In The Beginning There Was Amtrak...

In the beginning there was Amtrak...(At least in the beginning of this portion of the adventure.) The Toy Man® has six hours to waste before the train leaves. He thinks to himself, what could possibly be better than to allow people to get some hands-on experience with the many products he has with him? With that thought in mind, The Toy Man begins pulling out products and just waits for the fun to begin.

The moment people saw all of the products like ScareMeNots plush characters, games like Jishaku, Goldmine, Triplica, and of course Geoworld's Mammoth Skeleton, they wasted no time in rushing over to see what was happening. The hours passed by so quickly as people were so strongly enagaged in playing with and sharing their excitement about all the products.

When finally preparing to board the train, some of the station staff fell in love with the ScareMeNot characters. The Toy Man promptly gave them one to take home to their kids. Even the engineers of the train wanted one!

(The image to the right is from the train ride itself. It clearly shows the excitement that having these products on the train creates!)

The product that really captured everyone's attention was the beamz Interactive Music System. It is a masterful work of art and creativity that takes music to an entirely new level of existence using laser beams. As your hands breaks the path of the laser beams, musical instruments are heard! Images will be available in the next couple days to show people actually using it. 

An Unexpected Turn of Events

The Toy Man was so excited to see so many smiles from the people who came to see the products he was sharing. Little did he know that soon after, the rassistant conductor from the train was about to put a powerful rain shower on his excitement as well as that of others.

We all know about rules and their importance in the use of a service or product yet there are some people who exercise rules well beyond measure for their own personal selfish ends at the expense of others. This is a lesson The Toy Man learned all too well on the AMTRAK Southwest Chief.

Despite the fact of 4 years of giving away products on this train line, (last one in October 2010), the assistant conductor refused to allow The Toy Man to share the joy of the products he has with the passengers! Every excuse from Amtrak regulations to even fear of the game pieces being made of explosive materials and Homeland Secuirty threats were used by the assistant conductor AND the main conductor!

The straw that breaks the camel's back is that every grroup of conductors following the first are holding to the same rules. The Toy Man can't even get the two carry on items he is allowed to have! Amtrak regulations clearly state: 2 carry on items, (purses and laptops not included). It appears as though somone is abusing authority in this scenario.

Not Everyone's A Bad Guy :-)

While the challenges seemed so immeasureable in his adventure so far, The Toy Man continued to fight the good fight to do what he came for! A small comfort was provided by the Customer Service Supervisor on the train. Although the conductors are being so brash and unreasonable, the customer service supervisor came to visit The Toy Man in his room, going out of his way to seek a mutual resolve. That's REAL customer service!

It's a sad situation when a company as well known as Amtrak allows simple and innocent situations to become full head-on confrontations! On the flip side though, The Toy Man has been busy scurrying around the train, playing with products, two or three at a time, still doing giveaways, helping people become aware of the award winning products he has brought for fun!

The Toy Man is taking the Beamz product, toys and games out to the observation card next to liven the place up. Who knows, maybe he will find another nasty conductor hiding behind a door, waiting to strike! The Toy Man will not be afraid, he also has a ScareMeNot product with him!