Woman snatched the last $5 Oogie Boogie toy from a crying toddler because she 'needed it more.' His mom followed her — and pulled the same move
The parent was too stunned to react at first
Everyone has hobbies and affinities for certain objects, but one adult woman recently got possessed by a pathological craving for a plush toy that prompted her to snatch it away from a toddler. The toddler was exploring some Nightmare Before Christmas (NBC) merchandise in a mall with his parent (u/cafescafes), and as they passed a toy aisle, he picked up the last $5 “Oogie Boogie” plushie in the store. The grown woman yanked the toy out of his hands and walked away with her boyfriend. In a September 22, 2026, Reddit comment, the parent described how this behavior reminded her of “those Black Friday articles about people throwing hands over TVs.” Her post has since tallied dozens of upvotes.
'Nightmare before Christmas' moment
The parent shared the incident as a response to u/PoutieCharmm’s September 22, 2026 post, where they asked about the “strangest thing: you’ve seen someone turn into their whole personality.” “I need it more than he does. He can have a different one,” the entitled woman said these words and snatched the toy from the toddler’s hands, leaving him crying. The parent was so stunned by the behavior that they had no words to utter in the moment. Since the toddler was crying, the parent followed the woman to another aisle.
To give the taste of their own medicine, the parent grabbed another item from the woman's hands. The woman started swearing, so her boyfriend went on a lookout for a store employee, who turned out to be a deadpan adolescent. He shrugged off the matter by saying more toys would be added to the stock soon. “In retrospect, I probably should have said something to her instead of just grabbing it, but you never really expect people to act like that in public until they do. I was also pretty pissed off about it in the moment,” the parent said.
Psychology behind adult temper tantrums
The parent said the fight over a roughly $5 toy reminded them of Black Friday shoppers scrambling over TVs. In a 2025 study of 427 shoppers in Indonesia, researchers found that messages about limited stock could stir up feelings of threat and jealousy toward other shoppers — and were linked to more aggressive behavior.
‘Your way worked better’
Reddit readers sided with the parent, saying snatching the book was probably the most elegant way to handle the situation. u/jillyfrog commented, “Just reading that, I'm too flabbergasted to come up with something to say. Simply snatching it back was probably the most elegant way to solve it. Also, the audacity to get an employee over this like they didn't do it first, and also to a toddler.” u/EinsTwo added, “If you'd said something, she'd have kept it and just argued with you. Your way worked better, and she had it coming.”
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