A Small Rant About the Monthly Mini-Build

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I just need to ventilate for a bit. So I took my daughter to the Lego Store's monthly mini-build--we've done it every month since October of last year, when these three ladies started very vocally arguing in line. My daughter and I were third in line today--that's pretty good since the MMB lines tend to wrap around the outside of the store. Anyway, there were two ladies in front of us, and a third lady who appeared to be a grandmother sitting on the other side of the door. Apparently the grandmother had never been to a MMB before and somehow sat on the wrong side of the door, thinking she was first in line. (Maybe this was true, maybe it wasn't--I do seem to remember seeing her in the store when we got there an hour earlier.)

Grandma thought that since she made a mistake but had been there since 3:30, the other people in line should let her go first. The two ladies ahead of me told her that she needed to get to the back of the line since everyone else had been waiting in the proper spot the whole time. Nobody got physical, but they started getting really snippy (somebody mentioned something about pornography, I have no idea why) and the manager eventually had to settle everyone down. He eventually let grandma just go in to do the build with her grandkid. Everyone else went in at 5 p.m. as normal.

Sheesh, what a lousy example. It's free Lego, people. LEGO. The happiest toy on the Earth. Lego should be about bringing people together, not fighting about who gets to go in the store first. Maybe under different circumstances, somebody would have been right or wrong, but the line wasn't even that long tonight. (The store only gives out 150 sets--I'm sure there were well under 100 people tonight.) Plus, your kids are watching. Set an example on how to have a proper argument, rather than getting publicly snippy and showing your kids what an megablocks you are.

Personally, I think grandma was in the wrong for not realizing where the line was. I also think the two ladies acted like jerks and could have been charitable by saying something like "Hey, just so you know next time, the line forms over here. But go on ahead, there's plenty of Lego to go around."

Anyhow, we still got our free build--a minifig-scale lawnmower. We have Chicken Suit Guy driving it right now. I had a good time, even if three people ahead of me didn't.

Anybody else have any horror stories from the MMBs?

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Wow that is quite sad, but with what I've seen people fight over flipping through channels, not surprising. As for a horror story about MMB? Never been to one, or an actual LEGO store for that matter

[autorazr]

meh, if there was some evidence that "grandma" would learn from her mistakes, I would have certainly just let her be, however my experience in this world is that some people just don't pay attention, and never will. Those people need to be told what it is. Sad that it escalated to an inappropriate level, but glad someone stood up for following the rules.

[kibosh]

Was grandma in line on the other side of the door when you lined up? If so, she was at least in the first three. I'd certainly cut her some slack at that point. If not, maybe a different situation.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Was grandma in line on the other side of the door when you lined up? If so, she was at least in the first three. I'd certainly cut her some slack at that point. If not, maybe a different situation.

You know, I'm honestly not sure if she was there when we lined up or not. I was either in the store while my daughter held our place, or else I was outside with her helping her do her homework. I didn't notice her there until 10 minutes before the event, at which point the bickering started.

Wonder what their kids learned from the whole thing....