Build-A-Bear Birthday Policy Dispute

Start of a new month— time to deal with Birthday Bear grief

I work at BAB in management and just wanted to rant a little bit. At the start of every month, we get a slew of parents trying to get birthday bears for their kids whose birthdays were the month prior. Policy states that it HAS to be the birthday month to get the deal, therefore I cannot give it to them. The amount of parents who think it’s appropriate to yell at me or ask me to make an exception for them is insane. You had a whole month. You had 4.5 weeks to do this. Your poor time management isn’t my problem. I can’t do anything for you. You can still get the bear for the, COMPARATIVELY CHEAP, $14 price— I just can’t give you the pay-your-age deal. The amount of parents who tell me they were told by a different store that they could still get the deal is astounding— if that’s the case, go to them. I’m not breaking rules for you. Or the argument that their kid’s birthday was the last of the month— you could’ve come in any of the days in that month. Or telling me they didn’t know about the deal until after the birthday month has passed— again, this isn’t my problem. I CANNOT give you the deal— I will not risk getting in trouble for you. Are you kidding me? My least favorite is when they look at their kid and say something along the lines of “well honey, I guess you’re not gonna be getting your birthday bear ¯\_(ツ)_/¯” like they’re trying to blame me for their own mess up and make me feel guilty. That crap is so awful to not only ME, but also your child. The funny part is, usually the kid doesn’t even care all that much. The parent just wants me to bend to their will. Not happening. You’ve in fact enraged me and I’m glad you’re not buying anything. It’s been especially abysmal these past few days with the start of November, and I just wanted to ramble in hopes that another employee will see this and know that YES, it is just as annoying as you think it is. And no, you’re not a jerk for doing your job. 🫩 Edit: changed some curses to be more PG-13