Their Expectations Are Sky High

I worked back in the day when Skylanders was all the rage. They’re little plastic figurines with a computer chip inside them that could be played as characters inside a videogame if you place them on a little pedestal that’s bought with the game.

Since we are a pre-owned store all of our stock is traded in, and since these are such a hot item at the moment, we don’t get many traded in at all.

Just before Christmas, we have a surge of disgruntled parents and children asking for stupidly rare ones.

Mother: “I don’t understand, you sell video games, don’t you?”

Me: “Yes, but we are a pre-owned and trade-in store. Our stock is dictated by what people trade in.”

Mother: “Well then get someone to trade it in!”

Me: “How would I do that, exactly?”

Mother: “Don’t you put out ads saying that Skylanders are in demand?”

Me: “We don’t put out ads for that, but customers do have a way of checking how much they can get for items if they do trade with us.”

Mother: “Well then put out an ad for [extremely rare metallic Skylander] and call me when it’s in.”

Me: “Again, we don’t put out ads like that. Also if we did get one in to trade, in good condition, it would sell for £450.”

Mother: “Whaaaat! That’s more than the PlayStation cost!”

Me: “Yes, because they made millions of those. The particular figurine you’re looking for was distributed in such low numbers that even finding one in the country would be difficult, let alone in a trade-in shop.”

Mother: *Glaring at me as she leaves.* “I held my son back from having a tantrum and destroying one of your displays! Now it was all for nothing!”

Thankfully she did not “release” her angry son on the way out and our displays remained safe. I f****** hate Christmas in retail…