Have you ever bought LEGO in "secret"?

[davee123]

I bought a bunch of LEGO in secret back in 1994 and 1995. I had just graduated high school, and I was still pretty embarrassed about buying LEGO-- what would everyone think about me? I hadn't discovered the AFOL community, either, so I didn't really have a support network or partner in crime, I just was nervous about admitting my closet hobby.

At the time, I was working at a retail job (I was taking a year off of school before going to college), so I had to stay home to work while the rest of my family went away for Christmas vacation. They left the car with me, and I made a date with Toys R Us. However, I was so paranoid that I didn't buy very much-- only 2 sets. I didn't want the checkout people to know that the LEGO was for *me*! I even went out of my way to tell them that they were for my younger brother.

But 2 sets didn't hold me for long. The next night I made the same run-- I bought another 2 sets. And the next night I did it again. I was hooked. However, on the 4th night, I was trapped. There were only 2 people working the checkout counters at TRU, and they were BOTH people that I had been to on previous nights. What if they recognized me? (Gasp!) I quickly developed an elaborate excuse that I had bought the wrong sets the previous day, and had returned to buy the RIGHT ones, and that I would be back to return the previous sets later. Of course, they didn't ACTUALLY care. If they recognized me, they certainly didn't say anything-- not that there would actually be anything to say!

After my family returned home, I stopped going out to Toys R Us-- but I still needed to get my fix, and I needed to hide the evidence SOMEHOW. So, several times, I would "go out to the computer store" (or some other excuse), and would actually go to TRU instead. However, upon returning, I would take the bags of purchases and hide them in the garage, rather than bring them in the front door where I might get caught. And later that night, I would sneak out to the garage, retrieve my sets, and bring them back inside safely.

Anyway, I've since grown proud rather than secretive about my hobby :) And my wife's an AFOL, so none of my LEGO purchases have to be hidden.... Except when I'm buying HER a LEGO gift!

DaveE