It was 1985 and I worked as an assistant manager for a store called The Toy Works in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was located in the first Biggs mall in the United States. The top toy that year was Optimus Prime of Transformers fame. A lady came in and a bought the last one we had on the shelf. Because she had to go shop in the Biggs store itself, she asked if we hold it behind the counter for her and we told her would be happy to do so.

A bit later, two women came in and asked if we had any Optimus Prime toys left and we informed them we just sold the last one. While the two women were in the store, the first lady came back and asked for her Optimus Prime. When we pulled it from behind the counter, the other two ladies went ballistic. “You are holding toys for your friends. You lied to us. You had one all along.” They were screaming. I tried to explain the woman bought the toy earlier and even tried to show them the receipt, but they would not listen to any reason. Then things turned dark.

One of the women said, speaking to the toy’s owner,  “We are going to follow you to your car, kick your ass and take it away from you.”

We called security to escort the poor woman to her car and the other two ladies followed them through the parking lot cursing and screaming. When the two women came back to our store to shop for other toys, I would not let them inside and once again needed to call security to make them leave.

Don’t ever get between a mamma bear and the only toy which will make one of her cubs happy. Christmas is a wonderful time of year. But for some people…