u/mycatsitslikeppl

At a recent work event, we were sent a memo the week before not to have beverages in their own brand’s cups and to transfer them into a non-descript tumbler or one with our own logo.

Well, the week before the memo, we had received a tumbler, with our logo, as a corporate “gift”. It was awkward and clunky and the lid made the whole thing so difficult to carry and it was a PITA to clean, by hand. A colleague found it through sheer curiosity that the medium-sized cup from our favorite beverage shop fit perfectly inside AND we didn’t need the stupid lid.

We all walked around the event with our drinks inside what is now essentially an over-priced koozy with our logo. We didn’t hear anything about it from the higher ups and we underlings had a nice chuckle.

In the past few months, my tween kiddo and I have been going HARD at Round1. They love the coin pushers and I’m hyper-fixating on the claw machines. We go about once a week and I’m averaging 8-12 big plushies per visit, plus however many regular and keychain sized ones I win. I have NO MORE room in my house for the big ones. I’ve already given multiple garbage bags of them to several teacher friends for their class stores or as rewards for their students. My nibling’s bed is covered in Hello Kitty and Miffy plushies. For the rest that I have at home, I’m looking for places to donate them to, like the pediatric department of a hospital, childrens’ homes, domestic violence shelters, or fire stations. I know the rules around donated plushies can be a little picky, so it may take a few tries. And some of them probably aren’t too kid-friendly, like the creepy grimacing bears or some of the anime characters and collaborations.

I mainly go to spend time with my tween in this fleeting window of their life where they WANT to be with me; Moms: IYKYK. I’m paying for the entertainment value for the high of WINNING the plushies. I don’t really want to keep them all. Today, I had my kiddo give almost all of them away to other kids. (They wanted to keep a dinosaur.) Any time we saw a little kid, like 4 and under, they went up to them and gave them a plushie. A tween girl about their same age tried and failed to get one of the Pokémon (IDK which one, you’re lucky I even knew it was a Pokémon) and I had won that same one earlier, so they went up and gave it to her. I could hear a teenage girl and her grandma reacting in awe behind me as they watched me win a Hello Kitty in just two tries and after she congratulated me on my win, I gave it to her.

Let me tell you, IDK which high was better: winning the plushies using the skills I learned from several claw machine social media accounts or giving them away to a kid and seeing them light up, along with the thankful smiles from their grown-ups. I don’t think it’s quite “core memory” level, but definitely “awesome visit” level.

My Round1 still has the annoying Dollar Store snacks, so most of the skill games are stilI MIA. Today was the first day it didn’t really bother me because I was teaching my kiddo how good it feels to be kind. And it feels really frakking good. So if you see a middle-aged mom and her tween giving away their plushies, feel free to give me a lil wink. (And no, I’m not doxxing myself by saying which location.)

I bought a membership at the counter. It expires in February 2027. Can I renew it through the app and then I’ll be able to get the app rewards? I’d rather get reward points for free credits than more of the same counter prizes.

(I know I’m SOL for the next 8 months and I accept it.)