Punk kid breaks pretty thing.

[Sofar]

Because he doesn't like pretty things.

About a month ago, the person what works the morning shift told me that someone broke our shiney new neon open-sign. I liked that sign. It was red and blue and all pretty and stuff. The red tubes that said "open" still lit, but there were some pretty blue tubes that encircled the word open, and they were broken. The windows on the front of our shop open up on warm days, and when they're open the open-sign hangs out in the open, instead of behind a window. So one afternoon some punk kid walks up to the sign, grabs one of the tubes, and yanks on it. It breaks in half, with no dramatic sparks or arcs of electricity, either. It just goes crack and the pretty blue light winks out. That's makes me sad. This is the exchange I had with my benighted coworker, whom attempted to repair the poor sign:

Coworker: "I taped the tube back together, but it won’t light."
Me: "That's because there’s no more neon in it. That's why they call it neon, there's supposed to be neon gas inside the tubes. When the tube broke, the magic neon pixies flew away."
Coworker: "Aw. Pixies."

We just got it fixed today. Not only that, but it's better now. Now the blue tubes form pretty curly-cues.

[Cedophile]

Keeping it on the inside this time?

I hate kids.

[Legal Eagle]

If the tube has broken when the kid pulled it and cut him he would have had the gall to sue.

[Lehk]

Coworker: "I taped the tube back together, but it won’t light."

Does this person drive to work each day?

[Sofar]

Don't worry about him, he's a nice guy. He just didn't know how a neon lamp works.

[Cedophile]

Don't worry about him, he's a nice guy. He just didn't know how a neon lamp works.

Me too. Before this post, I was thinking "hmm. There must still be something left in that." I learned something new today

[friendofjimmyk]

What is it with kids today? Did anyone see him do it?

[Boozy]

Might be slightly OT, but for some reason this story reminds me of the time that I was working as a waitress at my sister's cafe. Our town was hosting a "red hat" convention, which is this society of middle aged or older women who wear bright purple outfits with bright red hats. I think its pretty much North American wide. Fun group...they just get together and act silly.
So all the businesses in town that were offering "red hat" discounts were supposed to put red hats at their entrances. We hung ours on the sandwich board sign on the sidewalk out front of the cafe.
I'm talking to my sister at the front window, and we see this woman walk by with her husband. She pauses, takes a long look at the hat (HIDEOUS, this thing is), says something to her husband, and they shuffle along. Two seconds later, the husband comes back, looks around surreptitiously, grabs the hat, and starts to walk off.
My sister immediately throws open the door and yells, "Hey!" Guy looks back, and sheepishly says, "Um...can I have this?"

Um....NO.

That sandwich board sign was constantly being defaced, but this was utterly new.

[Cosmic Cat]

Punk kids are one of the most annoying sc's. They come in our store and do stuff like push all the shirts off the table or go down the escalator backwards because they think they're being a "totally awesum rebel!" who's "sticking it to the system!" In reality they are acting like a child, not a "rebel."

[Myra]

While working at Claire's, I had a run-in with an eleven-year-old who thought he was "sticking it to the man" by stealing a necklace from the men's jewelry rack. This tough talker was reduced to tears and whining when he realized not only was he gonna get to deal with "the man" when he was arrested for shoplifting, but "the man" was gonna call "the mom." I loved busting shoplifters. Was the best part of that job.

[Jester]

I have been far too nice to punk kids for far too long. When a couple of them started throwing ice off the balcony of my rooftop bar (highest point in town) and *I* got grief for it, that is where Mr. Nice Guy was forced into retirement.

And just the other day I got my first chance to really mess with a punk kid.

The sunset rush had slowed down, I was doing a walkaround to pick up empty cups and cans, and I see these two teenage kids looking over the balcony. (Awesome view, can’t blame them.) Then the one kid hocks up, rears back, and fires off a loogie from seven flights up.

”HEY!” I holler. They whirl around, unaware that I had been walking up behind them. ”Don’t do that!” Completely shocked by my surprise attack, and looking rather scared at being busted, they sheepishly wander off to the elevators and leave. Good thing, because I was in no mood to deal with any more of their crap that day.

I work the roof again tomorrow. Next punk kid, please?

[Gawdzillers]

I'm gonna name my band "Those Damn Kids".
I didn't know neon tubes were so fragile.

[karma_gypsy]

I'm gonna name my band "Those Damn Kids".
I didn't know neon tubes were so fragile.

Extremely fragile . . . I heard you aren't even really allowed to touch the tubes 'cause of the oils on your fingers. Plus, it doesn't take much to break them . . .

[Gawdzillers]

Extremely fragile . . . I heard you aren't even really allowed to touch the tubes 'cause of the oils on your fingers. Plus, it doesn't take much to break them . . .

What's this about skin oils? How do they affect the tubes?

[Sofar]

It's just glass, you can touch it. Gets kind of hot, though. About as easy to break as a flourescent tube, a little more difficult because the glass is thicker and the tube is narrower. Glass can be strange, a theatre near my house has a portico with red neon tubes forming arches between the columns, and occasionally someone throws a pair of sneakers with the laces tied together over them, haven't seen one break yet.