I was skeptical, so I bought a fidget spinner
The story of how an incorrect price tag got me into the world of spinners
The fidget spinner craze hit its peak a few months ago. Back in the spring, it seemed like every single person alive was talking about the new “it” toy. But I was very skeptical about whether they were fun, worth the money and really could help channel “nervous energy”.
It wasn’t until I was walking through a Best Buy on Friday night that I ever considered owning one.
I went into the store to kill 15 minutes when I walked by an end-cap display full of fidget spinners. I almost walked right by until I saw the price: “$5.99”; this seemed inexpensive. I had always been curious them and had never actually played with one for more than 5 seconds, so I bit the bullet.
I brought the spinner by itself up to pay and the cashier laughed.
Cashier: “Is that the only item you have today?”
Me: “Yes, I came here just to buy a six dollar fidget spinner.”
The item was mislabeled, so after five minutes of going back and forth between the display and the cash register, I walked out of the store with a jet-black fidget for the after-tax price of $6.77.
I took my new toy and immediately tore open the packaging like an excited child on Christmas morning.
After playing with it for a couple of minutes, I noted some of my initial observations:
- It was much heavier than I had initially thought and was surprisingly hard to spin with one hand
- Despite being advertised “up to 3 minutes of spinning”, I could not get the device to spin for more than 90 seconds straight
- You can spin the individual stems of the fidget spinner in addition the centre of the device
- When spinning, shifting the axis of the spinner leading to a really funny sensation; like it’s trying to get away from you
After playing with the device for a couple of days, I think I’m over it.
If you love your fidget spinner for concentration and for control over nervous energy, I implore you to continue to use it. But as a toy, it’s pretty lame. Unless of course, I’m just not playing with the fidget spinner in the right way (like the Dude Perfect team below).
