A
female
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:What is everyone's opinion on people bringing their babies/ children to the work place? The reason I ask is because last week 1 of my colleagues, who is on maternity leave came in with her baby who is 7 months old. We work in a call centre and the baby kept screaming but instead of her taking him out, she was laughing at him, also making a noise which encouraged him to scream more. Now at the time this happened I was on the phone to a very annoyed customer whose order we had misplaced and he heard the baby in the background and went mad saying how unprofessional it was to have a child in an office, making noise and that he suggested I report it to the manager as he was going to include it in the complaint he was writing about us for mis placing the order. I emailed my manager to advise them of what the customer had said but didn't discuss it with any of my colleagues. The next day my manager sent round a very blunt email stating that if people wish to visit with their children, they can but must remain outside in the corridor and not enter the office due to noise and customers complaining about the companies professionalism.As soon as the email came out one colleague blurted out that it was my fault for reporting it (she must have heard me apologise to the customer about the noise and put 2 and 2 together). I explained that the customer was going to make a complaint anyway and as our calls are recorded, if I didn't report it, i'd be in trouble. Now everyone in the office is being cold towards me, however I don't believe I'm at fault.What do you think?
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female
reader, Ciar  +, writes (24 February 2014):
 It's amazing how people will impose upon others without a second thought then get uptight when they're called up on it.
A screaming baby will grate anyone's nerves and those with common sense and courtesy will voluntarily move to another location so as not to disturb others. Your colleague chose to stand there like a cackling nitwit until it was spelled out for her. It was she who caused all this.
You didn't do anything wrong per se, but if this were me I'd have approached her directly. Going to the manager makes you look like a tattletale. On the other hand if your instructions are to report any problem calls then that's what you have to do.
Your client didn't do anything wrong either. He wasn't abusive or out of control. He was merely annoyed and would have been placated fairly quickly if he thought he was being heard and if you'd been able to assist him. Most people are patient with those who have children but this visit and the resulting ruckus lasted longer that etiquette allowed.
Your manager didn't tear into anyone. No one was formally reprimanded and visits were not forbidden. He/she merely explained the guidelines for future visits because CLEARLY some people can't be trusted to do the right thing unless it's spelled out for them.
I say ride this out. People will eventually get over it. Be calm, confident and matter of fact. The next time someone accuses you of getting anyone into trouble, remind them who brought the screaming baby into the office and who had to deal with an angry customer because of it.
A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): Really the customer was an example of how Intolerant and Impatient and clinical people are today. I understand how work is work, but there are times PEOPLE must come before paper.
I work part time in nursing and the way PAPER WORK AND TARGETS come BEFORE the actual patient, sickens me to the stomach. I hear 'WE MUST REACH THIS TARGET, TO BE THE BEST WARD' and I hardly hear anything about the patients. Infact the nurses spend more time with the paper than at a patients bed side. I have been repremanded for putting patients first and talking to them thus disregarding filling in the folders. I can't wait to get out of this pen pushing clinical enviroment, with walking Gods flapping peices of paper about that are never even read at the end of day.
IT'S PEOPLE WHO COUNT.
Your either WITH the people or Sheeple??????
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A
female
reader, Honeypie  +, writes (23 February 2014):
 I think you should have told HER that you have a customer complaining and could she take the baby out til he is done fussing? It could have been handled with a lot less drama.
She (The mom) was being blatantly ignorant. My guess is she was so excited to get out and socialize that SHE was her priority not the baby nor the work place.
Personally, I can't stand when parents ignore their kids because they are busy on the phone or chatting. There is nothing CUTE about a crying baby (I have 3 kids, trust me.. crying kids annoy the fire out of me, but I also know it's not the kids fault, the PARENT need to tend to them.)
I would just let it die down. Hopefully the other co-workers will let it go and maybe even THINK about it.
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): They are in the wrong, you did the right thing hon, I would have done the same. I work in a call centre & have lost count the amount of times someone brings their kid in who just wreck havoc & makes noise& I'm having to continuously apologise to customers.
What has made me laugh is some comments on here about you being in the wrong... I can only assume the people who have attacked you on here have been in the same situation- bringing their kids to the workplace & having a complaint made against them!!! Ignore those comments!
Also it'll pass at work, no doubt someone will find something else to bitch about lol! X
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A
male
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): Well done OP! You did good. Being a customer of many things I can not tell you how irritating it is to speak to a noisy call centre in general, let alone with a screaming child in the background! Call me a grump but children shouldn't be allowed in the workplace & I appreciate the child is only a child & they don't understand - his mother shouldn't have encouraged him by making more noise!
I have made complaints in the past myself when talking to an adviser & in the background sounded that she was running a crèche!
Hopefully this silly woman & her noisy child will be to embarrassed to come back in again!
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014):
I work as a contact centre manager & have children myself & I can confirm that I'm my many years of being in my job it's amazing how many customers complain when they hear a child in the background & this is not professional!
I allow my staff to pop in with their children however these are the rules:
1. They must give me prior warning & can't just turn up whenever it suits them.
2. I then am able to ensure that 1 of our training rooms is available,so if the child does make a noise customers & other staff can't hear them.
3. The visit shouldn't exceed half hour (as this then allows other members of staff abandoning their duties & missing customer calls)
The OP DID the right thing by reporting it otherwise had management heard it via a complaint made by the customer than the OP would be in trouble for failing to report what the customer said.
The other members of staff need to grow up & stop stirring & causing trouble. In fact, if they continue to blame you report them to management. Also if they are such good friends with this woman who brought the baby in maybe in future they can arrange to meet her for lunch on on a weekend outside of the office instead? Then there's no need for anyone bitching & no one will be made to feel uncomfortable.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): Just to add OP, office politics and keeping your colleagues on your side is one of the most important aspects of any job.
In some cases it's more important than fulfilling your targets.
People who create office tension which you have, or are pariahs generally don't do well, because that stuff gets up to management too. When it comes time to renewing a contract or reviews and they see a person others don't really like that person is at a huge disadvantage.
You need to get them back on side and not let "being right" be more important than that. There were ways in which you could have handled this that wouldn't have burned your colleague that badly, if you can't see those or don't care, then frankly you're in for a tough time because no one can trust you.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): You're perfectly within your right to file a complaint against a colleague, but was neither smart nor nice.
It makes you an inconsiderate rat in the eyes of your colleagues and rightly so.
The manager would have seen the complaint anyway, there was no need for you to directly implicate one of your colleagues. You decided to help a customer complain on one of your colleagues directly and wonder why they're pissed off at you.
I would have talked the customer down, explained away the baby noise as a technical issue, apologised for that and let him get on with his complaint while giving my colleague ample warning that he may be putting that in his complaint.
Instead you went over your colleagues head, gave no warning and have now alienated yourself from people who are supposed to be on your team.
What you did is technically the "right" thing to do, but it was also inconsiderate made you the office suck up. The spy for the management who will report all her colleagues for not following the rules of the office to the letter.
In their eyes and I agree you didn't do the decent thing, it was a baby in there for one day. Now people can't feel comfortable doing anything out of the ordinary in front of you.
Do the decent thing now and speak to your colleague directly and explain what happened. if I were you I'd tell it in a way where you apologise for not having time to give her the heads up. She came in to visit and you turned a nice visit into a managerial complaint from you, not just the customer.
The fact you didn't care to even attempt to protect your colleague her frankly makes you one of those people who makes a place a nightmare to work in. Basically have to keep away from that kind of person in work because they're only in it for themselves and always watching and waiting to take you down.
That may not be the kind of person you are, but I don't think you have much reason to complain that you seem nasty for ruining what was supposed to be a nice visit from someone people probably missed since they've been out.
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A
female
reader, Anonymous 123  +, writes (23 February 2014):
 OP I don’t think you did anything wrong. I am SICK of wailing rugrats on flights, trains, restaurants and especially the workplace and more often than not, it’s the parents who are at fault for not disciplining the child or in the case of this particular 7 month old, not taking him out and trying to quieten him instead of egging him to create a bigger racket. That was what must have irritated you more than anything else. I would be super pissed too. Not everyone is mad on babies and especially not when you’re dealing with a difficult situation at work.
You did the right thing by telling your manager. Too bad if your colleagues are cold towards you; you cant please everyone at the same time and you shouldn't even try to. Meanwhile, don’t think too much about it, I’m sure this will blow over in a few days.
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): I agree that telling management was not necessarily wrong. But it would have been better to a) tell mother and baby that baby's making noise and customers are complaining without telling management b) tell her that you had to report a complaint from a customer and that you hope she understands that not reporting would get you in trouble.
Diplomacy and tact is what you needed OP
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A
female
reader, CindyCares +, writes (23 February 2014):
 I am with WiseOwlE. You did not need to report the accident to your management.
The customer was upset about your company having misplaced his order. He was just posturing and throwing his weight around because already irritated by the handling of his order. But even if he was going to complain officially, even if he DID, so what ? It was not YOUR baby that you had brought in. You could have simply told the manager : I guess the customer might have overheard when X, who is on maternity leave, dropped by the office for a quick visit. You would have helped defuse the situation, and am sure the manager would have realized that it had been a very exceptional and temporary slip up, and that your office is not secretly hoarding a bunch of babies. Talk instead about making a mountain of a molehill.
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A
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): If you misplace an order, you immediately inform the caller how his order will be replaced; and offer some form of compensation him for the inconvenience.
You take control of the call; and not allow a raging caller to get the better of you.
Bringing babies into the office happens all the time; and one irate customer isn't going to put your company out of business because of a crying baby.
He was only blowing-up his complaint to give it more traction; so the baby's crying really had nothing to do with your company's incompetence with handling his order.
Reporting the baby really was unnecessary nor relevant. Your company is grasping for scapegoats, and your manager should have addressed the real issue. The misplaced order and the customer's dissatisfaction. How the call got so out of hand in the first place. Background noise is neither here nor there. It's who he's talking to that matters.
You could have politely apologized and placed the irate customer on hold; giving him time to regain composure and a minute to cool his jets. Meanwhile; alerted everyone they could be heard. That would have been just as effective.
Offering the customer a calm apology, explaining what steps would be taken to provide his satisfaction, and properly handling his call would have diffused his temper, and alleviated any need for any further complaint. The crying baby could have just as easily belonged to a visiting client. How would he know what's going on?
The caller was out of control, and he was making threats. He only wanted his order. There was a crying baby on both ends. If the baby wasn't there, he would have complained about how his call was handled; and every other thing he could throw in there. He shouldn't leave angry enough to come back with a complaint. That was your responsibility and up to your manager. You're both covering your own asses.
Call centers are cubicle farms full of people chatting on phones wearing headsets. Modern headsets and sound-proof cubicle walls minimize background-noise. If a baby can be heard, so can other people talking.
It wasn't the baby he was upset about; it was the misplaced order. The e-mail should have been about how to handle dissatisfied customers. Now you're sitting in an office full of people acting like children. Perhaps the customer is right. All the manager needed to know from you, was the customer's concern about his misplaced order. That wasn't the baby's fault.
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): If it was just a visit - that's probably okay but it should really be confined to a staff room or break-room rather than the shop floor and kept short (30mins or so)
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): You DEFINITELY didn't do anything wrong, as when a customer complains Employee They Are Complaining to is expected to do something about it. I think Coworkers are mad because you didn't talk to Employee before talking to management. In the future, if you have a problem with something Employee does (especially if it puts YOU in a position where YOU can get into trouble for not saying something), let Employee know that you feel the need to say something for reasons a) b) ... That way, Employee has the chance to tell on themself and you are not going behind their back. I think that was the real problem. While you didn't do anything wrong, be prepared for every tiny misstep you make to be IMMEDIATELY reported as that is what people do to office snitches.
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A
female
reader, Abella +, writes (23 February 2014):
 I do not think it was wrong to keep the manager informed. If you had kept the manager in the dark, then the truth would have come out eventually, at which point I think you might have been in more trouble, later, with the Manager.
Your colleagues have taken sides. Sounds like they are being unfair to you. In time they will get over it. Though work on being supportive towards your colleague any time you can do so. That does not mean giving in to all their demands. But does mean asking them their opinions, listening to them, and where required: explaining your reasoning and intentions so that they are in the loop.
Your Colleague is on Maternity Leave and came into the Call Centre for a visit to show off her baby. This is very normal motherly pride. And the duration of the visit was no doubt not long. Discuss the possibility that the visit should be in an area at work away from the phones? is there a lunch area? or a foyer?
however she did bring her baby into the work area. And it did not bother her, but it did bother the customer and so it impacted on the customer and the Business.
A better way might be for her to post a whole lot of photos of her baby to share the happy times like that.
Perhaps the baby awoke hungry or with a soiled diaper or perhaps the noise of the call centre upset the baby. The mother should have attended to it.
Once the baby started crying it was imperative that the mother try to settle her baby and if that failed then she and her baby should have moved to another area of the workplace with any interested staff, so that it did not disrupt a difficult client call.
You need a written policy on this for the future so that there is no doubt about what is allowed and acceptable and what is not permitted.
Perhaps she was testing to see if she would be able to bring her baby into work after she starts work? If yes then this needs to be nipped in the bud now.
If a work place has a crèche or an attached child care centre then that will work.
If a worker has a job that allows them to bring a very small baby along for breast-feeding at work (will only work for a short while when babies sleep most of the time) then this may work if they are a high up enough executive that they have their own office and can ask their PA to keep an eye on baby if they have to go into a meeting (very rare situation but I have seen that done successfully - most of us are not that fortunate)
For most of us children and babies are a rare visit situation and then only when the parent is beside the child at all times. And where the parent attends to things immediately if the baby or child becomes unsettled.
Workplaces are for work and are not playgrounds.
There is expensive machinery in business premises that could be damaged by a child.
Work today is also full on and needs concentration.
She also did nothing to help the situation in the way that she responded to her child that only made the child cry more.
There are Occupational Health and Safety issues.
I think allowing her to bring her baby into the workplace too near to the phones was a mistake.
And once she does return to work?
Good child care is very expensive.
A baby or a child cannot be safely left home alone and in fact that is the completely wrong thing to do.
Some people do not have access to family who are willing to do some baby sitting in the child's home.
And the world has many people who would make completely inappropriate babysitter and may even cause the baby or child some harm.
I have never allowed a teen to baby sit for me. I have only ever used a family member or an adult who is very well known to me and who I trust completely.
I have been a part of a very well run and successful baby sitting club in my neighbourhood where the criteria was very strict indeed to ensure the safety of all the children who were babysat.
Perhaps she needs to visit the local Citizen's Advice Bureau to find out what affordable good quality baby sitting or crèche facilities are available in her community or near to her work place for when she does return to work?
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (23 February 2014): I agree with you - although ultimately it's the decision of management whether it's permitted.
Occasionally I've had colleagues bring in their kids for a couple of hours when childcare arrangements went wrong at short notice but these kids were all school age children and were perfectly capable of sitting in a corner and reading. Colleagues have certainly also brought in babies for a visit which most colleagues enjoy but that's a far cry from actually bringing a baby to work for a full day!
I would question someone's ability to work effectively if they had a baby with them as babies can demand constant attention when they're awake and they are not able to modify their volume so they can be very off-putting if other people are trying to work.
I also don't think that a busy office is a very safe place for a baby unless its mum can give it constant supervision. Offices which have children entering their premises and staying for any length of time need to have a child protection policy by law and your company may not have one.
Okay, so this colleague may have had an emergency that day (in which case she should have cleared bringing her child to work with her manager). She may also be worried that she has taken too much sick time or carers leave recently.
However, you didn't exactly "grass her up". You didn't do this simply because you were annoyed - you had to deal with a customer who said they were going to make a formal complaint so you did the right thing by informing your manager of this. How management deal with this incident is up to them
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