the 7 year old cleric is the future of the hobby they NEED to be encouraged especially as it opens up their imagination and can spark a desire to explore storytelling and fiction. I love the fact it's a family ffair and I hope she continues it cause well that's really just awesome.
thankfully the majority of kids in stores I frequent are spawnlings of gamers and so understand ask and be careful by about age six or seven. I regularly get my ass handed to me by a 9 year old magic player who learnt from his dad. He sometimes struggles competitively because he builds based on rule of cool rather than synergy so high cost creatures with cool special rules and triggers appear without the support base they need but as a player he is a really nice person to play and when he builds something he likes based on a rule/trigger you see some really challenging off the wall stuff.
I do tend to feel bad about dismantling the combo when I can see them coming because of the effort and skill involved but he's normally pretty dam good about accepting losses and after talking to his dad I stopped worrying about it so much.
I have had models damaged by THAT KID before, including a couple of conversions that I have been building, almost cured greenstuff sculpt that I'm REALLY happy with and I turn my back for ONE just ONE second and there's a thumbprint in the centre of the fifteen hour worth of sculpting.
Normally I don't sweat it as it's usually an easy repair of a knocked out of sync weapon or a change in pose but on the occasion that my Scratchbuilt commissioned 54MM felinid and my Limited Edition 54mm Tallulah Belle got picked up by the tail and the sword with a cry of "WOW!!! He has a cartoon cat person and an angel MUMMY MUMMY look!!!" while he ran across the store with them dangling and then dropped them on the counter in a huff when she ignored him.
This leading to the the sword blade snapping off completely twisting the hand slightly because of the torsion and the tail's wire got bent out of shape and Dimi's Balisong handle snapping off, I started to swear as I stood up from sorting through my brass etching sheets looking for a specific eagle, seeing them gone and hearing the cry I swore under my breath and rushed over to check the damage.
It's mother got really snotty as I asked her to move slightly so I could check the damage as I was getting in the way of her shopping and then seeing my groan of horror and muttered curses responded with "it's a toy, kids play with them and they get damaged, you can buy another, you probably have a whole case full so a little knock on one toy isn't a big deal." lead me to be even more upset and irritated and start to snap back and though I'm not proud of it, mumbling "beslubbering wonderful, this is a beslubbering nightmare" leading to a look of disgust from the mother and lecturing me for swearing and getting upset because it's "its just a sodding toy"
As I wound up for a rant the store manager stepped in and asked what happened. I explained as she started talking over me that her precious spawn had been looking at it with permission and put it down and they broke, he asked who'd given permission and she pointed at the staff member behind the till. I snapped at her that He couldn't and wouldn't as their MY models not the shops. The manager could tell I was really going to kick off at that point as she was snottily saying "if they can't take a small knock then their crappily built and worthless and anyway I can just buy another so theirs no problem" and that's when I swore repeatedly under my breath before a deep breath and snapping.
"NO I well can't just buy another one, their Aren't any more of these two miniatures to BY, the 'Cartoon cat person' is a One of One. I have the ONLY Bloody one and it isn't crap it's thirty odd hours of work BY HAND with about two weeks of design work, sketching and discussion, and the Sky pirate is number 84 of 150, it's a limited edition model, there won't ever be another run of her in this Scale!. she got arsey at this point pointing to a flyer/poster with that mini on it with a tag saying they will be in in the next few weeks.
I took the poster and tried to explain the difference between the model on the poster (28mm) and my Larger Scale model with it's 3D printed base and different level of detail but all I got back was attitude and abuse because it's Just a toy, it should be able to cope with being played with, it's a child and I should basically suck it up and deal with it and I need to get a life if a kid's playing with my toy's and accidentally damaging it upset me this much.
I tried to be the more mature one even though I'd sworn on seeing the damage, I'd asked politely for her to allow me to retrieve my models from the till to check the damage and had honestly expected her to at least apologise for the damage of my models but all I got was abuse.
finally I just turned and asked the manager how much a 150 model limited sculpt would be worth based on Ltd run models he has seen and sold before and a Sculpt from one of Games Workshop's design team would cost the company to produce?
(wasn't in a GW store but their the biggest company in the UK and most well known plus she was grudgingly buying a gift for someone had walked in looked around scornfully and let her hellspawn run riot whilst when asked what she was looking for just thrust her phone at the member of staff with the name of the marine unit she'd been asked to get and the manager is a mate of mine, ex GW staffer)
The look on her face when he said "Ballpark guess up to a couple of hundred for the Ltd Edition depending on how popular the design was and in terms of the hours of work could be couple of grand to get a single model sculpted and approved to make the Master for a cast was amazing.
Even at that point she didn't apologise/make the kid apologise or even acknowledge she or her child had any blame at all in the situation. It was my fault for having the models out where they could be grabbed, my fault for not telling him not to touch the models (even when a couple of the others at the painting table pointed out they'd told him not to and tried to stop him) my fault for getting upset and laid into me for being immature and pathetic. Basically every string of digs and negative comments that people who don't get the hobby tend to throw at gamers as well as blaming the manager for not stopping it (ignoring the big signs saying children mustn't be let unattended in/around the store and they mustn't touch miniatures without asking the owner big warning that stuff in/around the painting area shouldn't be touched because it could be wet/drying/not quite stuck together yet.
at no point at all was their any sense that she was to blame for the situation and that any damage is a risk I should just accept because "kid's will be kids". the manager who had come over initially to see if I was ok because I was being laid into threw her out taking the box of marine bikers out of her hands, thrust the cash back at her and told her really bluntly that, any sales she produces for the store aren't worth the hassle she's caused.
he told her that even if he took her money and took her on as a customer, that she has cost him more than that sale was worth. in terms of goodwill and reputation, that her toxic attitude and berating of a physically vulnerable customer, in defence of piss poor and potentially criminal behaviour (destruction of property through negligence if I remember the explanation right) from her son would damage the store's reputation by accepting her as a customer as it would imply that he condoned such behaviour. finishing the discussion by telling her if she or her kid came back he would have her trespassed and pretty firmly escorted her and the kid out of the shop before shutting the door and locking it while she shouted through the glass.
I was stood shocked and in awe as that happened and the fact he came back got me a cup of tea and spent the next 45 minutes helping me work out how to fix the issue and apologised repeatedly for what happened.
sorry for bumping an old thread but... seeing the thread made me want to tell the story. It's one of very few horror stories I have from the dreaded threat of the unmuzzled/unleashed game store kid but this one is a cracker of a tale.
I love the enthusiasm and the passion that kids put into their hobbies and try to make an effort to support them when they do. Treating them as I would an adult opponent, trying to support them in their learning about the hobby or even just playing along and listening because they one day will be in the position I am and hopefully they will remember how they were treated and do the same.
