They are NOT my Barbies... I swear!
Starting some 15 years ago when my niece was very little, ruthlessly adorable, and completely into Barbie Dolls and anything related to Barbie. As I adored her and could never say 'No', I would shamelessly indulge her. For Christmas I would always buy her one or two of the special collectible Barbie Dolls from FAO Schwarz (price range $150-$300 each, each serialized, etc, etc). Since I always paid by credit card, they had all my information, so they would send me ‘focused marketing’ catalogs.

Yep, I started getting Barbie Collector catalogs & brochures in the mail. At this period in time, I was a single male living alone and doing some traveling for work. And yes, my neighbor (ex-jock, regional sales manager for Dewalt Power Tools) was picking up my mail while I was away. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, I was dating a very nice woman who came over to my house just after my neighbor dropped off the stack of mail he collected for me.

Thank god my niece sent me a “Thank-you” drawing/note for her presents. I rushed over waving the evidence in their faces saying “See, I told you they weren’t for me, honestly”.

Oh, when she was turning 17, she let me know that she figured out that if she sold off her Barbie collection, she could get a nice used car. A few weeks later she decided to keep her collection and get her dad to buy her a nice new car.
(Sapience Free I have the mind and IQ of a sponge, Tue 14 Dec 2010, 0:46, Reply)