My son got kicked out of an arcade yesterday

joemagiera

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My 11 year old son got kicked out of the arcade for the first time yesterday. Actually he and my other son, his 7 year old brother both got kicked out.

On of their favorite activities around any coin operated machine, not just arcade machines, but pop machines, or any type of vending machines, is to hit all the coin returns and check them for money. Wouldn't be so bad, but they both have no hesitation in taking it a step further and getting down on the floor and looking and reaching under machines checking for dropped coinage. It's embarrassing as can be for my wife and I when they get on the floor.

Anyhow, my wife took them fishing and on the way home stopped in Gurnee IL to let them look for money in the arcade while she and our daughter went to get something to eat. My older son reported that they weren't in there 20 seconds before they got kicked out. As soon as they hit the floor, the lady behind the counter said "uh-uh" and motioned them towards the door.

My wife's reaction was "thank God I wasn't there". My son's reaction was "this is the first and only arcade that I hope goes out of business". His rational is that he wasn't damaging anything or getting in anyone's way, what is the problem?

20 seconds. So have any of you ever been kicked out faster?
 
I got kicked out of a drug store when I was 11 for going through a wax box of basketball cards pressing on the top of the pack to try and see if Jordan was on top of the pack.
 
Heh business must be pretty good to kick out two kids helping to police tokens off the floor. :p
 
I've been kicked out of better places than that. Like wal-mart, lol. And the movie theatre. And restauraunts. And the mall. And college campuses I didn't belong to. And... well you get the point. No shame in it... I can understand where the woman is coming from too, though. Eh, kids. It is what it is. They can go back some other time.
 
I think most of us return checkers were a bit more discreet. ;) I also believe the arcades had a bit more people in them when I did it. The only time I would go down to the ground was if my own hard earned quarter rolled under the machine. Damn it sucked when that happened!

I can't recall getting kicked out of anywhere for anything. One distinct thing I remember doing that would have gotten me kicked out of an assholes gas station was checking bottle caps for winners. Back when pepsi/coke actually let you turn in caps for free pops instead of requiring you to sign over your first born online for a chance to win, I would tilt the bottle and get a glimpse at the underside of the lid. I couldn't read it, but if there was excessive black ink, then I knew I had a winner. My dad was friends with the local gas station guy, and he always got a kick out of it when I pulled a winner every time. I never paid for pop that entire summer. The next summer they went to BOGO winners, which was still good, but not as good as totally free.
 
joe

your kids just got the jimmy johns faster then fast joe !
its a shame since they were not doing anything wrong
 
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Not to be disrespectful but do you believe everything your kids tell you? I have kids in the same age bracket and catch them bending the truth in their favor whenever they get into trouble all of the time.
 
It's embarrassing as can be for my wife and I when they get on the floor.

Anyhow, my wife took them fishing and on the way home stopped in Gurnee IL to let them look for money in the arcade while she and our daughter went to get something to eat.

Haha well for being so embarrassed by their behavior, you sure do enable it. She stopped at the arcade "to let them look for money"? Good parenting.

-Adam
 
I was booted out of Time Out once when I called the attendant and a-hole because he kept giving change to other pricks ignoring my plea for some change...
 
I can't recall getting kicked out of anywhere for anything. One distinct thing I remember doing that would have gotten me kicked out of an assholes gas station was checking bottle caps for winners. Back when pepsi/coke actually let you turn in caps for free pops instead of requiring you to sign over your first born online for a chance to win, I would tilt the bottle and get a glimpse at the underside of the lid. I couldn't read it, but if there was excessive black ink, then I knew I had a winner. My dad was friends with the local gas station guy, and he always got a kick out of it when I pulled a winner every time. I never paid for pop that entire summer. The next summer they went to BOGO winners, which was still good, but not as good as totally free.

When I was in grade 6 or 7 (circa 1980), you could tell which bottles were winners because the bottle caps would have 2 little marks on them to denote the batch. If you got one with certain markings, (which were colour coded stripes), you were pretty much guaranteed to get another by looking for another bottle with the same "highlights".

The marks almost looked like someone making a short dash on the edge of the bottle cap with a highlighter...

We would stay in this "Dairy Bar" which was a combo variety store / lunch counter and play Berzerk and Asteroids all day with a good supply of almost free pop...

Never got kicked out though...
 
Haha well for being so embarrassed by their behavior, you sure do enable it. She stopped at the arcade "to let them look for money"? Good parenting.

-Adam

Embarrassed? Yes.

Anything wrong with it (assuming they aren't damaging anything or getting in people's way)? No.

Good parenting? I think they'll reach a point where it will be embarrassing for themselves, which in the end will be even a better lesson for them, so yes, I do think it's good parenting. Got to choose your battles. Lots more important things to teach them than that. Got any kids of your own? I'll be glad to compare manners, doing the right thing, grades, etc..
 
Embarrassed? Yes.

Anything wrong with it (assuming they aren't damaging anything or getting in people's way)? No.

Good parenting? I think they'll reach a point where it will be embarrassing for themselves, which in the end will be even a better lesson for them, so yes, I do think it's good parenting. Got to choose your battles. Lots more important things to teach them than that. Got any kids of your own? I'll be glad to compare manners, doing the right thing, grades, etc..

I'd be very surprised if he had any kids...
 
I look at this from the perspective of a business owner since I own a bar. I've had a couple tennants bring kids into the bar and I usually don't permit it. First of all, if they hurt themselves, who do you think is liable? Who is the first person that most parents are going to go after? The business owner. Say for example there is a loose wood screw, nail, or something sharp hanging under the machine the kids are reaching under and they injure themselves. It's not the kids fault for dropping to the floor and reaching under a machine that is not theirs. It's not the parents fault for not watching their kids and actually telling them not to do something like that. It is the business owners fault for not making sure that everything is clear and safe under the machine in case some kids come in and start looking for loose change under all the machines. That is what the lawyers will say when the parents sue, and that is why I agree with the lady who kicked them out. As a business owner, the liability issues are constantly on my mind. I'm in no way trying to start a pissing contest; I just wanted to give you a different perspective on this.
 
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My brother was notorious for hitting the arcade machines when he lost. They attendants always yelled at him about that.

he actually blamed the games for "cheating"
 
The only time I was ever kicked from an Arcade. I slammed some kids face into the bezel of the Eagle machine I was playing when he tried to scam my quarters I had sitting on the game. So young so angry god I had a bad temper when I was a kid.
 
I got kicked out of an arcade once. Our family went to a mall in another city that had a 'you must be older than 16 or accompanied by an adult to be in this arcade ' ordinance. The mall nearer my house didn't have that ordinance.

I bet the business at that arcade took a hit when that ordinance went into place!
 
The kids that pushed every coin return button and checked every coin slot for quarters used to irritate the crap out of me. These were the same kids who would poke their heads right to the side of the monitor to watch you play. Even worse were the kids that would squeeze between the pins and then poke their heads over the side rails to watch. :mad: ahhh the memories :D
 
The kids that pushed every coin return button and checked every coin slot for quarters used to irritate the crap out of me. These were the same kids who would poke their heads right to the side of the monitor to watch you play. Even worse were the kids that would squeeze between the pins and then poke their heads over the side rails to watch. :mad: ahhh the memories :D

I liked watching, but I kept my distance. I had no desire to get hung up on the wall by my underwear!

I've had kids do that to me, and it irritates the shit out of me.
 
I liked watching, but I kept my distance. I had no desire to get hung up on the wall by my underwear!

I've had kids do that to me, and it irritates the shit out of me.



Getting hung up by my underwear would irritate the shit out of me as well, but at some point you've got to man up and just stop hanging around such kids.
 
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