Jude loves these things. It is so funny because they were cool when I was younger. Jude is has always been "old school". Yesterday at Goodwill I found the TMNT movies (part 1 & 2) for one dollar a piece. I bought them for him and he started watching one this morning. It made me remember that I saw both of those movies in the theater. I was a weird girl. Here's the thing...I worked at Toys R Us. Most of the time I worked in (straightened & stocked) the action figure isles. I pretty much became an expert on those toys. The Turtles, Spawn, Power Rangers, Star Wars, Hotwheels....the list goes on and on. Unless you have worked at a toy store that collects this type of toy you probably don't know about the "collectors". Yes, you've heard of grown men who collect toys in the box, hoping they will sell them some day for lots of money....but do you know the lengths they go to get them? It is INSANE. Seriously. I worked at three different Toys R Us stores at different times and I would see the same collectors. They would go from store to store. When I gave my notice and mentioned it to one of the collectors he actually offered to pay me $2 extra (under the table) to keep working there because I knew the good stuff and could tell him if it was there. I didn't do it. Isn't that crazy?
Well, there was this guy that worked at Toy R Us with me. He was in his twenties and he had a very strange obsession with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think he thought he was one. He bought two of every action figure - one to keep in the box and one to act out the movies. Not only did he have this turtle thing going on but he also had a very intense fascination with me. I was nice to him. That, apparently, didn't happen often. I was always attracted to (not in a hubba hubba way but drawn to) very odd people. He was definitely odd. He would call me. He would write me 10 page letters professing his love for me. It took him like a year to tell me about this craziness but he remembered exactly what I was wearing the first time he met me and exactly where I was standing. He would come to my other work (a restaurant) and just sit and stare. Looking back now, I should have probably gotten a restraining order but I didn't. I was too nice. I was upfront with him and told him I wasn't interested but it was like he didn't hear me. One night I worked this extremely long shift (overnight). I was still there when the store opened. The turtle guy was there and he started following me around. At first I was tolerant but when he walked out to my car and tried to open the car door for me I broke. I turned and yelled at him. I said something like...just leave me alone. I still remember the look on his face. He finally heard me. He didn't say a word but turned and walked away. He went back into the store and passed out. Yes...he fainted. He hit is head on a shelf and had to get stitches. It wasn't long after that incident that I went away to Kent State. I don't know what ever happened to him but while at Kent I worked at a new Toys R Us. When the manager called the old store for a reference they told him the story (ha ha right). He thought it was great and always called me the "black widow". Nice.
Hopefully Jude grows out of the "turtle" phase before he is 25!
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