Have you ever worked in a toy store?

[SheepEater]

Have you ever worked in a toy store?

Please share your stories and anecdotes, if that's the case!

ESPECIALLY if they involve our favorite toy.

[Kayne]

About 10 years ago as a young pup in college, I was the Toy department Manager in a Meijer. That was a great job! Also, the Lego rep used to hang out in my store because I was a nerd for legos. She always had good info and brought the new sets first so we could sell them(or me buy them). The problem was that I spent too much money....between Lego Star Wars having first started, Star Wars figures and Gundam models I feel like I spent far too much of my paycheck each week. My wife agreed :)

Edited March 16, 2013 by Kayne

[obsidianheart]

I worked in a major chain toy store for nearly a decade. Most of that time I was doing the "LEGO Dark Ages" thing, and spent most of my money on video games (which was the department I worked in, not-so-coincidentally).

I have a lot of stories, but most of them aren't hilarious.

I did not have fun at that job.

[def]

I was a clerk and then an asst. manager at Toys R Us for about five years. Terrible pay, and Christmas was surreal, but I had a lot of fun. I was working there when the first wave of Star Wars Lego came out, and I couldn't resist especially when they were drastically marked down months later... It didn't sell as well as it does today.

[Galaxy Explorer]

I worked as a sales associate at TRU for five years, 2002-2007. I have to say it was a rollercoaster of an experience. Black Fridays were a lot of fun for me- I remember selling customers the UCS TIE Interceptor for $50, telling them what a steal it was! I frequently worked in the stock room, unloading trucks, and that was the perfect opportunity to to see the newest stuff- it was complete torture for me when the ROTS stuff came out in 2005. We received shipments three weeks before the street date and were completely forbidden to purchase anything until that time.

I guess the best experience I had there was when a Mother with her 11 year old son came in looking for roadplates. He was working on a school project which required building a LEGO city. This was 2003, and the only plates we carried were curves and straights. He needed intersections, but the only way to get those was through SAH. His project was due on Monday, so there was no time. So I told them I would loan them roadplates from my own collection- they were very happy to accept, and the kid got an A on his project. I was just glad I could help out.

There have been a lot of unpleasant experiences as well, but no job is perfect. If my "real" job hadn't been more demanding, I imagine I would still be there, happily in the LEGO aisle.

[Daenerys Targaryen]

I was a "Red Shirt" at the local Games Workshop store before our lease ran-out and the mall booted us out for being too loud & fun-loving.

Aside from the fact that we bacame known across the entire company - including HQ in Nottingham as "the store that God hates" due to the various minor disasters that would routinely strike the store...

Or that I had to deal with the most akward groups of nerds/geeks...

Or the horrific mall working conditions...

And that we were nothing more than a glorified baby-sitting service...

It was a tone of fun! (what other job pays me to lead a "WAAAAAAAAAGH!" so loud it was heard 1/3rd of a kilometer away?!!)

But seriously, I've never, ever known, or worked in a place that was as badly cursed as GW Store2013. (outside of 'volcanic eruption', you name it - odds are I've got a story to go with it!)

[escortmad79]

Used to work as a sales assistant in TRU. Due to my love of Lego, I was in charge of stocking up the Lego shelves

[Good Cragger Fan]

I was on a work experience at a Toys'R'Us once, about a year and a half ago through college, and I sometimes worked in the LEGO section. (It was a lot of fun!)