Dumbass Custy Gives New Meaning To Code Adam Alert

Hi, it's Angie in Furniture store hell.

I will keep this story short. We all know about the Code Adam alert in all retail stores and I want to add that I am in South Florida, not really that far from where the tragic situation that brought about this program occured.

So, I am at work last weekend and a well dressed woman in her fifties approaches me. She asks about several sales and then wants to know about the Code Adam sign we have on the front door.

I tell her that we are all trained here to activate an alert if we need to. She looks very confused, What kind of an alert?

Well..um a missing child I tell her.

She looked at me like I was speaking Klingon.

I explain the whole thing to her. Oh, she says, I have seen the signs and even heard them announced but I always thought it had to do with special sales in the store!

WTH?? Really?

I just don't know about people..maybe she doesn't have kids but who hasn't heard of this program??

Over and Out.

--Angie

Comments

[grmrsan]

I always assumed it was a shrinkage/security thing , and never really thought about it until I worked at a store that used it. I assumed there was a system in place for missing kids, I just never paid enough attention to connect the two.

[CO Slave]

I haven't heard of it... I had to read all the way to the end of your post before I worked out what you were talking about. It must be a regional thing

[Banned Guy]

Maybe it's because i live in another country, but i never heard of it either.

[Swede]

I've heard of it but no idea what it was for.

[Karebear]

It took me a while to learn what Code Adam was. It wasnt until I worked in a big box store til I learned what it is. What may seem obvious (to us in the knowing) may be news to others.

[psyche]

We have that where I live, but we call it an Amber Alert, though it's used outside of retail. We also have a Silver Alert for old people.

[AnotherNoName]

I've never heard of it before. (And I live in Florida, too.)

[barslave]

I also live in Florida and we just have the Amber Alert for children, never heard of Code Adam either.

[candieaddict]

I've never heard of it either. Best to not assume that everyone has heard of it, and just explain it to her.

[L]

Isn't that weird, in VT I recall always knowing about the Adam and Amber alerts. But then, I watched the news a lot too.

[Obvious]

We have the Amber Alert in Cali, never heard of Code Adam. Hospitals have Code Pink for abducted babies.

I'm assuming the Code was named after a kid named Adam who was prolly kidnapped? That's where we got Amber Alert from I think...

[EJ]

@Obvious: In the early 80s, a six year old child named Adam Walsh (the son of America's Most Wanted's John Walsh) was kidnapped from a Sears store in a mall in Hollywood, FL. It was months before they found his body. They managed to find the guy that kidnapped him and I believe he got the death penalty.

John Walsh and his then-wife Reve worked tirelessly to get a system put in place to find missing children. (They were behind the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children -- the man who kidnapped Adam was a pedophile.)

(Probably a little more than you wanted to know... :-))

[Karebear]

We have both here, Amber Alert when the kid missing not in store (or is already taken out of store.) Code Adam is usually just a missing child in the store, if you cannot find him/her within 10 minutes, the police is called. If the kid has really been abducted, it because Amber Alert, where the whole county/region/whatever (depending on how long it's been really) is alerted. 9 times out of 10 kids are normally found within 1-5 minutes of the Code Adam being called out.

[Perky]

Here in FL too. Most stores that I know of have a code Adam, though I do not think it is mandatory for stores to have it. We have Amber Alerts too (as well as Silver Alerts). Amber and Silver alerts are for the general public and are broadcasted via the media. Code Adams are only for the store. Basically if a child goes missing in the store the employees are notified, manager or other team members search for the child, and someone is posted at all the entrances and exits to make sure that the child doesn't wander out of the store or to keep an eye out for any children matching that description.

[trekkiebabe31]

Yeah, we've got a Code Adam where I work too. I think it's pretty neat but it is possible that the lady simply didn't know what it was.

[Jami]

@EJ - Actually while Ottis Toole confessed to kidnapping, raping, and decapitating Adam Walsh, he was never charged with the crime and died of liver failure.

And yes, both the Amber Alert system and Code Adam were created after children were abducted.

The Amber Alert was created in honor of Amber Hagerman who was adbucted and murdered in 1996 in Texas.

Code Adam is for stores. The Amber Alert is for all general public areas. You can even have them text messaged to your phone.

[MahiMahi713]

I think the worst part about Amber, was that her killer was never caught. That bastard is sitting back where ever the hell her is, probably gloating about the fact that he go away with it.

[MahiMahi713]

I meant to say *He* in my previous comment, I accidentally said "her". Anyway, I have never heard of the Adam alert, but I have heard of the Amber alert and figured the "Adam Alert" had to do with a missing child.

[Nobody]

I live in the western US, and I know what a Code Adam is (although I've never heard one paged).

[Damn Yankee]

I was familiar with Code Adam even before I worked for Sam's Club. One thing I found most valuable when we did have to call Code Adam (it happened twice in four years) was knowing what the kid's shoes looked like. Someone can throw a jacket or sweatshirt on a kid, but shoes are a little harder to change.

[Mollywobbles]

I found out yesterday that this was posted on the anniversary of Adam Walsh's kidnapping/death. Was this done on purpose or is it just a coincidence?

[Durango Deli Slave]

Some people probably don't remember the Adam Walsh incident, and may not connect the two. I remember it clearly, because my parents had me watch the news and read the papers about the tragedy. I don't believe I ever got out of eyeshot of my parents again while in public.

[CharlieWhiskyMike]

It is one thing to be not familiar with the Adam Walsh incident and that Code Adam is named after this poor child but it really takes the cake to say so stupid things after get explanation about it.

I don't know about Code Adam because i´m from germany so i google it.

[MahiMahi713]

I'm with Charlie, I mean, what sale would be called an "Adam Alert".

[Skittles]

I've never heard of a code Adam either out in Cali but then I haven't worked retail in roughly 10 years. I was thinking it was the code for all the biggest toughest guys to go to the front of the store right up until the end of your tale.

[JBee]

At the retail store I worked in, we didn't have code Adam, we had a color code system instead. Code yellow was for lost child, code green for weather emergency, code blue for medical emergency. And you were never supposed to let customers know about missing children, with the idea being that if customers knew a child was separated from their parent in the store (and that child's description), they may take advantage of the situation to abduct the child. Or something.