New Jersey Build-A-Bear Store Manager Considers Quitting In Order To Avoid Middle Schoolers Filming TikToks In Store

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News In Brief

WOODBRIDGE, NJ-- Overwhelmed and exhausted, 42 year old Build-A-Bear Workshop store manager Karla Donnell quickly rushes out of the Woodbridge Center Shopping Mall employee entrance to take a smoke break after having to ask several pre-teen aged girls to stop filming TikTok videos in her store. After arguing with the middle schoolers back and forth, while they actively ignored her in favor of practicing their "Renegade" dance remix for the camera of an iPhone 11 Pro Max, she finally got them to leave once she threatened to have them banned from the mall for breaking the no filming policy. Taking a drag from her cigarette, Karla dazedly explains the issue. "This is the 3rd time this week I've had to threaten these kids to get them to stop filming TikToks here.. and it's only Tuesday. Do these kids even have school? Or parents?" This isn't a Build-A-Bear central problem as well, almost every store in the Woodbridge Center has reported being overrun with eleven-year-old boys and girls disrupting store environments for the perfect shot of their pretty messily executed "TikTok dances". Many schools across the country are starting to ban the usage of the app from their internet servers as well as classrooms. "If I have to see another lil' kid try to 'throw it back' in this mall, I might as well quit," Donnell sighs. "Kids don't even come in here to buy the damn bears anymore. They just want a place to set their phones up on the shelves.. and most of the time they cant even reach the shelves." She drops her cigarette stub to the concrete floor of the parking lot, her corporate-given five minute smoke break now over. Walking under the exit sign, Karla visibly shudders, and pushes herself through the doors. "This is why I don't want kids," she mumbles.

Comments

  1. Kayla TompkinsMarch 8, 2020 at 1:55 PM

    I really liked how you did your own version of an Onion article. I especially liked how you did it on TikTok. I thought that was very creative.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sejal PatilMarch 8, 2020 at 6:15 PM

    Yes Luna, I love this! It is Onion by Luna and I am here for it. I love how you incorporate satirical elements to show how this is in fact humorous and it highlights the current controversy between millenials/Gen Z against Gen X/Boomers. Especially incorporating Tik-Tok which is an otherwise foreign topic to older generations, really helps show the underlying message in your piece. Also, it is a perfect representation of how Onion is able to talk normal news and twist it almost entirely to create a facade or illusion to their readers.

    ReplyDelete

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