Heely's hooha and the kid with a death wish

[myswtghst]

Last football game of the season at the Alma Mater, we were making our way down from our seats way up on high, and almost got taken out going down the ramp by a group of kids, aged about 3-8, on heelies. I almost fell down laughing after watching one of them faceplant into the wall at the end of the ramp.

[OfficeSlug]

Now, Heelys that come with parent controlled remotes might work...

You assume that the parents give a crap that their kids are potential rolling dangers to others!

Silly!

[Primer]

I don't know if I've been deprived, or just lucky, but I've yet to actually see anyone with wheelies.

I will say, however, that with my bad hips and bad balance, if a kid runs into me, (s)he's going down, too. As large as I am, they will be lucky if I don't land on top of them, but it might cushion my fall a bit.

Likely score: me-broken hip; them-squashed kid

Heck, I have a hard enough time dodging the kids on foot!

[Pagan]

Parents control their kids?

Heh-heh....I was thinking the same thing! I....HATE....those....things. With a passion. And they seem to be on the increase here. I haven't figured out which is worse. The ones that are just learning and are slip-sliding all over or the ones who've had them long enough to get good on them.

Let me tell ya, the first kid that runs into me and causes so much as a bruise, their parents are getting sued.

[Gurndigarn]

Stores in the mall have been pushing to a ban for months. The owner wont do it for some reason.

We haven't had any customer injuries, but lots of close calls. Like the teen who almost went over a second floor railing.

The thing that annoys me the most, is when I see kids wearing them. And the parents pull them around like. Now kids don't have to walk or somthing!

They didn't walk before. SUV strollers are taking over the malls, and I've seen five or six year old kids in some of them.

[BusBus]

I just look at these shoes and think, "When did walking become so hard?"

[DesignFox]

They didn't walk before. SUV strollers are taking over the malls, and I've seen five or six year old kids in some of them.

Glad to see I'm not crazy. I've noticed this, too!

Off Topic: George Carlin did a skit where he compares the new strollers to air craft carriers. Too bad he didn't mention those god awful heelies...

Back to topic: I saw a kid do a face plant in the foodcourt at my mall. I laughed my ass off. (kid wasn't hurt, and I figure- serves you right!)

[BookstoreEscapee]

If there are no broken bones, laughing is allowed, no, required!

[Arcade Man D]

Despise them. SOOOOO much.

Forgot to suggest a new rule about them to my store manager today, too. Wanted to suggest that we make kids we catch rolling on them take the heels out or leave. I mean, we have a carpeted floor. Common sense, people!

((Yeah, yeah, I know. Customers + common sense == oxymoron. :P ))

But I have come very close to actually throwing a customer out for rolling on Heelies. I believe in a modified three-strike policy when it comes to all rules with a single customer in a single day. Strike 1: Polite warning. Strike 2: Stern warning, with consequences of failure to comply outlined. Strike 3: Get out. Modified because some offenses escalate directly to a higher step. Sit on a table? Straight to 2. Violate a rule that has a sign posted? Straight to 2 or 3, depending on severity of offense and visibility of sign. Threaten me with physical harm/throw something at me with malicious intent? You don't even get the courtesy of a polite request to leave. The one time I have ever used a curse word at a customer was when she threw something at me and hit me in the head.

Whoops, sorry about the OT rant.

Back to the topic at hand, my Store Manager despises them too. He's the kind of guy who'll buy his kids whatever they ask for for Christmas, and even he wouldn't buy them the Heelies they asked for. ^_^

Yay! You rock, SM!

[Geek King]

Information #1: Geek King wears size 16 shoes. His toes come around the corner two steps before he does.

Information #2: Geek King walks with his feet slightly splayed to the sides.

Intformation #3: Kids in Heelies rarely pay attention to other people's feet.

Information #4: A falling kid CAN actually skid ten feet on waxed floors and still have enough speed to take out an entire display of "Grapples" in the produce section.









ADDENDUM: This was a total accident. I would never do this on purpose, or advocate it. I offered the kid first aid (trained Red Cross adult/child/baby first aid and CPR), but he only had some scrapes and a bruised ego from the two football players laughing so hard they had to bend over.

[MadMike]

Now, Heelys that come with parent controlled remotes might work...

Yeah, but who's going to control the parents? Most of the kids who skate around on those things do so because the parents don't care.

As for a ban, I say if it's a place where skates or skateboards aren't allowed, then those things shouldn't be allowed either.

[blas]

Amen to that MadMike!

If you can't skateboard or rollerblade in Wal-Mart, NO HEELYS EITHER!

Roller disco is so much more fun than wheeling around walmart.....but I won't get into that lol.

[ominousoat]

The first time I saw Heely's I thought I was having an acid flashback, despite any previous history of acid use. Honest to goodness I freaked out and spent the next hour contemplating my sanity, and how a child was bending the laws of physics.

Thankfully my girlfriend knew of these "heely" things and later was able to ease my turmoil by assuring me that there was no witchcraft or evil science involved, just wheels, simple old, physics-friendly wheels...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Roller disco is so much more fun than wheeling around walmart.....but I won't get into that lol.

I suggest roller derby--IN Wal-Mart! That would be hella fun!

[myswtghst]

That sounds like the kind of stuff we did in college.

Wheel chair race at Meijer, anyone?