Toy-Store Rambling

Ragnell showed me this and it reminded me of both the most annoying thing and the most awesome thing about working in a toy store.

Oddly, the most annoying thing about the toy store to me isn't customers, it's the organization. The toys are divided into sections, naturally. Action/Adventure, Sports, Bikes, Dolls, Baby, Games and Preschool. Two sections have short hand of "Boys" and "Girls". The Boys department being of course Action and Sports. The girls being dolls and toy kitchens.

I know in some sense it's a ridiculous thing to be irritated by. Action figures ARE primarily boys' toys. Dolls ARE primarily girls. But...it just annoys me that in this day and age we still openly say that. Especially since we do get customers interested in buying sports equipment for girls or toy kitchens/play food for boys. And there's no poorer business sense than telling a ten year old boy that the tamagotchi he wants is in the girls' section.

I guess the outright gender association, while not unreasonable, just irks me. I split my time evenly between action figures and barbie dolls as a kid. (I admit, I usually stole GI Joe's guns and gave them to Barbie. But that's a digression). And I remember being uncomfortable when clerks thought I was lost and tried to lead me back to the dolls.

I also get annoyed by parents who go "Oh! He/She'll love this! Do you have it in pink?"

On the other hand though, I'm reminded of the coolest thing I ever saw at the store. There was a young father, maybe 28-ish. Very attractive. And his cute little daughter. She had to be about four or five.

Anyway. They were looking at bikes. And it was impossibly cute in the way that most families looking at bikes are as long as I don't have to get anything down for them from the ladder. :-) (ladder + bikes hanging from racks a foot above my head + distinct lack of coordination = not so fun time) The little girl tried a couple of different bikes. Barbie, Bratz, others. Then she found the one she liked.

It was a 12-inch boys Superman bike. All navy blue and red, with the "S". Very obviously a boy's bike. But she tried it and she really liked it. She was zooming across the room soon enough. I remember seeing the father look thoughtfully at the bike and waiting for the inevitable: "Do you have a version for girls?"

But he didn't. He just smiled. Took the kid and the bicycle. And bought it. No word about it being for boys. No trying to steer the kid toward the pink and purple monstrosities. He just bought the bike that his little girl wanted.

That made my day. Seriously. I can't explain why. It was just really cool to see. :-)