The Evilstick: The Creepy Toy That Is Definitely Not For Kids
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ย. 2024
- A creepy children's toy in a dollar store attracts attention for being controversial and more sinister than at first glance. Who made this toy, and why?
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The most entertaining tidbit of knowledge from this video is that the Dollar Store's equivalent in Britain is 'Pound Land'. Just so you brits know, if you come to America and say "I'm gonna take you to Pound Land" it means something completely different.
The 13 year old in my head couldn't stop giggling when he said that.
Here in America it's "pound town" if you're REALLY naughty. 😂
Bro 🤣
Poundland=/=pound town
I think the same thing every time! Glad it's not just me who can't control the 13yo in my head (31years later)
“Is Halloween such a big holiday that we need to prepare for it a MONTH ahead!?”
Oh, Fact Boi, you sweet summer child.
I see Christmas trees go up for sale in August.
Consumerism Creep is accelerating every year. 30 yrs ago I told my Gma we'd soon have Xmas sales in July. Didn't realize how on point kid me was.
you know, somewhere Christmas season starts in summer (I worked at a small local toy factory and they started "workin'-workin'-workin'!!" season in July to prepare for winter holydays) and ends in May, when the laziest people FINALLY throw away christmas tree ))))
@@nerjied.8470
Your situation is understandable, needing the time months ahead to make sure the product is ready for season.
But when I would walk into K-Mart (that’s a dated claim) and see the plastic fake trees before on display before Labor Day, that’s ridiculous.
@@nerjied.8470 In the southern hemisphere, Christmas actually IS in summer.
@@wyolaskan1868 Holy cow, K-mart!! 🤣🤣🤣
I remember very clearly.
Blue Light special!!!
"I don't have a personal problem with boot legs" if that's not tacit approval to start printing my own Casual Criminalist notebooks and going by Callum Howe, I don't know what is.
Simon's unbridled excitement about having the cocaine cactus, is absolutely on brand and wonderful.
Oh I thought you were talking about the excitement for Poundland lmao
Ok now that I saw it that was kinda exciting lol
@@nugboy420 "Oops, my bad"
Cocaine Cactus needs to be on set.
@@nugboy420 Poundland is a wonderful name for a business. Many avenues of business possibilities.
In Brazil in the 80's and early 90's there was a urban legend about a Fofão (translates to something like super cute) doll, that the doll had a hidden dagger that lead children to ritual suicide or murder. its right up this alley. You guys could take a look at it.
Wow, this comment struck my curiosity so with literally a 5 second google image search of "fofâo doll knife"....boom there it was. Only did image search so no details other than it a Brazilian kid show character that is very inbreed looking by itself but pop off its head and there was a black dagger/knife concealed inside. Like I said very little research so could be something a person aware of the story created or something.....or is it real? Lol
@@Drew_Dannie did a bit more research for you and the doll with the knife was purposely made by someone who knew the story. The doll, represented a kid's television show presenter( imagine an even creepier looking Teletubby lol) and was released before, but around the same time as, the Child's Play film series began (the Chucky films), and the orange hair, with similar jumper drew comparisons between the two.
This lead to the urban legend that there was a black dagger inside and that at midnight the doll would begin to move take out its internal knife and kill the child that owned it. Requiring supernatural influence that was obviously untrue, and over time it morphed into a company that released a doll with the intention of the kids who received it commiting either ritual suicide or murder 🙄. So only slightly more believable than them being animated by a killer spirit.
It's an interesting story, but I don't know how interesting an episode about a perfectly ordinary, if ugly, children's toy that had silly urban legends created about it because of a very slight resemblance to a horror movie villain would be. I mean, other than dates that last sentence tells the complete story. Parental boycotts and a character redesign later and the old doll and this association only exists in memory and legend now.
Had a friend that swears that he saw the dagger, but impressionable children's memories are not to be trusted.
My Evilstick had Simon under the foil saying: "Yes, it's me again, You can never escape me."
Simon, you should do a show about Action Park in Vernon New Jersey (USA). It was an “off-brand” summer water/amusement park from the 1980s/early 90s that had a VERY a high accident rate and over 5 deaths from their rides. There was ZERO safety precautions-especially back before people starter suing over everything-and they even paid employees small cash bonuses to try out new rides for the first time!! If they didn’t die or get injured the first time, the ride was okay for the public. I think your team would do a fantastic job with that place and it has some crazy stories attached. Fun fact: MTV did a Rock show there featuring Alice In Chains one summer and there’s a bunch of footage of the band on some of these crazy unsafe rides that became infamous.
I remember going there when I was a kid... The 80's was a "special" era... haha... Even got T-shirts with dubiously realistic blood-stains all over them... "I survived Action Park!"....
...Keep in mind, it wasn't JUST that nobody sued over every little thing. We actually had a mindset that you hadn't had a really good time at Action Park if you didn't get bandages or a brace of some kind... I recall sharing a beer with the high school kid in the first-aid shack while the gal was off to get antiseptic spray and some more tape when I skint the hell out of my back on the stupid Alpine Carts...
Man... you'd see just about everything there. It wasn't like Six Flags or some "classy" place where they were preaching safety rules, telling people to get back behind the lines or anything... M-F'ers were strolling around with a stroller in front of them, and a six-pack dangling from their other hand's fingers... no shirt and only one shoe... NOBODY gave a f*** about anything... ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 Ah, the good old days back in the Jerz.
That would work great on brain blaze
@@RCAvhstape Yeah... when it meant something if someone called you "tough"... ;o)
Oh yeah, I am in favor of gory stories on theme park rides! You could start with Disney and that girl who got crushed to death by the America Sings theater and people who got decapitated on the People Mover mostly because they were idiots. Plus Disney would be a lot less inclined to mess around with putting a gag order in a guy from Prague. They're busy trying to dance to tightrope between fighting the Don't Say Gay Bill and bring a wholesome family values company. My father's uncle was the voice of Jiminy Cricket.
7:00 You used to be able to buy bags of army men at the dollar store. Speaking of which, Dollar Tree now charges $1.25, not $1, these days.
I bought 10 Matchbox ripoffs for a few Deutschmarks back on the 90's to shoot at them with my air rifle while they were on fire and such things.
Buck & Quarter store!
Simon, you should have a beer handy for episodes of Casual Criminalist. You deserve it for some of the evil you read on there, man...
Or a good whiskey!!! 🥃
Clearly Brain Blaze is the proper forum for an adult beverage
@@Adiscretefirm Nah, I tried to watch the Jeffery Epstein episode... that took half a bottle of Jacks to parse and get out of my head...
He would have needed 3 six packs to he through Pedro Lopez
I quit my job at a Dollar Tree afew month back. I can't tell you how many of those wands I've rang up and sold. 😂 The cheaply awful toy aisle is supremely entertaining to look through even as an adult.
And it's ALWAYS a mess x.x
It's inflation to blame for prices ranging from $1.25 and $5 at Dollar Tree now?
I know, right? Even as a 37 year old, I'll still go into the toy section at the dollar store and spend $10 or $20 on random crap that looks cool but usually just breaks the second you take it out of the package (literally). lol I even spent $10 on some sculpting sand. Which really brings me back to being a kid and playing with playdoh cuz I have to put news papers down to contain the little bits of sand. Just like how my Mum used to have to put news papers on the table for me to play with playdoh so I wouldn't make a mess. But I'm a total kid at heart, and damn proud of it.
That's exactly whence my kids will be getting all their gifts. I expect many interesting calls from their classmates' mums.
Upon thinking about my idea, maybe it's a good thing I've not had a date in many, many years and the prospect for children in my life is unfortunately minimal.
I'm a manager at Dollar General. And yeah. The toy aisle is full of weird shit. Never seen this tho.
Great, only one minute in and now my brain is automatically filling in "SHIA LaBEOUF!" at random parts of the video, and making me giggle like a maniac in front of co-workers.
We have a store in the US called Dollar Tree. Originally called "Everything's A Dollar" because that was the price of EVERYTHING. They first appeared about 30 years ago in the area I live, changed the name to 'Dollar Tree' and now operate well over 15,000 stores in the US and Canada. It was just late in 2021 that the price of all merchandise rose from $1.00 to $1.25. If they hadn't done so, as Simon said, inflation would have reduced their inventory to nothing but one gumball and a couple of safety pins.
To add to the bizarre-ness of the whole thing, the character they used on the packaging (Sakura) is absolutely terrified by even the mere mention of ghosts or other supernatural entities... so this sort of thing would probably cause her to faint right away.
'Drinking a beer and having fun with his evil stick' 😏
I remember when our local £1 shop changed it's name to the £1.20 shop 'due to inflation' 😂
Our Dollar Store now has a sign that reads "As low as $1." Which means almost everything there is much more.
Boot legging is a bit gray because the details what drove the need for the boot leg. If it was just corporate greed, boot leg provides a check on that but bypassing safety measures or IP is a different issue.
The term “evil stick” sounds more like an adult “novelty” item for Halloween
Sounds like something you would get from Spencer's.
I thought the same thing,lol 😂
We've got a brand of fishing rod here in Australia called the "Ugly Stick", bloody good rods too...
I actually had a manager when I worked at a Buffalo Wild Wings that firmly preached that 'it's not stealing if you're taking from a corporation.'
He was later fired by the franchise owner for selling bottles of alcohol out of the liquor cabinet to employees, none of his 'customers' were punished.
Totally listened to this as a podcast, but decided I just had to see the creepiness for myself 😁
Always love Kevin’s scripts! I’m familiar with this story, but I think Kevin’s speculation on how it ended up being made is the most plausible one I’ve heard.
Thanks! Glad you like my work and my logical deduction skills!
Speaking of your Casual Criminalist notebook, I SO hope you'll be shipping to Canada 😝
Yeah, I intentionally bought the infamous cactus for my daughter last Christmas. She doesn’t speak Polish; only I know what is up
Living in the U.S., my local dollar store is now $1.25 per item except for gift cards (birthdays, holidays) which are still 2 for $1.
Yeah, mine has a sign "as low as $1" so they can keep the name and adjust for inflation. Still the cheapest place to buy shampoo, paper towels, and birthday cards.
LOVED the Evil Stick when it got popular online a few years ago. Delighted so see it covered and to have a possible resolution to the mystery!
I need a notebook to definitely not write my crimes down on.
If you think September is too early for Halloween, mind you, stores are also putting out stuff for Christmas at this time as well. Albeit in small amounts, but nonetheless...
That's just INSANE.
Here in the US, Halloween has become the second biggest 'holiday' for going all out decorating ones house in all sorts of garish, ghoulish and some very distrubing thematic visions, with only Christmas immensely larger.
This is so true. I mean, retail is always at least a season ahead of everyone else. School just let out? Time to put out Back to School products! It's Labor Day weekend? Better start setting up the Holidays display.
Thank you Simon! Now I know how to tell the ladies that "in going to take them to pound land" without getting canceled😅
Woof, is having to buy a ticket for both of you to the UK worth it? Or are you just moving? Either way, how often do you say that for it to be worthwhile? 🤣
Kevin, I absolutely love your scripts, keep up the good work!
Thanks!!
@@ThatWriterKevin ❤️
Fun little tidbit: I paused this vid and came back an hour later, only to hear Simon utter the words 'Matt's a bit of a legend: drinking beer on camera, playing with his evil stick." and I immediately had a whole other vibe about the topic of this vid. 😂
Thanks-- I'm LOLing so hard I scared the cats. 😂 🙀
I didn't expect to hear a story from Dayton, Ohio my home city.
What's most amusing about evilstick is that the rarest insert sticker of all was the first one found. Some of them did.'t have anything spooky at all- with a handful of different ones to find, I think they were perhaps mistakenly intended as gag gifts with mild collectability to them, just cheap trash.
lolol like everyone says its ok to steal from walmart because they are terrible; part of that whole not treating employees well or providing them with health insurance or any sort of benefits besides min wage and shitty unpredictable hours.
Except if you steal from Walmart they take it out of the quarterly bonus, so the more people who steal the less they pay the staff. But for safety reasons they instruct the vast majority of the staff not to engage with potential thieves as to avoid mass shootings. So if the staff stop the thief they could be fired for endangering the staff and customers, but if they don't then they lose their meager bonus.... Being a Walmart employee sucks.
@@KyubiChan95 I knew a woman who did home health care and worked at Wal-Mart. She quit the home health care, because she got a promotion at Wal-Mart.
Honestly, Wal-Mart seemed like a less shitty, less abusive job, which is sad.
@@christinebenson518 yea home healthcare workers dont get paid NEARLY enough..its why we have a shortage of workers :/
Simon’s lack of understanding on American retail practices is funny. Simon my dear friend if you’re reading this: EVERY holiday is a massive deal for the corporate overlords!
Having worked for a retail store, I can straight up confirm, on a factual basis that when holidays (even the smaller ones) come around; seasonal/holiday merch is fronted and zoned AT LEAST a month but possibly 2 months in advance. For holidays like Christmas, (Non-Orthodox) Easter, and yes, Halloween; stuff is put up in the PRIOR season (summer for Halloween in most places), and damn near Halloween time for Christmas, which sucks cause Thanksgiving usually gets pushed aside.
Here in upstate NY, merch will slowly trickle in but the major days it explodes and covers the store are:
Valentine's Day: 12/26
Easter: 2/15
4th of July: fireworks in May. Decorations in June.
Halloween: I've seen it out July 5th...
Thanksgiving: 10/1 it'll start having its own section (even though it's at the end of November)
Christmas: I will admit I've seen stores having 3 decoration displays, one for Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas. So. October?
New Years: I swear there's always some rush for it? Like I think it comes out in actual December.
Imagine going into a home improvement store at the end of October and seeing a blow up 20 foot Santa on display for $999.99...
@@Harley-and-Her-Ruff-Riders Don't know so much about Upstate NY society... BUT around here, the "DIY New Year" decorum involves liquor, beer, and fireworks... SO arguably, that shit's available from the VERY FIRST SIGN of warm weather... ;o)
@@Harley-and-Her-Ruff-Riders October? No way. Hallmark has a Christmas ornament that becomes available during the summer (July or August?) and people are lined up to acquire it.
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 upstate NY has cows, farm and trees. That is the start of every holiday. And season. And weekend.
Though pot is now legal too so we've just all become lazy drunks.
I love DIY holiday celebrations.
@@jackmason5278 can confirm, a friend of mine worked at the local Hallmark store and had to deal with snobbish customers trying to get the particular ornament.
Simon un-ironically talking about loving "pound land" kills me
Who doesn't? Except maybe Ashens.
Ohhhhhhh “evil stick”. My dyslexic brain read that as “Elvis Tick” for some reason.
I've heard the same maniacal laugh track in an evil Yoda figure keychain with flashing eyes. I don't think Yoda actually sounded like that in any of the movies. I think the factory or creator got creative.
I saw the title "Evilstick" and I though, the wife's been telling stories again.
Poor Charlie and his dad..Grandpa Joe. I guess if you remembered his name you might not have called him Charlie's dad. It's funny that the remake is the version that actually includes Charlie's dad but he is clearly thinking of thw origional version and Grandpa Joe. I guess the fan must have been scary if it vividly remained in Simon's memory but even the main characters didn't.
Lol was hoping someone said this.
Charlie's dad is only known as Mr. Bucket (book)
Simon should watch the Tom and Jerry version. It much less scary. Lol
I loved the tunnel scene as a kid.
I loved the story of the fizzy lifting drink in the book. Mr Wonka made the mistake of testing it on an Oompa Loompa while outside and the poor bastard just kept floating up and up. Mr Wonka said he shouted at him "Burp, you silly arse! Burp or you'll never come down! But whether he couldn't hear me or was too polite I don't know." And the poor Oompa Loompa just floated up and away out of sight. 😂😂😂
I was picked up for shoplifting a zippo from walmart at a bad time in my life, they told the police they didn't want me arrested, cops did anyway. The charges were dismissed but due to being homeless at the time I couldn't pay court fees and have been picked up and locked up overnight 6 times for what started as a ten dollar lighter and snow balled to $800 dollars in court fees.
I know in my town.. if you steal anything under 25 they ban you from the Walmart. Thats it. They may call the cops to scare you but you dont arrest you.
@@jrmckim if you have Id they don't call cops, I didn't. Cops were called and at that point was in cops hands. They chose to.
Well, Halloween is a WAY OF LIFE.
Kevin, loving your work. Thank you!
This was a really fun episode! Thought the title was for a different kind of "stick" lol
Scary images is one thing...some stuff can fly over kids' heads. Like look at Disney movies. They have quite a bit of really grusome deaths, when you think about it, but kids don't really notice. However kids are also impressionable and as sad as it is, depression and sucidal thoughts and self-harm are not just adult and teenage things. and showing this kind of thing to a child may unfortunely show them the way to harm themselves. Which is dangerous. Now, there are cases like the Slenderman stabbing where I'm not gonna admonish the creators for putting a creepy story out there, "that children may read". because creepy pastas aren't really MEANT for kids and internet itself wasn't designed JUST for kids. This however is a "toy" that doesn't have high age restrictions. It looks like a kid's toy, too.
The theatre group Team Starkid did a terrific musical send up of Disney called Twisted about 10 years ago. You can easily find it on TH-cam. Jafar is the misunderstood hero who tries to tell people their Wish Upon a Star view of life is unrealistic. He eventually runs into other Disney villains who sing about how what they really wanted was far different from what people assumed. Aladdin is an unrepentant thief whose philosophy is why work when you can just steal everything. And the romantic song between him and the princess is a lovely ballad called Take Off Your Clothes in which the stars spell out a message Disney would find wholly unacceptable. Hilarious.
4:35 - Chapter 1 - The dollar store
9:05 - Chapter 2 - Investigation
16:50 - Wrap up
19:10 - Bonus fact
Hey Simon, please, please, please do a Casual Criminalist video on James Mitchell "Mike" DeBardeleben. The other day you mentioned that the Secret Service in the US is responsible for investigating money counterfeiting crimes on the Casual Criminalist, which made me think of DeBardeleben. He was a prolific counterfeiter, so much so that the Secret Service gave him a nickname: "the mall passer". When they finally caught and arrested him, the Secret Service agents found a lot more than counterfeit money. Together with the FBI he was charged with a whole litany of crimes (he wasn't even prosecuted for most of them). He was sent to prison for life and the agents who investigated him said that he committed just about every felony on the books.
Anyone interested in the story should read Stephen Michaud's book "Beyond Cruel" which is the definitive resource (that I've found anyway) on DeBardeleben. The audiobook is good too.
The tunnel scene- people say Depp's Wonka was scary, but Wilder during the tunnel scene will stay with me. The lights, the look on his face, the mania as he keeps chanting
I remember reading those news stories about the Evilstick.
How did you not mention sooner that your kid got the cocaine cactus? That's amazing.
I’m super excited for the casual criminalist note book!!!!! I’m going to buy several for Christmas gifts!!!!
Kevin another great episode. Has Simon captured you and put you in the Blazement? He makes everyone to keep churning out more and more scripts. LOL P.S. Simon it was Grandpa Joe with Charlie.
Thanks!
@@ThatWriterKevin That's good. As you know from Danny the Blazement is not as fun as it sounds.
You know if someone told me they were taking me to Poundland I would have a very different image than what Simon described.
As always great vid, I just LOVE Kevins scripts!!! That and Simons asides, of course.
Glad to have a fan! Always happy to see you in the comments
4:57 "Pound Land" sounds like a different type of store 😏
Sounds like the kind of place that will leave you broke, with a rash on your junk...
@@ImWearingPantsNow I mean, if it costs a dollar for the sweets, Mr. Theoretical Customer is gonna get some type of sour afterwards.
I am surprised Simon didn't brought out the cactus toy to just chill in the background during the Brain Blaze videos, not playing it just as a cool Easter egg like the solo cups, it is not like owning the thing is illegal and no one can make him return or destroy it xD
Simon should drink a beer during these. It would make it even more casual.
A few shots of tequila for Brain Blaze, as well!
If a Dancing Cactus doesn't sing about cocaine, it ain't a real dancing cactus.
Really like the bizarre toys concept. Would love more. Anyone remember hearing about that toy that came out of China that was the twin towers with a plane that was on a little swing that you pulled back and let go and it would hit the tower... wtf china
In the "what sicker thing could come out of China" category.
What actually made me wonder is the amount of Nazi toys that are always on sale. Not just dolls, but vehicles, uniforms etc - absolutely everything from tiny toys all the way up to human sized items
"Is Halloween such a big holiday that we need to put things out so early?"
Yes. In September we get Halloween and Christmas stuff.
I am always amazed but how many inappropriate toys get put out for kids.
Simon Card Capture Sakura was one of the few Anime on British TV back in the 90s
Simon, I have to go to the dollar store (Dollar Tree $1.25 now) in about an hour, and I will take a couple photos of the toy section and tweet them @ you.
I'll be keeping my eye out for that cactus lol
cactus cute
Simon please do a video about the Halloween decoration that had a hand-written (in Chinese I guess) message from a worker begging for help because they were enslaved for labor.
You're right about the impact of inflation on dollar stores. We used to buy a lot of our paper goods and all our Ajax dish washing liquid at the Dollar Tree. But after the total insanity of the pandemic, then the supply chain problems, the Dollar Tree decided that henceforth, rather than a dollar per item, it would now be a dollar and a quarter per item... but they didn't change their signs to say "Dollar and a Quarter Tree," of course not. But it really ticked me off, and I did the math, for those Ajax dish liquid bottles: before the rise in price, the single dollar at Dollar Tree was just slightly less per oz than at Walmart. After the rise, Walmart now enjoys the slightly lower per-oz price... so guess what? We don't shop at Dollar Tree anymore, except on the infrequent occasions we need birthday/xmas/whatever greeting cards, and all the various wrappings and adornments for xmas gifts.
The addition of a quarter to the price of everything was maybe penny-wise, but plain damn pound foolish! By adding what might have been $2 to the total checkout price, they lost an entire family's business, other than maybe twice a year (rather than twice a month!). How many others made the same decision due to this absolute stupidity by Dollar Tree???
Walmart's paper plates are a better value now too, and are much better quality to boot!
ETA: I wanted to add -- if they'd gone up a dime per item, rather than a quarter, I wouldn't have minded too much -- I'm aware that they have to make a profit or why stay in business at all? But adding a quarter-dollar per item, at a store called the Dollar Tree? Nope.
I was just re watching the power strip vid that Kevin wrote......when is there going to be another lol I absolutely loved it and the true or false stories were very well written!
For real! I really enjoy all of the Whistler Digital Empire's content, but I'm hard-pressed to think of another video I had more fun watching than that one.
We need a full movie like that for the Whistler expanded universe
This. So much of this. I just watched that episode recently. It was very well done, and probably my favorite one.
The only problem is, what happens if Simon gets something wrong and Kevin frees Danny
@@personzorz lmao
Poundland is more of a '£1 & up' shop these days - think Poundstretcher. They do tacky homewares, bedding, clothes, etc now too. You can still get cheap sweets though.
I would totally watch a Card Captor Sakura series where she uses the Evilstick! It could be all dark and serious like Madoka Magika.
What the hell does any of that mean
@@douggaudiosi14 You must be new. It's okay. I pray you never learn the Truth.
@@douggaudiosi14 that's okay. Keep your innocence.
7:07 Yeah, that’s why there are no new places opening up called Dollar Store. The ones that exist kept that name, and maybe 50-75% is $1 or under, but most places just go with a vague name hinting value and keep it under $5
I cant wait for the notebooks!!!! We have dollar tree stores where until about a yr ago everything was $1 or less. Now its all $1.25 or less.
The dollar store here now has a base price of $1.25 plus they’ve added more expensive items.
OH WOW. Opening up with Rob Cantor's "Shia LeBeouf". Wow. WOW. I was going to go for a nap, but fuck that, It's time to BLAZE WITH FACT BOI.
That wasn't his dad in Willy Wonka that was about to get chopped up with him, it was Grampa Joe. Regardless, another great episode!
Simon, it has been shown in multiple studies that piracy actually leads to greater purchases, especially in computer games.
I'm so looking forward to the custom notebooks. I want to take one to a conference I'm going to this summer
Same! Minus the conference. As a retired archaeologist, the conferences are few and far between, but one thing's for sure: never before have I wished so much for an employment in law enforcement. Bah! Where's my brain! I'll just bring it with me to the local police HQ, take a seat in clear view, yet semi-discrete part of the waiting area, and start taking notes. Watching. Noting. Drawing. At closing time, I close the notebook, and carefully inserts the pen in the pen-loop, then slightly opening up one side of my jacket, and places the notebook, firmly secured, under my left arm, stands up, and walks out. Next day. 9 am. I walk in. Pause once inside the sliding doors. Look around, carefully. Then, calm but with great purpose, I walk straight to the same seat as yesterday, and sits down. Reach inside my jacket, under the left arm, and hauls out the notebook. Checking to see the pen (attached to the notebook) is ready for another hard day at work. Then flips open the notebook. Looks around. And takes down the first note of the day. ... 5 pm. Closing time. Same procedure as yesterday: The notebook, fold closed. Pen, carefully inserted. Jacket, opened. Notebook, slided into position under the left arm. Stands up. And walks out. Next day: 9 am. Sliding doors open. I walk in. Pause. .....
Hm, yeah, against all odds - this could turn out to be a great summer after all!
People make it interesting idea given that I work in synthetic biology
@@personzorz 😁I mean, the possibilities, that's just ... majestic! 😁
Poundland has always been full of boot leg stuff. You used to be able to get boot leg gears of war toys, think they were called Space Soldiers or something
Good video.
I do miss Katie though. Sending love to this channel.
Thanks! And Katie is still around, don't you worry
This is as much Business Blaze Decoding the Unknown can be without being Business Blaze. Love it lmao
Oh, but yes, I’ve got pics from last year of Halloween displays being set up on August. Halloween has gotten to be big; often 12 months of the year for some people. I think the 2020 pandemic amped that obsession up even higher.
I've had kids since 2000 and currently an 8 year old. How have I never found any of these weird toys!?
Time to head into some urban mysteries Simon. This mystery is a more of a "What the hell!" mystery than an actual mystery.
Maybe he could start encoding the unknown
@@personzorz Well... Even if Simon's not willing to do it, SOMEBODY should be...
OR maybe "Encoding the Known"... ;o)
Butcher Ludwig's photographs are lovely, and hell, he's even managing to publish books that got the nod from Herschell Gordon Lewis before HGL died. Quite the underground success.
I accidentally shoplifted from Walmart once. I went in, grabbed the 2L bottle of coke I wanted, walked out. No one stopped me. I only realized it when I got to where I had locked up my bike, and realized I didnt have a bag to hang it on my handlebars. I immediately went back inside and paid for it. Again, no one said a thing.
I did that one Christmas. Walmart staff were very cool when I came running back with the WebKins I’d wandered out with. They just laughed at me.
I bought a small part from Walmart, when I got home I couldn't find it so I assumed I left it at the counter when I went back without question they told me just grab another one and you're good to go, so I did, when I got home I found the part in one of the "empty" bags so now I had two, I went back to return the extra and the lady looked confused as to what I needed, after the explaining it she was stunned and said she wouldn't have expected anyone to be so honest... Ins was that's saddening
I worked at Walmart for 16 years, they have so many people stealing and it costs to prosecute, so they won't even pay attention to you unless the value is over $25. Prosecution won't come for less than $1,000 now, I think? They'll just kick you out and tell you you're trespassed and you can't come back in.
@@mktrill It really is kinda sad :\
@@audiooddities9982 Wow, thats quite change. I suppose the cost of persecution would make a difference, I hadn't thought of that. Even small claims court can sometimes not be worth it, from what I hear
In Norway, we had something called ti'ern (10er) if I remember right, which was essentially an "dollar store". But succumbed to inflation. I remember vagely they tried to introduce different pricing, to combat the inflation, so you ended up with stuff costing upwards of 20 nok, but the brand just never recovered because you went in expecting something to cost 10, not 10+.
You literally made me have to stop your video to go watch that video lol. Good job.
Now I'm back lol.
Welcome back, brøthęr
@@bigafroman4277 thank you lol
Lol no prob. Hope you enjoyed the video and have a great day 😀👍
U can have a beer man....coffee maybe. But, maybe you've had enough coffee already. 😂
I'm really starting to love Kevin almost as much as I love Danny
Aww, thanks! I love you too
Dude, it's ridiculous how far ahead store plan for selling seasonal goods. One year my winter jacket got a hole in it and this was in late December, which in Ontario it's usually getting below 0c and starting to snow. So I figured a winter jacket shouldn't be a problem to find. WRONG! Every place I checked was sold out. The stores stock all of their winter jackets in like September/October and everybody apparently buys them all up. Then for whatever reason the stores decide that's all they need for the season and don't bother to restock until next season.
Maybe I'm slipping in my old age, but this makes absolutely no sense. I can understand wanting to be prepared for Winter. But is it REALLY normal to buy your winter jacket before the Summer's even over? And then for stores to be sold out the rest of the year. Or is my city just an idiot?
Pound land sounds like a porn themed amusement park. Lol
That Shia song reference and explanation. thank you writers and fact boy.
You're welcome!
Am I the only one that giggle like a grade-schooler when I kept saying "Poundland"?
Loved the episode. It would have been cool if there were more toys listed here. Mostly because I like the longer episodes more. Either, great job
We're ok with piracy and whatnot bc we like the idea of getting back at the companies that are exploiting us and keeping us all in poverty. Like Walmart employees get more welfare than most other retailers, which essentially means the govt is paying their wages for them so Walmart CEOs can get richer. Or look at streaming. When we could sub to one or two and get most things we were like "cool, we'll pay for it". Now that there's a million streaming services we're back to piracy bc Disney can afford it and they're just greedy. 🤷♀️ So piracy just fits in well with America's "screw The Man" attitude.
Your kids aunt is your sister in law. 😂
That's what he initially said but he corrected it to be his wife's aunt, so Aunt in-law if one is being strange or no relation as he finally opted for.
Simon, here in the US Dollar Store, 99cent store, etc. sells off-brand, marked down stuff:
Bigger chain stores couldn't sell X so they've DUMPED it in bulk "for pennies on the dollar",
Experimental/Trial products,
Cheaper, non/low -nutrition 'food', etc.
My friend stole a lighter from Walmart. She’s probably stolen more but only the lighter in front of me. So yeah it’s common.
"having fun with his evil stick" almost got me 😂
This is what capitalism is 😂. To paraphrase an old advertisement : "We make money the old fashioned way. We steal it."
Great show. Also my wife is permanently scarred from a lawn dart. Awesome kids toy$!
Simon, the corporations and the wealthy people who benefit from them don't need you to defend them. No we (Americans) are not all falling over ourselves at the chance to be exploited and we don't all support the exploitation of the poor all over the world on behalf of those corporations. We simply have very little power to change anything. tl,dr be gay, do crimes.
e: and I would like affordable healthcare so I could get my teeth fixed, that would be cool.
Here in the USA, if Halloween merchandise doesn't appear on shelves until September, it's really late! They normally bring on the Halloween stuff as soon as the 4th of July is over. 😆
This entire thing _sounds_ like a bunch of halloween toys were, _very_ lazily repurposed to be a children's toy. Nobody checked cause nobody cared. Honestly not a big deal. FFS children don't think like adults do! They just don't understand or care!
I worked at walmart for 3 years, never once got the yearly bonus because shoplifting was too high and big companies will make up for that bottom dollar by taking it from the bottom workers
Poundland sounds like an "Itchy and Scratchy theme park. Simon is as always xenophobically condescending toward any cultural behavior that isn't his own but doesn't see any issues with a store called "Poundland?" 🙄