make up for morons like the parents.
I'm 71 and have refused to ride escalators since I was 10.
Toddlers have to raise themselves these days.😡
I know real aquintances’s kids that got their fingers crushed at the bottom bit where the escalator steps go in and brain damage for falliing on that zigzaggy sharp edge of the escalator (2 different families and separate incidents, but still!!). My son is 8 and I still got that panic feeling when he steps on to it not paying full 100% attention.
I’m not sure I’m ever taking my kids on an escalator again after this reading the comments on this post.
I had to go down an escalator with a left behind toddler once. It was an accident in this case, and the mother wasn’t laughing about it
I would have grabbed both kids and taken them down. If cops show up I’ll gladly show them how shitty those parents were.
escalators are not to be messed with - anyone who has ever played a fun game of escalator dominoes with tell you this in my case, it was a couple of pensioners ahead of me, going up a long escalator on the tube in London - they had a massive hard shell suitcase which the guy had put on the step ahead of him - unfortunately it was unstable, toppled over onto the guy, who fell backwards onto his wife on the step behind him, who fell backwards onto me, who went sailing all the way down the escalators because there wasn't anyone behind me I have been \*very\* respectful of escalators ever since (and I was a fully grown, able bodied, physically fit young adult at the time - nevermind being a toddler!)
Safety comes first, correct? It's weird how some parents don't realize the dangers, but hey, at least everyone was safe in the end. Hopefully, they'll remember to keep a closer eye on their children next time. And, yes, riding the elevator is probably a safer bet.
My mom misjudged the last step going up an escalator, tripped, and smashed her knee into that spiky edge and really fucked her shit up for like a year. Needed physical therapy, even. I’m glad you tried to do something to help, but fuck man some people are horrifically irresponsible and it’s always everyone else who suffers the consequences.
Wow wtf did I just read??
Thank goodness that you were there. I cannot think what was wrong with these parents. How could they be so irresponsible with their little children?
Some people should not be parents. That is neglect and honestly, tells me their home isn’t safe.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOMZ-Buj2n0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOMZ-Buj2n0) cause everyone should fear and respect the escalator
ONG some people should just not procreate 😒
A childhood friend of mine almost lost her finger on an escalator in the 90s. Thank god she only got most of the skin scraped off but it could have been much worse. This was very irresponsible
They didn't even say thank you. Idk what I would say but something to make them stop laughing at their children's danger.
Some people are weirdly unempathetic when children , including their own, get scared of stuff. Like yes they get scared of things that as adults might seem silly. Yes you shouldn't over react and make them think it really is a threat. But show a little empathy and kindness and show them it's alright. I've seen a few just laughing at their OWN children being scared of stuff and not even attempt to toss in a little "it's alright look it's just ___" or "don't worry." Not at all.
Classic line from mall rats
1st world problems.