Now THAT is Service

(aka The Free Balloons for Everyone Theory)
(aka Balloons, the Lost Secret of Happiness)

I went to Best Buy this evening on the way back from picking up the girls from their mother's. It was supposed to be a quick trip, just getting a gift card for someone, but Darby had other plans.

She had a big fit about wanting to throw her candy cane away. Usually you can't pry her away from candy, but in this case she wanted to throw it out like it was fuzz-covered. She wasn't halfway done with it and wanted to throw it out on the way into the store, but I told her not to throw it out because we would be in there less than five minutes and that would be a waste. Well, she started crying because she thought they would think she stole it, but I explained that there wasn't candy in this store and that I would have had her leave it in the car if I thought there would be an issue. But that wasn't good enough and she stopped in front of the store and wouldn't go in. ARGH.

[snip]

Well, after we finally got in there, I grabbed what I needed and went to the register, and it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. Well, the young woman at the register saw that Darby had been crying and asked her what was wrong. I explained that she just had a little fit. So she asked if Darby wanted a balloon, but Darby said no. However, that got Shelby started... She began jumping up and down "I want one, I want one." So I started looking around and didn't see any balloons and I thought WTF? Well, just then the young lady CLOSED HER REGISTER, lead us to the stock room, went in the back where there were apparently balloons and a hellium tank (go figure) and she proceeded to fill two balloons and tie strings to them. She brought them out and handed one to each girl with a smile.

Holy cow. All over a candy cane. So much for a five minute trip.

So I apologized to her when she brought the balloons out, for distracting her from her duties, but she just said "That's okay, balloons make everyone happier."


That was strange and unexpected. Unfortunately it doesn't break Shelby from the belief that anywhere you see a balloon you can just ask for one. There have been several instances in the past where Shelby saw a balloon or balloons and asked for one -- when they were clearly for decoration and not for giving out -- and she is so cute that people just say okay and give her one. I think she believes in free balloons for everyone as much as she believes in Santa Claus right now.