Just a story about a fortuitous DLR trade
On one of our casual visits to DLR, I decided to grab two bags of the Halloween pets on Main St. I was only hoping for the Siamese cat, but no such luck.
I ended up grabbing another bag at Tomorrowland... and it was an exact set of five pins we already had (we know now this is pretty common). We also grabbed two Trader Sam's boxes out of curiosity.
Learning that the pets were shadow box eligible, we decided to hop in line. There was a fellow there asking around if anyone had Trader Sam's pins. We thought we didn't have any good pulls, so we watched as he had no luck with anyone else... until I said, screw it, I'll pipe up and let him know we bought some boxes, and we asked what he was looking for. "The black pearl," he says. I was thinking, 'like... Pirates...?' No clue what he meant. But we pulled out our pins, and it turns out we had two! "I have never seen that pin with my own two eyes," he says. "What are you looking for?!" So I say, the siamese cat! So he pulls out an unopened bag of the Halloween pets, and is about to pull it open -- when he says, "I'm going to give you the trade of a lifetime." Then, he offered the unopened bag for the black pearl.
In my mind, my first impulse is to help the guy out. But his insistence on giving us the whole bag had the devil on my shoulder making me second guess the value of that pin. But really, if he'd opened that bag and the Siamese was in there, I'd instantly 1:1 trade. In the end, I looked at my partner and she's telling me tacitly that if we have the ability to make a person's day, then we should. And, we'd get another chance at the siamese! So we made the trade and got to watch the guy clutching his chase, smiling, as he walked off.
We opened the bag, and got the exact same set of five pins for the third time.
~
It seemed like seeing this happen gave everyone else a little more confidence to start asking around for trades, too. On our right, I noticed that a couple next to us in line lit up when we pulled out our third Maleficent cat out of that bag, so I asked... but they didn't have a Siamese. They said, "oh, they have one!" So, to our left, we asked and sure enough, that someone had a Siamese!... but they needed a Corgi, which I didn't have. But the people on our right had a Corgi, and they wanted my Maleficent. And it suddenly became so obvious -- I could go Maleficent to Corgi on our right, then Corgi to Siamese on my left! And so the first and only time I've ever witnessed or been part of a three-way trade occurred, and I was so stupidly proud of myself for being in the middle of it, and just so amazed at all the events that had to have transpired for this trade to happen.
At this point, we made our way to the front of the shadow box line and traded some extras for other Halloween pets we didn't already have. Then when I got home, set up a trade with Pidge to complete the collection (thanks again, @Pidge !). Not sure how we went from needing ONLY the Siamese to completing the set, but here we are. I don't really trade in person very often, but I can't deny the magic when it happens so organically. I just really wanted to share!
I ended up grabbing another bag at Tomorrowland... and it was an exact set of five pins we already had (we know now this is pretty common). We also grabbed two Trader Sam's boxes out of curiosity.
Learning that the pets were shadow box eligible, we decided to hop in line. There was a fellow there asking around if anyone had Trader Sam's pins. We thought we didn't have any good pulls, so we watched as he had no luck with anyone else... until I said, screw it, I'll pipe up and let him know we bought some boxes, and we asked what he was looking for. "The black pearl," he says. I was thinking, 'like... Pirates...?' No clue what he meant. But we pulled out our pins, and it turns out we had two! "I have never seen that pin with my own two eyes," he says. "What are you looking for?!" So I say, the siamese cat! So he pulls out an unopened bag of the Halloween pets, and is about to pull it open -- when he says, "I'm going to give you the trade of a lifetime." Then, he offered the unopened bag for the black pearl.
In my mind, my first impulse is to help the guy out. But his insistence on giving us the whole bag had the devil on my shoulder making me second guess the value of that pin. But really, if he'd opened that bag and the Siamese was in there, I'd instantly 1:1 trade. In the end, I looked at my partner and she's telling me tacitly that if we have the ability to make a person's day, then we should. And, we'd get another chance at the siamese! So we made the trade and got to watch the guy clutching his chase, smiling, as he walked off.
We opened the bag, and got the exact same set of five pins for the third time.
~
It seemed like seeing this happen gave everyone else a little more confidence to start asking around for trades, too. On our right, I noticed that a couple next to us in line lit up when we pulled out our third Maleficent cat out of that bag, so I asked... but they didn't have a Siamese. They said, "oh, they have one!" So, to our left, we asked and sure enough, that someone had a Siamese!... but they needed a Corgi, which I didn't have. But the people on our right had a Corgi, and they wanted my Maleficent. And it suddenly became so obvious -- I could go Maleficent to Corgi on our right, then Corgi to Siamese on my left! And so the first and only time I've ever witnessed or been part of a three-way trade occurred, and I was so stupidly proud of myself for being in the middle of it, and just so amazed at all the events that had to have transpired for this trade to happen.
At this point, we made our way to the front of the shadow box line and traded some extras for other Halloween pets we didn't already have. Then when I got home, set up a trade with Pidge to complete the collection (thanks again, @Pidge !). Not sure how we went from needing ONLY the Siamese to completing the set, but here we are. I don't really trade in person very often, but I can't deny the magic when it happens so organically. I just really wanted to share!