I can no longer recall how many times I've been to a LEGO store, and I imagine most readers here are in the same situation.  Trips to a LEGO store can often be a similar experience.  With the possible exceptions of Friday Night Binge Events at Brickworld or Brickfair, I always buy some of the Pick-A-Brick (P.A.B.).  Being the frugal guy that I am, filling a P.A.B. cup almost always involves some careful stacking of the pieces so that I get the most bang for my buck.  If I'm at a store during normal hours, there are usually parents and kids who are packing cups too.  They might not have the same mindset to maximize the volume of the cup as I do, but they are basically doing the same thing as I am.  The funny thing is that when you're an adult with no kid, and you're diligently packing a P.A.B. cup, some people will observe this and think that it is work.  Now I know what you may be thinking; "Taking the time to properly pack pieces in a P.A.B. cup is work," but what I mean is that these people think I'm a LEGO store employee.

Looking back on the times that this has happened, I must admit that I must place part of the blame on myself.  I often wear some kind of LEGO T-shirt when I go to a LEGO store, and sometimes I'm even wearing a brick badge.  I can't be sure, but if I had to guess, I'd say that the shoppers who presume that I work there are the ones who aren't even peripheral LEGO fans.  They didn't come in to buy LEGO or even look at a particular set.  They're the people who act as if it's their first time to see a LEGO store, and they see it as sort of a novelty item.  When they see me packing a P.A.B. cup, they realize that I'm doing something with the pieces other than playing.  If I'm not playing, I must be working, and if I'm an adult, and I'm working in the LEGO store, then I must be an employee.

The assumption that I work at a LEGO store has never really led to trouble.  People just ask questions, and I always know the answers right off the top of my head.  "How much is that [Green Grocer] set?"  "$150" I say before a real store employee can say it.  "What's the most advanced type of set?"  "The Mindstorms sets involve building something with moving parts plus computer programming," I answer.

During this past Brickworld, I went to the Northbrook LEGO store during normal business hours while wearing my brick badge and my Brickworld coordinator shirt.  I had brought Kenton Little with me to Brickworld that year, and he was with me on the trip to Northbrook.  As we walked into the mall, I told him that I was sure someone would assume that I worked there because of my shirt and badge.  There were plenty of oblivious non-Brickworld people there, but no one asked me any questions or did anything to indicate that they thought I worked there.  (I must interject that I had to correct an employee who I overheard telling a customer that Duplo and LEGO System pieces weren't compatible.)  As we were walking away from the store I told Kenton that I was surprised that no one had assumed that I worked there.

It was about 6:30, so we decided to eat there at the Northbrook Mall before we headed back to the Westin.  We went to some Italian place, and I ordered a pepperoni stromboli.  (That stromboli is another story all its own...one that would clog your arteries just by listening to it.)  When my food was ready, I made my way to the cash register.  The lady there rand up what I had.  Then she looked at my shirt and brick badge and said, "Oh, you work at the LEGO store?  You get a mall discount."  She entered something in the register and the total was less than it had just been.  "YEAH!  I don't really work at the LEGO store, but I just got a discount!  SWEET!"  I didn't really yell that out loud, but I yelled it inside.  I had just been mistaken for a LEGO store employee, and the result was nothing but good.

When you attend a LEGO fan convention, they'll tell you to remember to wear your badge.  They usually mean just wear it to classes and things throughout the convention, but I always wear mine the whole time I'm awake.  I wear it when I go to eat, when I stop to get gas and anywhere else I go.  Sometimes I just forget that I still have it on.  When you wear your brick badge outside of a LEGO event, only some people will say or ask something about it, but everyone notices it.  Wear yours with pride.