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by **allisonaxe** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:47 am

I've never had this situation arise before. I generally try to stay out of the way of children in the toy aisles. if there's a child looking, kiddo gets first dibs pending parent approval. when the item I am looking at is unobstructed, into the cart it goes!

if i saw a kid that wanted what i had, well...... honestly, it depends on the kid, how the kid is behaving, and also, what exactly i was holding. if its something like, say, a leader movie prime (trying to find one like mad, wish i hadn't waited so long!) sorry, kid's not getting it, because it costs the most, and parental purchasing power probably says "no" to a $40 toy.

also, even though its a really crappy thing to teach a kid to steal like that, (and also dangerous, hello? what if you were a psychopath who chased after the kid and smashed him into a shelf with the cart? the thought would probably cross my mind, though i'd definitely not act on it) I'd probably do nothing about it. I mean, the world is a scary and crazy place full of psychos, and an adult running around screaming "that brat stole my toy" is a behavior that would tend to draw the kind of attention that I'd rather not have.

News Credits: 1 · by **Danish-Liokaiser** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:26 am

I have triet something like this before, on a car sale i sold some old toys, then i bought The Micromachine Deathstar, when i was away from my table for a few secs a kid grapped it and aksed me 'Is this one for sale?!' ... and i replied 'NO!' ... Well the point is that i hiddet it under the table where i had all the toys they could buy. It was packet away, so damn do not dare to open a box there isnt On the table kid :grin:

...

Well as long as there is like 3+ and 5+ instead of 3- ill take all the Tf's i want. But maybe i could give a kid the transformers IF i was in a really good mood. If someone took a thing of from my cart i would run after them like hell, get the thing back, and call for the manager of the store, simple ... People cant take stuff up from your cart and RUN away with it, and i dont care about age!. Simple :grin:

News Credits: 1 · by **pittsburg_22_m** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:30 am

NO!

I'd be all like "you little bastard, you don't deserve a $40 toy as you'll just muck it up anyways, here.....take this, its $6 and just as much fun....uh...its a barbie....oh sorry, i thought you were a little girl, here's a star wars toy.....wadda you mean you never heard of star wars....jesus f'n christ, kid get the F*CK OUTTA HERE!"

:-?

by **Optimus Schtool** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:36 am

I second the no thing.. I was at a Target today and this little punk actually OPENED a Blackout figure & tried to play with it... When he realized he couldn't even get the thing out of the package, he conveniently walked away, leaving me there by myself... Of course, an employee comes by to front/face the merchandise & sees the opened package--looked at me like I just cut his gazongas off.... I looked at him like--DUDE--I'm in my 30's--get a grip!!!

by **Sonray** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:03 am

HEEEEELL NO! Why oh why did you do that?! Youve been looking everywhere for it, and you finally find one and give it to some spoiled little brat who didnt even want the toy till he saw you with it!

Screw the kids, i have enough trouble finding the toys i want in stores as it is. If i was ever in that situation, id hold the toy in the little brats face and rub his snotty little nose in it, then wipe the snot off the box with his hair and then shout: "HA! TAKE THAT! I GOT IT AND YOU DONT! LIFE SUCKS SO DEAL WITH IT!"

...........................

Ok so i maybe i went over the top a bit there, id probably not do all that but i definateley wouldnt give it up. The kid shoulda been there sooner, and they need to learn how much of a disappointment life is at times anyway.

I hate parents who let their kids live in a suger coated fairy tale land. It just makes the shock of reality when they reach the age of 10 or 12 that much worse.

by **Sonray** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:11 am

Autobot032 wrote:I sorta had the same thing happen.

I was at Wal-Mart and found Armada Megatron (it was the first time he was due out), and there was only one on the shelf.

Just as I reached for it (and I had a hand on one edge of it) this kid grabs the other end and looked up at me with the saddest puppy dog eyes and I just couldn't take it from him, I let go and said "Have fun little man, I think you'll like him."

He started heading for the corner as his mother was coming down the aisle, and she said "No. Your birthday was yesterday and you've gotten all of your presents, plus spent all your birthday money. NO!"

I looked away, because that's just awkward...and then she came over and said "I couldn't help but overhear how kind you were. I appreciate that. This one's your's, and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks."

Another time, I was at K-Mart, trying to buy another Armada figure, and I had actually gotten the item, put it in my cart and went to another aisle. I noticed a kid following me, but I didn't pay much attention to it, I figured "kid being a kid" and thought nothing else of it.

So, I reach down on a rack below the cart to grab a case of water and I hear "WHAM!" and the cart rolls from me. The little punk grabbed the TF out of my cart and started running, and yelling "I got it! I got it!" to his dad, who said "Then get up here! Hurry! If you want it, we gotta cash out!"

I yelled "Oh no you don't oh hell no! I had that in my cart, heading to the cashier right after this! Your son grabbed it from my cart!" The dad said "Well too bad, you should've went to the register to pay for your stuff before this. Ain't our fault. Besides, you're too old for this kinda stuff."

I yelled "GET ME A MANAGER! NOW!" and the cashier did exactly that, along with stopping them from making the purchase. At first the manager said "Whichever one of you gets to the register first and pays for it, is the owner. Until then, it's anybody's game." I told her about how it was in my cart, and that a camera in the aisle caught it. She said it didn't matter, and I said "Oh yes it does. What if it was your purse in the cart and he grabbed it and ran? It's your's, so it's not right for him to take it. I have the cash, it was in my cart, he had no right to take it." Finally she agreed, and so did the cashier and the father put up a huge stink (and show right there in the store).

The manager said "I'll need to go pull up the security tape, or one of you can tell me the truth right now. Did you take this from his cart? Which is actually against store policy." The kid wouldn't answer, his dad did and lied for him.

The cashier said "Oh no, I heard you tell him he should've paid for it first."

The father said "You know what? F*ck this, and f*ck you. All of you. Give it to the asshole, son." the kid THREW it at me, I caught it and the dad said "I hope you're happy, you took joy away from my son. What goes around comes around." I told him he was raising a thief, and to get the hell out of there.

....oddly enough, the father was in the police blotter, one week later for receiving stolen goods, from his own brother. lol

People suck. Bad parents and managers, even more so.

Freaking good on you! I would have done the EXACT same thing, cept i wouldnt have even let the kid get so far as putting his dirty little hands inside MY cart to steal MY toy, id have kicked him off the damn thing long before he had the chance to run away to his dumb*ss hick father.

Jeez...people really do suck sometimes, and it disgusts me to see people bringing up their offspring in such ways.

News Credits: 11 · by **kirbenvost** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:04 pm

Saya wrote:The father in that situation seemed to be implicit in the kid's shennanigans, and that's probably because he thought that his kid had more of a right to the toy than an adult collector. I tend to agree with him, even if the way he went about getting the toy for his kid was pretty underhanded. Maybe he is just a bad father, there's no way of knowing. It's a pretty big leap to assume that something like this will start the kid stealing. It's not even stealing really, because you haven't paid for it, therefore it's not yours.

Snatching something out of someone's cart isn't stealing, but it is extremely rude, and that was very poor parenting to let his kid get away with something like that.

News Credits: 1 · by **yami4ct** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:29 pm

If I see a kid eying what I have in my cart or hand, and he looks nice a genuinely interested, I'll bring it over to him, show him it, talk about it with him, than ask if he wants it. If he says yes, I give it to him. I ended up doing it with many Leader Megatrons before actually getting one. Most of the time, though, I grab the kid another one off a high shelf. And a lot of the time, a kid asks me to get something high off the shelf, so I guess I help more that way. But if a kid took it right from my cart, I would chase him down. Punks like that need to be taught a lesson. I also chase off all those little-punk pre-teens that read Player's Guides in the store and copy stuff out of them instead of buying them.

by **Ballistic90** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:31 pm

kirbenvost wrote:
Saya wrote:The father in that situation seemed to be implicit in the kid's shennanigans, and that's probably because he thought that his kid had more of a right to the toy than an adult collector. I tend to agree with him, even if the way he went about getting the toy for his kid was pretty underhanded. Maybe he is just a bad father, there's no way of knowing. It's a pretty big leap to assume that something like this will start the kid stealing. It's not even stealing really, because you haven't paid for it, therefore it's not yours.

Snatching something out of someone's cart isn't stealing, but it is extremely rude, and that was very poor parenting to let his kid get away with something like that.

It's even worse that the father was encouraging it. It's not stealing, but not far from it.

by **Zombie Starscream** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:47 pm

I was also thinking.. If the kid was 'allowed' to take stuff out of your cart, and it is not considered stealing, wouldn't you just be as right to take it out of his? By that measure of logic the father was using to justify his kid's actions, you could have done the very same thing and he, by his own logic and rules, wouldn't be able to really do anything about it because you would be 'right." Not that I reccomend doing this of course, but it is an observation.

I don't mind giving a kid one of my toys, as long as I did it freely by choice, and not under threat of a "guilt trip" lecture given by the parents. I do not care whether I would be making the child lose "joy," if the means that I was being forced to relinquish the toy was wrong and not of my choice.

by **PaperBird** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:03 pm

Never been in a situation like that, but if I was it would depend on the kid. I have two young boy cousins and it's really satisfying to watch them play and enjoy the things I let them borrow or give to them, letting kids be kids. So I would probably give the kid the toy knowing that he/she would enjoy it, but if the kid was a punk... probably not, especially if I suspect it will be broken or forgotten an hour later.

About the whole toys are for kids thing, I think it really depends. Like I said earlier I really like enjoying the toys with kids. Kids put a lot more into having them in my opinion. There's nothing like seeing a worn down toy from years of play. That's just my opinion.

by **Ballistic90** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:10 pm

Saya wrote:The father in that situation seemed to be implicit in the kid's shennanigans, and that's probably because he thought that his kid had more of a right to the toy than an adult collector. I tend to agree with him, even if the way he went about getting the toy for his kid was pretty underhanded. Maybe he is just a bad father, there's no way of knowing. It's a pretty big leap to assume that something like this will start the kid stealing. It's not even stealing really, because you haven't paid for it, therefore it's not yours.

The reason I'd have let the kid have it is my opinion that they're meant for kids first and foremost, and has nothing to do with letting them run wild and free. There are a whole host of things kids do that piss me off, this just isn't one of them.

As for the argument about toys being for children, there is absolutely no way it's not the case. Do bear in mind I say meant for and not only for. Think about it. They have to conform to safety laws that were written with children in mind. The commercials feature kids playing with their Transformers, having the time of their life, not some adult collector sitting there posing it, or just standing back and admiring it, letting out a contented sigh as it just sits on his shelf MISB! And of course, there's the inescapable fact that if kids stopped buying Transformers, Hasbro would stop making them.

But yes, there's nothing wrong with adults buying Transformers, just as long as you're not snatching it out of the hands of a 6 year old.

And how did that father know that the adult buying it wasn't buying the toy for another kid? I fail to see how that father had any right to do what he did, and to then try to guilt the original purchaser of the said toy.