An Ode to Sharks, or It Pays To Be Nice To Everyone You Meet
I have had a lot of people that have told me they have little rules about trading when they are in one of the parks. Some people never trade with kids. Some people won't trade with anyone that doesn't have a book. Some people won't let anyone under the age of 18 touch their pin books. I have known people to flat out stare a child in the face, or a person with a sparse lanyard and flat out ignore them when asked if they could look or trade. I have known people that have actually said when asked to trade "honey, you don't have anything that I could possibly want." I have had people tell me that they -refuse- to trade unless they know they are coming out ahead. Well, for all of those people, I have a little story for you.
I was at DLR all day this last Saturday. I had a pretty lame time trading. I gave up a WDI Mother's Day pin to a little girl who had nothing good in her adorable little book but she said her mommy would love it to death and I couldn't say no. I think I took a totally ugly Grand Californian Opening Day pin for it (its actually a little special to me cause it will always remind me of how happy the trade made her), most likely the worst pin in her book. I gave up waaaaay too much for a couple animation art pins. I traded a decent Soda Fountain for a DCA pin that I knew was worth maybe 5 bucks, just so someone could finish their set. There were other trades worse than that but those are the ones that I will admit to/can remember.
I was about 10 minutes away from packing up for the night when this young man (maybe 19? 20?) came up and asked if he could look at my pins. Even though I didn't see anything on him except for a tiny little pin book (smallest one they make with a zipper) I said sure, its always fun to look. I have a page of PODM in there for trade, and he stopped on the page and looked for a while. He looked at a WDI Goofy Sky School poster and said he liked that one too. I asked him which PODM he liked since I had seen him stop on it. He said he liked the one with Aladdin and Jasmine on the carpet the best, but he didn't think he had anything I would want. I told him, "hey, you never know. I never mind taking a look at others' pins." I opened his little book and began flipping through the pages.
There were maybe 20 pins in it, mostly hidden mickeys/rack stuff. Then, I saw a pin card on the last page that looked familiar. I looked at it and my heart -stopped-... I was honest and told him it was one of my top pins of all time, and would he even remotely consider trading it? I told him he could have any pin in my books for it. He asked if he could possibly have the Aladdin PODM, and I told him he could have it, gladly. I then asked him if he had the other pin and he said YES (you see, its a two pin set). He had it at home and would be back in the park Tuesday. I told him he could pick any other PODM for it, and anything else he wanted. I told him the poster pin was his, just for being so amazing and making my night.
Just because I was nice to someone that other people were ignoring, someone that usually would get overlooked, I got:
Oh yeah and on Tuesday night he is bringing me:
Moral of the story - Be nice to EVERYONE you meet!!! You NEVER know what they have!!!
I was at DLR all day this last Saturday. I had a pretty lame time trading. I gave up a WDI Mother's Day pin to a little girl who had nothing good in her adorable little book but she said her mommy would love it to death and I couldn't say no. I think I took a totally ugly Grand Californian Opening Day pin for it (its actually a little special to me cause it will always remind me of how happy the trade made her), most likely the worst pin in her book. I gave up waaaaay too much for a couple animation art pins. I traded a decent Soda Fountain for a DCA pin that I knew was worth maybe 5 bucks, just so someone could finish their set. There were other trades worse than that but those are the ones that I will admit to/can remember.
I was about 10 minutes away from packing up for the night when this young man (maybe 19? 20?) came up and asked if he could look at my pins. Even though I didn't see anything on him except for a tiny little pin book (smallest one they make with a zipper) I said sure, its always fun to look. I have a page of PODM in there for trade, and he stopped on the page and looked for a while. He looked at a WDI Goofy Sky School poster and said he liked that one too. I asked him which PODM he liked since I had seen him stop on it. He said he liked the one with Aladdin and Jasmine on the carpet the best, but he didn't think he had anything I would want. I told him, "hey, you never know. I never mind taking a look at others' pins." I opened his little book and began flipping through the pages.
There were maybe 20 pins in it, mostly hidden mickeys/rack stuff. Then, I saw a pin card on the last page that looked familiar. I looked at it and my heart -stopped-... I was honest and told him it was one of my top pins of all time, and would he even remotely consider trading it? I told him he could have any pin in my books for it. He asked if he could possibly have the Aladdin PODM, and I told him he could have it, gladly. I then asked him if he had the other pin and he said YES (you see, its a two pin set). He had it at home and would be back in the park Tuesday. I told him he could pick any other PODM for it, and anything else he wanted. I told him the poster pin was his, just for being so amazing and making my night.
Just because I was nice to someone that other people were ignoring, someone that usually would get overlooked, I got:
Oh yeah and on Tuesday night he is bringing me:
Moral of the story - Be nice to EVERYONE you meet!!! You NEVER know what they have!!!
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