Child Should Have Been Blocked

Children, Cleveland, Jerk, Ohio, Retail, USA | Related | April 23, 2016

(I’ve been looking for the latest series of collectible LEGO blind-bag mini-figures for two months, but to my ire, they have been very hard to find. I stop at a retail store and head to the toy aisles, but first, I check out the action figures. As I then head towards the LEGO aisle, I can overhear an employee speaking to a supervisor over his phone.)

Employee: “Uh, yeah, can he buy the whole box?”

Child: “I want all of them, Mom! All of them!”

(My heart sinks, but I hurry over to the aisle. Sure enough, a son is with his parents and the employee with a cardboard display full of the latest mini-figure blind-bags. I’m shocked. I expect this kind of mass-purchasing from adult collectors of the line, but not from a kid who looks eight years old. I back away and watch as the scene plays out.)

Employee: *gets off the phone* “All right, sure, he says it’s okay.”

Kid: “YAY!”

(The mother then plops the display of mini-figures on top of her cart. Still stunned, I try to make humor of the situation by speaking to the mother.)

Me: “He must have a lot of money on him, huh?”

Mother: “Nah, he’s just spoiled.”

(I was stunned again by the comment as the family walked away. I asked another employee if they had any more in the back, but I was told that they did not. I didn’t manage to find the figures anywhere else that day, either.)

This story is part of our Lego roundup!