I’ve never been into collectibles myself, but I understand from friends and family how coveted certain items can become.

I’m sure it’s super disappointing to come out and wait, only to realize that you missed your shot.

That said, you can’t just take it from someone else.

Not legally, anyway.

And the employee in this story wasn’t about to do it for them.

Check out the details.

Go rip it out of their hands for me!

I used to work for a retailer that sold “collectible figurines” that had special releases.

On my very last day, there was a limited edition release where there was only one special variant in the entire store.

I was also on my own that morning, the seasonal associate who was supposed to be there pulled a no-show.

Now the rules about buying and selling these were specific:

1. No line-ups outside the store before opening -Any line-ups will not be treated as such, first person to grab item gets it.
2. Only one variant per person -No holds -Cannot answer calls about said item -And since it was a variant, said item could not be looked up in the computer.

They didn’t seem to be in a hurry.

So on this day, there were a few people lined up outside the store before the gate opened, a family of regulars and two guys I don’t know.

I open the doors, and the family of regulars goes straight to the back of the store for the item, while the new guys stop and chat with me for a while.

I go about my usual opening business, opening audit, whatever. I’m disrupted by the new guys ripping apart the entire wall of figurines.

Turns out they should have been.

I asked them what they were looking for, and when they named the variant figurine, I mentioned that there was only one, and that someone else must have already grabbed it.

The two guys proceeded to stomp over and essentially throw a temper tantrum in front of my till.

G: Two guys M: Me

G: We were here first, we waited all morning for it. M: There’s nothing I can do, we do not honor line-ups, and they grabbed it first.

Sorry, what?

G: Well go ask her to give it to us.

I blinked out of confusion.

G: We were here first, it’s ours.

I repeated that there was nothing I could do, and policy would not allow me to do otherwise.

G: Go grab it from her! or call another store and have them ship theirs here.

At this point the store was starting to fill up, so I just told them the other locations of the specific store and wished them luck finding the item there.

Like buddy, trust me that if I could get you this item and out of here I would, someone just already grabbed it.

They stayed in front of my register and kept screaming at me until I finally was able to flag down a security guard to get them out (didn’t have the number for mall security in the store).

Some people are wild.

I bet Reddit thinks the same thing.

I can think of a few other possibilities.

Focus, dude!

I guess everyone needs a hobby.

Know the rules going in.

To each their own.

She had to call security.

That is insane.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.