Quarantined Toys
My parents are in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. They arrived Wednesday, we had lots of turkey yesterday, and later tonight, my Dad and I will take in a Rochester Amerks hockey game. But, today meant rolling out of bed early so we could catch some of the early bird specials on this Black Friday. We entered each store with great anticipation of finding the best sale items. Of course the sale flyers were nicely lined up at the front of each store, but for those of us who are real Black Friday shoppers, we already knew what we wanted.
However, little did we know, we would hear a new word associated with toy shopping today.
My Dad, who loves little gadget toys, (I guess that’s where I get it from), wanted to visit a Walgreens where the advertised sale was a $9.99 toy helicopter. Sure, it’s just a little under ten bucks, but hey, it’s a toy and looked kinda cool in the sale flyer. The store opened at 7am, we arrived around 8am.
Now, it’s not what you’re thinking. I’m sure many at this point are thinking — You got there too late! The helicopters will all be gone!
But, that was not the case. All the toy helicopters are stacked in the back of the store in what’s being called quarantine! Yes, you just read that right. The toys are quarantined. I asked one of the tellers what that meant, and she said we’re not really sure, but when we scanned the items last night getting ready for the sale today, the message on the register said; This item unable to be sold in store. A little more detective work on behalf of the manager turned up the reason for the message. The toys are in quarantine.
How did this happen? I’m guessing it’s because they probably come from China, and we all know China has a problem with lead paint these days. In other words, the toy helicopters may have lead paint on them, so just to be safe, Walgreens put them into quarantine.
Very odd don’t you think? I’ve heard of many things happening over Christmas, but never before have I heard of a toy heading into the quarantined section of the store. I wonder how many other toys might fall into the same category this year.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
