The gaming retailer GameStop is famous for letting you trade in old video games for store credit. But what would happen if they let you trade in almost anything?
The answer, apparently, involves a gas mask, a stuffed bobcat, a 20mph speed limit sign, and an educational model of the blood vessels surrounding the human lung (written in Japanese, naturally).
Those were among the strange and dubious treasures handed in at GameStop branches on Saturday, the company's first ever 'Trade Anything Day'.
"For one day only, GameStop will be accepting more than the standard video game and tech-related product assortment we are known for and accepting almost anything in trade*!" said the company, whose share prices enjoyed a major boost last year due to CEO Ryan Cohen's vocal supporter of Donald Trump.
As the asterisk suggests, there were some limits: customers were only allowed to trade in one 'anything' item, and it had to be able to fit inside a 20-inch cube-shaped box. Participants would get a $5 gift card for their troubles.
open image in galleryThere was also a long list of exclusions ranging from hazardous waste through living animals to "ashes of your loved ones" and "that one gift from Aunt Helen."
But that didn't stop customers from dumping a surreal haul of knickknacks and bric-a-brac, including a bowling ball, a "creepy doll collection" and a rather bedraggled stuffed Canada goose.
According to the company, there was also a folded copy of the Declaration of Independence, a paper straw, a pair of Nike Air Jordans, an incomplete Friends box set on VHS, a stars and stripes helmet, several cans of Campbell's soup, a portrait of a dog sporting Snoop Dog's famous hairstyle, a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider, and a single plastic spoon.
open image in gallerySocial media posts also showed people trading in board games, vinyl records, baseball cards, a tiny piece of lint, a fake PS5 game called Call of Diddy, a "ticket to Pound Town" (which prompted giggles from staff and bystanders), and a piece of paper that the customer found sitting on the register.
One customer handed in something of a historical curiosity: a Netflix "Instant Streaming Disc", designed to be inserted into a Nintendo Wii in order to load it with the Netflix app (the service was discontinued in January 2019).
open image in galleryYet other social media posts, reported the gaming news site Polygon, revealed how event left some GameStop staff feeling frazzled by "disrespectful" or "belligerent" customers, who took the company's announcement as an invitation to create chaos.
Some workers were forced to deal with online influencers attempting to troll them for a reaction, while others were confronted with inappropriate items such as dildos, a custom Sonic the Hedgehog sex toy, and pornography.
"There were a lot of kids in the store, and so I got upset and kicked him out," said one apparent staff member on Reddit who dealt with the would-be dildo donor.
"Well, word got to my direct manager, and apparently my regional manager is blaming my whole store… [for] letting this happen.
open image in gallery"I don't care if I get let go at this point. How the f*** is this man going to defend a dude for bringing a literal dildo into the store?"
Another Redditor claiming to be a GameStop worker said: "I’ve found… drugs, condoms (not used thank god), but I think the one that took the cake was an entire family of hatched baby roaches.
"The guy took it outside, dumped it on the ground, and brought it back in like I was gonna touch it again. Also got a PS4 with a bullet hole. That was interesting."
Another wrote: "I am so exhausted… we already deal with so many scummy people in the store.”
On the other hand, many people handed in canned foods in the hope that they could be helpful to low-paid employees or otherwise given to food banks, though some stores reportedly refused to accept them.
