That’s not a headline you see every day, now is it? But it’s true – every word of it!
Police were recently called to an IKEA store in Glasgow, Scotland, after store employees became alarmed when customers began hiding in cupboards, refrigerators, and beds.
The culprit? A “Hide and Seek” Facebook event that over 2,000 people signed up for and another 10,000 folks were “interested in.” Damn you, social media!
The store’s management had heard about the planned event and were turning people away at the front door, but they couldn’t catch every mischievous person who wanted to get in on the action.
Five police officers were dispatched to the IKEA store to help staff put an end to the game. Rob Cooper, the manager of the Glasgow store, said:
“The safety of our customers and co-workers is always our highest priority. We were aware of an unofficial hide and seek Facebook event being organised to take place at our store and have been working with the local police for support. While we appreciate playing games in one of our stores may be appealing to some, we do not allow this kind of activity to take place to ensure we are offering a safe environment and relaxed shopping experience for our customers.”
Sounds like this game got squashed almost before it even started. Buzzkill!
There’s actually been a somewhat global trend of people wanting to play Hide and Seek at IKEA stores going all the way back to 2014. Games have taken place in Belgium, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands. One organizer for a game in Belgium said, “Sometimes it’s fun just to do some childish things. Ikea is like an extremely large living room. We played hide and seek the whole day. It was really exhausting but so much fun.”
IKEA, however, is not on board. The store issued a statement telling customers, “It’s hard to control. We need to make sure people are safe in our stores and that’s hard to do if we don’t even know where they are.”
Good point. Safety first, people…keep that in mind.
