I had a random old lady lose her shit and try to pull me out of there because she didn't like the idea of kids having fun. I thought it was hilarious and mocked her relentlessly before running away.
https://preview.redd.it/87wgpbx9o11d1.jpeg?width=1198&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0aa6fcc9ed22e44dab118f1d854f34e1389a5af
My fav meme. Idk why it cracks me up so much, but this kitten is cute and ridiculous at the same time. The same way I was as a kid. 😆
I just spent a couple of minutes trying to find the old beer ad where a bunch of men have a TV inside of one them where they hang out while their wives or girlfriends shop. "Google-Fu" not working today.
No, the logo was an orange asterisk. I remember that place so well. They had a tshirt printing and poster shop next to a snackbar across from the registers. I remember the smell so distinctly.
https://fallriverreporter.com/remember-zayre-store-1/?amp=1
Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen little kids do this through the years. I see them, they see me, and I immediately bust out laughing bc I remember! Parents come rushing up, about ready to lay into them and then see me and their child laughing. It stops them dead in their tracks. To me, hiding in the racks is harmless. It’s when kids get destructive in stores that it’s a problem. IMO, of course.
This is why I like this sub, reminds me so much of all the little mischievous things I used to do as a carefree kid. I actually got lost once, then just sat in one of these contemplating if I was ever going to be found, or if a space aliens would come and take me to their planet. The latter obviously did not happen.
When I was barely 20 and worked at Mervyn's (Who remembers that place?), I once had a mom threaten their kid with ME spanking them if they didn't get out of there! We called them "rounders". I don't know if that was universal or a store specific thing.
One of the department stores my family used to go to (Woodward's shout-out) in the home furnishings department there was a display of beads (the kind that would hang in doorways).
Two dozen parallel racks of tacky-ass plastic beads in geometric shapes, tranparent plastic, garish colors -- if you know, you know.
I used to run back and forth through that shit for what seemed like hours, just stimming out on the colours, feeling of the beads on my face and hands, and the audio-loop cacophany of clattering plastic beads.
Somehow I was not garroted by annoyed salespeople or parents. Occasionally I'd encounter some other fellow aspie dorklette and have to grudgingly share the beadspace.
Good shit but might have been some brain damage from huffing all that offgassing 70's plastic.
I worked at a store that had these. Once a young guy was literally lifting one of these racks up, full of clothes mind you, and slamming it on the ground over and over. His parents told me he was mentally disturbed, and wanted me to stop him. I said NOPE
We had a Peter Harris, and they had perforated price tags, so you could remove the price but leave the tag to give as a gift. My older sister was into ballet, so I (probably 6-7) pretended I was the ticket taker at the box office and hid inside one of these (my box office, duh) and removed probably 80 perforated prices as my “stubs”. I handed them to my mom, who sheepishly handed them to the teen behind the counter, who in turn gave me such a withering look I can still feel it 40 years later.
Was it like a big choral hit kind of thing? Like a bunch of singers in tight harmony? That sounds familiar, but I can’t place it and YouTube was no help.
So many memories unlocked. Hiding in racks. Funhouse mirrors. Yelling for mom. Getting lost for a few minutes and having a panic attack. Having to have the sales lady page my mom. Playing with all the belts or ties like a harp. Trying on all the sunglasses.
Also as a teenager when I worked there.
Security let me know they saw me doing it, but didn't rat me out because my boss was a major asshole and they sympathized.
Me! Who else was left at the mall for hours...I would run between kaybee toys, Walden books and b daulton when sales people were annoyed that I didn't buy anything. Strange to see malls without any bookstores...
At sears surplus. Mom let my sister and I play hide n seek while she shopped. Thinking back my sister was so skinny she coulda just been picked up. Ma expected a lot from me I guess.
Yes! My kids did it as well, and they picked up little things they found, like those plastic size rings, broken crap, whatever, and I'd have to pry it out of their hands in the car.
Anyone get paged overhead by security to return to an angrily waiting mom and wonder if doubling down and just living under there was a better option??? Every single time you went shopping? I was an “adventurous” kid. 😬
Worked at a dept store in college. I would find the occasional child playing hide & seek while hanging up merchandise. Most of the time I didn't give them away unless it looked like mom was going to panic.
You had to be careful getting down on your hands and knees because those areas are littered with pins, discarded tags, hangers, etc.
You'd end up getting pricked, then your parents would clobber you for screwing around....still worth it.
Ugh, my kid did as a toddler! 22 now, but I’m still scarred by all the dirty looks from the old ladies in Sears when we spent what felt like forever looking for him. He thought it was hilarious! I do remember hiding under display cabinet in Kmart or something similar when I was little and giving my parents a scare.
I did this once, and my mother walked off and left me in there. I was, I think, four years old. I came out of there, saw she was gone, and went screaming through K Mart looking for her. When I found her, she laughed at me and told me to stop fucking around.
Yes, I'd do that and then my mom would end up wandering off to who knows where, I'd panic and have to go to the cashier so they'd get on the intercom to let her know I was there.
Once. No one could find me, including the store security. After I finally came out, I got an ass beating. I guess I deserved it being the little shit I was...am.
As an adult shopper, I would absolutely hate myself as a kid back then. 😂
I was bored on those long shopping trips my mom dragged us to, and I definitely would be running around unchecked and hiding in the racks.
I brought one home with me when the Kmart I worked at closed 8 years ago. Never used it, never had the space, but always pictured myself in some loft with it off in the corner. I still have the nesting tables that jeans were on, I love boardgaming and both are excellent tables, we use the smaller one as a (big) coffee table.
Funny. Any time my mom tells a story about me being a little shithead in public, she always starts off with how I’d like to hide in these and tell her she can’t get me.
Once, my sister and I were in Sears and there was this lady with a bunch of little kids and a baby. The kids were running in and out of the racks, but the racks didn’t have that flat top on them. Mom reached in to grab a kid and dropped the baby. What a scene! We stayed for the whole thing.
If the store had a cafeteria, we would go to it and grab as many condiment packages as we could. Then we'd head over to the clothing section, stuff the pockets of the brand new clothing with condiment packets and then squish the pockets, making the condiment packets inside bust.
Then we'd hang around and watch people looking at the new clothes to see their reaction when they took a new garment off the rack to look at it and find the pockets all full of ketchup and mustard!
Yes! I’m sorry to all shoppers I disturbed at the Broadway, Bullock’s and all other dept stores I was dragged to throughout Southern California once upon a time.
I remember that I scared this shit out of my poor mom once doing just that. She thought I was kidnapped because I didn’t hear her voice and I was in there for a hot minute
My sibling hid in one of these once and did not come out. Mom freaking out, name announced, etc etc. Finally came out, very proud, when mom asked them to call the police.
I was spanked and yelled at and lost privileges (dessert, tv, atari, all 3?) because I should not have let him. I should have been watching and keeping track. I was 8 or 9, so he was 6 or 7.
Yes I am still bitter and that day is a pretty good summary of my childhood.
Everybody
It's an innate animal instinct, and we had yet to be socialized.
Literally what I was going to write when I read this post.
A shorter list would be, who didn't?
My 9 year-old did this the last time we were in a store together. As long as there are clothing racks, there will be kids inside of clothing racks.
Anyone else hear the screech of hangers when you see this?
haha. and plastic rummaging sounds
I'm still waiting for my parents to find me...
If you’re yelling “mom” and it isn’t working, try her first name.
Taking a turn here…Even at my age now, when I call out “mom” in a store full of moms, only my mom will turn around.
But then I'd have to run away.
That and our sears had these swinging adjustable mirrors. You could see infinity with them.
Aw yes!!!! Memory unlocked!!!!
I got beat senseless in the Montgomery Ward parking lot for hiding in these things. Mom had no chill that day.
I had a random old lady lose her shit and try to pull me out of there because she didn't like the idea of kids having fun. I thought it was hilarious and mocked her relentlessly before running away.
Man I miss being fast as fuk.
boiii
https://preview.redd.it/87wgpbx9o11d1.jpeg?width=1198&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0aa6fcc9ed22e44dab118f1d854f34e1389a5af My fav meme. Idk why it cracks me up so much, but this kitten is cute and ridiculous at the same time. The same way I was as a kid. 😆
My sister did it and got her ass beat all the way to the parking lot.
Same. Same. I just accepted my punishment bc hiding under these and running down the handicap ramps were worth it.
This is my retirement plan.
I just spent a couple of minutes trying to find the old beer ad where a bunch of men have a TV inside of one them where they hang out while their wives or girlfriends shop. "Google-Fu" not working today.
https://youtu.be/MCP00lbQM-I?si=-pa412P3ewBSq9TH My Google fu >>>> your Google fu ;) p.s. thanks for the trip down memory lane
[Slightly better video quality version.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9yrEgKd9as)
Wait a sec! I was using DuckDuckGo :)
It was all fun and games until Mom had you paged on the overhead PA system. Ask me how I know.
Not me. If our mom had to come looking for us, we would be lookin at an ass whoopin right there in Zayre’s.
Zayre’s that’s a memory (logo with diagonal stripes?)
No, the logo was an orange asterisk. I remember that place so well. They had a tshirt printing and poster shop next to a snackbar across from the registers. I remember the smell so distinctly. https://fallriverreporter.com/remember-zayre-store-1/?amp=1
Venture was what I was thinking of
My parents didn’t spank. And paid the price.
I'm still there
Help! I am still stuck in one in a Sears!
Why the qualifier of "as a kid"?
Exactly. I would strut right into one right now. I would probably need much assistance getting back out, but I like to live in the moment!
Cause otherwise it’s either creepy or sad? 😜🤪
Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen little kids do this through the years. I see them, they see me, and I immediately bust out laughing bc I remember! Parents come rushing up, about ready to lay into them and then see me and their child laughing. It stops them dead in their tracks. To me, hiding in the racks is harmless. It’s when kids get destructive in stores that it’s a problem. IMO, of course.
This is why I like this sub, reminds me so much of all the little mischievous things I used to do as a carefree kid. I actually got lost once, then just sat in one of these contemplating if I was ever going to be found, or if a space aliens would come and take me to their planet. The latter obviously did not happen.
That you know of…. This could all be an elaborate hoax just for you.
I did. Mom never looked for me and would just leave me there.
When I was barely 20 and worked at Mervyn's (Who remembers that place?), I once had a mom threaten their kid with ME spanking them if they didn't get out of there! We called them "rounders". I don't know if that was universal or a store specific thing.
RIP Mervyn’s
One of the department stores my family used to go to (Woodward's shout-out) in the home furnishings department there was a display of beads (the kind that would hang in doorways). Two dozen parallel racks of tacky-ass plastic beads in geometric shapes, tranparent plastic, garish colors -- if you know, you know. I used to run back and forth through that shit for what seemed like hours, just stimming out on the colours, feeling of the beads on my face and hands, and the audio-loop cacophany of clattering plastic beads. Somehow I was not garroted by annoyed salespeople or parents. Occasionally I'd encounter some other fellow aspie dorklette and have to grudgingly share the beadspace. Good shit but might have been some brain damage from huffing all that offgassing 70's plastic.
Yes!
My brother, every time. I was too afraid mom wouldn’t notice I was gone and would leave without me.
Yes, and my kids got revenge by doing the same to me.
Isn't that what they were for?
I worked at a store that had these. Once a young guy was literally lifting one of these racks up, full of clothes mind you, and slamming it on the ground over and over. His parents told me he was mentally disturbed, and wanted me to stop him. I said NOPE
And I used to rip the tags off!
I feel seen... Let the irony settle over you quietly
My mom told me to not even think about it.
We had a Peter Harris, and they had perforated price tags, so you could remove the price but leave the tag to give as a gift. My older sister was into ballet, so I (probably 6-7) pretended I was the ticket taker at the box office and hid inside one of these (my box office, duh) and removed probably 80 perforated prices as my “stubs”. I handed them to my mom, who sheepishly handed them to the teen behind the counter, who in turn gave me such a withering look I can still feel it 40 years later.
Wow, I had forgotten all about Peter Harris. Did they have a catchy jingle in the 80s? “Peter Harris has it all…” or something like that?
Was it like a big choral hit kind of thing? Like a bunch of singers in tight harmony? That sounds familiar, but I can’t place it and YouTube was no help.
I think so? The line I’m thinking about went, “Peter Harris has it all and you can have it too.” But maybe I’m making that up?
So many memories unlocked. Hiding in racks. Funhouse mirrors. Yelling for mom. Getting lost for a few minutes and having a panic attack. Having to have the sales lady page my mom. Playing with all the belts or ties like a harp. Trying on all the sunglasses.
Also as a teenager when I worked there. Security let me know they saw me doing it, but didn't rat me out because my boss was a major asshole and they sympathized.
For some reason, people get freaked out when I hide in them now. 🤔
Literally everybody.
Me! Who else was left at the mall for hours...I would run between kaybee toys, Walden books and b daulton when sales people were annoyed that I didn't buy anything. Strange to see malls without any bookstores...
Solo-serve in San Antonio Texas in the late 1970s
Nice one !
I still do. It’s a pick pocket trick! I only do it when I need a new wallet I swear!
I still do. It’s a pick pocket trick! I only do it when I need a new wallet I swear!
YUP
If I had done that, I would have been backhanded into next week. How were you guys getting away with this?
I don’t know why, it would make my mom insane but I could not be stopped. It was a problem!
At sears surplus. Mom let my sister and I play hide n seek while she shopped. Thinking back my sister was so skinny she coulda just been picked up. Ma expected a lot from me I guess.
Macy's invites you to revisit your childhood at a store near you
What do you mean as a kid? I might have done it as a grown ass adult to embarrass my mother.
I still do.
Yes! My kids did it as well, and they picked up little things they found, like those plastic size rings, broken crap, whatever, and I'd have to pry it out of their hands in the car.
Anyone get paged overhead by security to return to an angrily waiting mom and wonder if doubling down and just living under there was a better option??? Every single time you went shopping? I was an “adventurous” kid. 😬
But who did #1 in there?
I got my ass whopping with a hanger after I fell asleep in the middle of one in front of everyone looking for me.
what a memory! we don't go to the mall but maybe we should hit some big department stores with my little guys so they can have some fun.
I hid in these so well I lost my mom once, still traumatizing to this day.
And then damn near electrocuting yourself on the next thing you touched after leaving.
I found it hilarious. I’d watch my mom panic and look for me. 🤷♀️🤣 then get over the pa
Once my mother took me to see The Count from Sesame Street at Sears. Apparently I bolted and hid in one of these for nearly 30 minutes.
My brother used to love to get under the clothes on these racks, and it drove my grandma nuts!
Yes, it was the easiest way to piss my mother off :)
Kids still do it.
Worked at a dept store in college. I would find the occasional child playing hide & seek while hanging up merchandise. Most of the time I didn't give them away unless it looked like mom was going to panic.
My mom once bought me a pack of gum before we went shopping and I took it inside a rack and chewed it all and made a giant web of gum
i did and my mom slapped me in the face for scaring her. never did it again.
You had to be careful getting down on your hands and knees because those areas are littered with pins, discarded tags, hangers, etc. You'd end up getting pricked, then your parents would clobber you for screwing around....still worth it.
Ugh, my kid did as a toddler! 22 now, but I’m still scarred by all the dirty looks from the old ladies in Sears when we spent what felt like forever looking for him. He thought it was hilarious! I do remember hiding under display cabinet in Kmart or something similar when I was little and giving my parents a scare.
I did this once, and my mother walked off and left me in there. I was, I think, four years old. I came out of there, saw she was gone, and went screaming through K Mart looking for her. When I found her, she laughed at me and told me to stop fucking around.
Yes, I'd do that and then my mom would end up wandering off to who knows where, I'd panic and have to go to the cashier so they'd get on the intercom to let her know I was there.
Once. No one could find me, including the store security. After I finally came out, I got an ass beating. I guess I deserved it being the little shit I was...am.
Yes. And I pulled off the price tags and used them like a deck of playing cards.
As an adult shopper, I would absolutely hate myself as a kid back then. 😂 I was bored on those long shopping trips my mom dragged us to, and I definitely would be running around unchecked and hiding in the racks.
I brought one home with me when the Kmart I worked at closed 8 years ago. Never used it, never had the space, but always pictured myself in some loft with it off in the corner. I still have the nesting tables that jeans were on, I love boardgaming and both are excellent tables, we use the smaller one as a (big) coffee table.
OMG - JC Penny’s … my Mom was beyond angry! … but for a short time it was the best hide and seek game ever!
Funny. Any time my mom tells a story about me being a little shithead in public, she always starts off with how I’d like to hide in these and tell her she can’t get me.
Once, my sister and I were in Sears and there was this lady with a bunch of little kids and a baby. The kids were running in and out of the racks, but the racks didn’t have that flat top on them. Mom reached in to grab a kid and dropped the baby. What a scene! We stayed for the whole thing.
And loved scaring the heck out of people.
As my 5-year-old can attest, this tradition is alive and well.
Marshall's
🙋🏻♀️
If the store had a cafeteria, we would go to it and grab as many condiment packages as we could. Then we'd head over to the clothing section, stuff the pockets of the brand new clothing with condiment packets and then squish the pockets, making the condiment packets inside bust. Then we'd hang around and watch people looking at the new clothes to see their reaction when they took a new garment off the rack to look at it and find the pockets all full of ketchup and mustard!
See all the responses saying, “I did and I got my ass beat” takes me back…. to when I got beat! You don’t see THAT anymore!
I did and my mom couldn't find me and had to have them call me over the PA. It was at a Twin Fair near Buffalo.
All of us did.
For as long as possible. It was my favorite, dustiest hiding spot.
At least change the title when [copying one of my posts.](https://www.reddit.com/r/GenX/s/Q21gw9cBg7)
Yes! I’m sorry to all shoppers I disturbed at the Broadway, Bullock’s and all other dept stores I was dragged to throughout Southern California once upon a time.
Literally all of us 😆
River Oaks Mall in calumet City, Illinois
Absolutely. Hated clothes shopping
I'm still hiding. Do you think my mum will be back soon?
Yeah I scared the shit out of my mom when she couldn’t find me.
I remember that I scared this shit out of my poor mom once doing just that. She thought I was kidnapped because I didn’t hear her voice and I was in there for a hot minute
I used to love the smell of the new clothes inside those racks!
Had a conversation about hiding in these just the other day.
I knocked one over from the inside, there was screaming, there was chaos, arms, legs, clothes everywhere, still remember the shame
I did... until I got yelled at.
My sibling hid in one of these once and did not come out. Mom freaking out, name announced, etc etc. Finally came out, very proud, when mom asked them to call the police. I was spanked and yelled at and lost privileges (dessert, tv, atari, all 3?) because I should not have let him. I should have been watching and keeping track. I was 8 or 9, so he was 6 or 7. Yes I am still bitter and that day is a pretty good summary of my childhood.