going shopping

Growing up in West Virginia, I thought that the cigarette machines said "not for sale to minors" because it would give coal miners black lung.

Tom W.

I was about seven. And my parents had just divorced. I was at was at the grocery store with my mom, and this guy starts flirting with her. Well I was getting impatient, and wanted to push the shopping cart. The guy turns to me and says, "you know you've gotta have a license to drive that thing," and for several years, I was afraid to push a shopping cart because I wasn't a licensed driver, and I was scared of breaking the law. And still I had wondered why they would make those children's shopping carts, when it was illegal for them to use them anyways.

I wanna push the shopping cart!

When i was 5 or 6 or something I was convinced that if you did not have enough money for something that the shop keeper would not only give you the item but would also hand over the money your were short of. It wasn't until the nice lady in the sweet shop explained it to me that that wasn't what getting change was about. And that had to happen in the first time i went out with just my younger brother and myself. Embarrassing or what! ... Hmm, that may explain my aversion to capitalism in later life.

~Ra thinks: Just gimmi the sweets lady!

When I was about 7 or 8 my mother took me and my brother to a card shop. On the counter was a fish tank full of water with a bubling water filter inside.

It was suspiciously absent of fish. I am not sure, but I think I asked my mom why there were no fish.

In front of the cashier she told me there were fish in the tank, they were just invisible and that they would appear when the moonlight shined on the tank at midnight. The cashier seemed to happily confirm this fact.

I stared at the tank to see if I could see any movement, but it was difficult with the bubles bubbling from the filter. My imagination would conjure up visions of moon light streaking in from front of the store while it was dark and the store was empty and the fish suddenly appearing.

I thought this true for years until I was a teenager. My mom liked to tell me things like this.

Keith

I used to get scared when they announced the mall was closing that we wouldn't make it out on time. For whatever reason, I thought if you got caught there after closing you'd be turned into a mannequin.

Anon

when I was about 10 and saw "sundries" advertised on stores I thought they sold raisins, prunes, etc.--"sun dries", things dried in the sun.

DJ

When I was about 3 years old, my mom always took me shopping. But whenever I spotted something I wanted, I wanted it. So badly. And when my mom told me that I couldnt have it, I would cry. So loudly.

So instead, she came up with a routine. Whenever I wanted something, she would say, "Let's go ask the manager (I thought everyone who had a job was a manager) if they will let you buy that, then." And so we would go to the cashier and my mom would say, "Excuse me, my daughter would like permission to buy this." And she would wink to the cashier. Then the cashier would reply, "Oh...I'm afraid we cannot sell that to you today." And I would say, "Oh. Okay." And obey her because to me then, the manager was like God. =P

Grace

When there was an advert for a "3 peice suite" i thought it was a shop selling 3 P Sweet's!!!

Kate Parker

When I was little, the cashiers at the store would i guess "pretend" and tell me that when i got candy, i got it for free cuz i was so cute. So, I thought cand was free for me. Anyway, one day, I just took it without telling my mom and I got in trouble! She had this black manager guy come over and give me a "talk" about not being a little theif. It's their fault! they're the ones who told me it was free! I don't know why, but that story al ways made me REALLY mad. argh...

Nick

when i was 5 my grandparents took me to my first yard sale and for a few years i said nothing but thougt it was strange. one saturday my grandfather said we were going to a few yardsales and i just couldnt hold it in anymore i asked "why do some people sell there yards but keep their house?" well they still laugh about it.

tara

When I was little, Whenever we went to the mall, and went into one of the stores, I would stand up on the displays and stay very still, thinking I would blend in with the Mannequins!

Eeveelover8632

When I was around 5 years old, I was suspicious of certain mannequins in the department store (the more life-like ones), because I believed that they could move if they wanted to, and that they were experts at standing perfectly still. I remember gazing at one to see if I could catch him moving, even just a twitch. After a moment I gave up, and as I walked past him I believed he was moving his eyes to watch me walk by. Thinking I might catch him looking at me, I quickly turned my head, but by that time he had already resumed his blank expression. Damn! He's too quick. I believed the reason that some of the mannequins had such smirks on their faces was because they knew they were fooling me. I also believed that they furtively communicated across the store to each other by winking one eyelid. That was their version of giving each other a "high five".

DeeDub

I used to believe that the dummies in the windows of clothes shops were real people and they had to stand still all day.

Anon

My Mother used to play games (more for her benefit) with me when I was young. She used to tell me that store mannequins were actually real, live people who were paid to stand still all day and model clothing. She used to tell me to go and talk to them while she shopped because they get lonely. So, here I was, 3 or 4 years old, talking to mannequins all the time. When I asked her why they never talked back, she simply replied, "Well, they will get fired, they're not allowed to." Love ya' Mom!

Lisa Lynette

when i was 5 my cousin told me that shop dummys were people who were evil and got thier arms cut off and were covered in plastic in a factory in china. he also said they came to life at night and thats why they sometimes had on clothes on. then i realized they were hollow.:)

air

I used to believe that the dark spots on the pavement of grocery store parking lots were left from children that had been run over because they weren't holding their mom's hand.

Anon

I used to think that F.A.O. Schwarz toy store was a hands-on children's museum. My mom told me that so I wouldn't ask her if I could get a toy.

Anon

My frugal mother had me believing that if something wasn't ON SALE, it wasn't FOR SALE. This kept the nagging down until we realized the truth.

Sploxy

when i was a little i used to believe the travel section (the section with all the mini bottles of shampoo and stuff) was the aisle where little people shopped. when i say little people i don't mean dwarfs, i mean miniature grown-ups a little taller than i was. it only made sense that mini people needed mini things. and the reason why i never saw them was because they only shopped at night when everyone else was sleeping, there was a whole different mini world at night. then when i went to bj's for the first time i thought "this must be the place where the really big people shop." i have no idea how old i was when i believed this or when i realized i was terribly mistaken.

andi

We used to pass a building that said "Auto Body/Paint." I thought it referred to body paint, and that hippies would go through there like a car wash and get designs spray-painted on themselves. I have no idea how I found out about either hippies or body paint as a grade schooler.

Jessica