And I’m glad to see the editors of BoingBoing are brave enough to post pranks like this even though they surely must have known they’d be called baby killers or worse for doing so. Thanks for giving me a good solid 5 minutes of laughter. And yes I know, I’m a horrible person for it.

There are escalators in the Targets that have a separate cart escalator in between the standard ones that the carts lock in to. It’s a pretty clever system, but I once witnessed someone’s cart full of stuff go crashing down the entire thing, so not foolproof :)

I’m not Swedish but I don’t find this concept very strange… of course, frozen texas toast type things are different and at least a little bit ridiculous :)

What I thought of, though, was Powdered Toast Man from Ren & Stimpy.

http://www.mixcloud.com/TheWahnbriefe/music-for-an-oil-painting-of-circus-clowns-storming-the-beach-at-normandy/?utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tag&utm_term=cloudcast_link

http://borkweb.deviantart.com/art/Circus-Clowns-Storming-the-Beach-at-Normandy-272451694

http://youtu.be/EB-sxHwW2vA

Cop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrugKjaXoxI
Doctor:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar_YdObxvLo

Bus Driver:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-BDlvPkP4Y

Pilot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3glR5F4li30&feature=related

Pilot pranks someone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIJrwP3WavM

Construction workers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CllIv0DmEVc

Maybe you just don’t like pranks?

Later you commented: “You and JohnBerry define, here, a form of sanctimonious pity for poor people that deprives them of anything except victimhood and the false narratives (“dignity”, “sanctity”) used to justify the awfulness of bad jobs.”

I have thought long and hard about the work we do during our lives. Our society has become so stratified, in part, because we view some jobs as inherently better than others and, being human, we extrapolate that the people doing the jobs are better. Where is the victimhood in thinking that the person waiting on tables is equal in dignity and value to that of a writer, film producer, or surgeon?

Now, are some jobs “bad” and “awful”? From my perspective, yes. Do I want to collect garbage? No way. But I know that the guy who collects my garbage loves his job. I know because I have talked to him. On the other hand he has had numerous partners over the years who absolutely hated the job and split at the first chance.

Thanks for engaging me in this discussion. I do appreciate criticism. Of course I much prefer it when people simply agree with me.

The stores themselves* create and generate the insanity to which you refer. Your anger is misguided. They could just have Black Friday-week but then that doesn’t fit well with their marketing plan.

* I think the moron cop at the the center of the UC Davis incident deserves blame for the pepper spray. Did such behaviour happen prior to America’s Finest demonstrating that it is perfectly acceptable to use pepper spray in non-violent situations?ª

ª Rhetorical question.

The guys in this video are clearly laughing at the ridiculous things they are about to have to say (PS – a painting of clowns storming Normandy? That’s art!), not at the people they are talking to. The shop staff they are talking to will not go home later or suffer any negative consequences from these guys asking for stupid things. Such a prank could only work in the stores like the ones they went to because only those kinds of stores would possibly stock any of the stuff on their list. There was no malice in any of the things they said, nor were they rude.

The Hispanic dude in video one was clearly amused and to his credit he maintained a professional attitude, rather than telling the guy to piss off as I probably would have when I worked in retail. Unless a person comes from money it is likely that they have worked a retail job or several in their life – I’d assume that the guys who made the vid have probably worked in retail themselves, but that’s besides the point. It’s a joke. No one was hurt. Calm down and find something meaningful to be outraged about.

(I’m outraged about the awful eye-melting animated gif ad on the sidebar telling me that I’m today’s 4S winner.)

*sigh*

And yes, I’ve worked retail.

I’ve had plenty of dumb and boring jobs, but it wasn’t the folks working there that were dumb and boring, just the job: awake and funny customers are always better than narrow-minded complainy whiners (or bosses), it gets the shift to go by more quickly! If I’m working one of those jobs, I’m getting paid by the hour anyway — I’d rather interact with a funny customer for 15 minutes than stack toilet paper, it still looks like I’m helping someone and I’m still going home at a set time.And I used to pull stuff like this all the time as a kid with my friends, and sometimes still do. Go to the grocery store with change for a dime and try to buy one grape as a sampler. They can’t weigh it. We used to go into the sporting goods department at Gemco (now Target) and innocently ask the nice old lady behind the counter which rifle made the loudest noise: she replied so sweetly that she hadn’t fired the guns herself and didn’t know but they do check them at the factory. We are subjected to so much randomly tragic and cruel absurdity in the modern crazy world, a little light-hearted creative absurdity can go a long way on a dull day! 

apparently asking a store employee where non-existant humorous items are is mean spirited but pouncing on someone for posting a blog post about it even if the poster wasn’t directly involved with the videos is a moronic civil duty.

concern troll guide to dickishness:
wasting a target/walmart employees time with good humor = dick move
wasting everyone who reads this blogs time with whiny posts = somehow better

It did make me wonder if some of the people asking for ridiculous things in the past were messing with me. Definitely have had people ask for VHS in recent years.

When people ask or say ridiculous stuff it becomes the laugh of the day in the break room. Like the guy that told us he was cleaning his dvds in the toilet. Or the woman that called and asked for naked aerobics movies.

Spices up the day.