I'm with you....if there is no tester than she shouldn't have been harrassed....also, most malls have good security so as long as the 12 year old works within certain guidelines what's the deal?

I mean, jeez, the bad publicity alone speaks against the store taking such extreme measures.

>>Try it before you buy it, but she didn't have the money to buy it. It was a heavy-handed response, but she was still wrong. Plus, 12 years old and out on her own? Is that normal?
>>
>>http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1035897/Nailed-Security-guard-police-officers-interrogated-grammar-girl-painted-fingernail-Boots.html
>
>Yes, she was wrong to try it when there was no tester. (I think it's pretty common for there to be "testers"--trial versions--of cosmetics. I'll let someone who actually buys cosmetics confirm that.)
>
>But to threaten someone, child or adult, with theft for it seems pretty ridiculous to me. If she'd asked a clerk, she probably would have been allowed to try it.
>
>As for a 12-year-old out on her own, sure, why not? I was letting my kids ride the bus to the mall at that age. I didn't let them go just to hang out, but if they had a reason, why not?
>
>When I was 12, I was getting paid to babysit for other people's kids.
>
>Tamar