I used to believe that the real (and only) name of Ethan Allen, the upscale furniture store, was The Look-Don't Touch Store, because whenever we went, that's what my parents called it.

Meg

When I was 5 years old I used to think that the people at the A and P grocery store gave us money to do our shopping. It used to make me so happy because we didn't have a lot of money and I knew that getting our groceries paid for would mean less stress for my mom. At the time I did not understand the concept of cashing a check, which was what was really happening.

kruisebaine

When I was about 5 my aunt caught me pushing all the buttons in the elevator at the mall. So she told me that a gremlin lived underneath the elevators, he made them go up and down by pulling ropes, and pushing all the buttons at once would piss him off. So until I was about 10 I took the escalator.

Gwen

At the shopping mall when I was younger, I would freak out and plead with my parents to take me home as it approached closing time. My sister who is 4 years older than me would tell me how giant German Shepherd guard dogs would come running out of nowhere and viciously eat anyone left in the stores. I'm sure parents had to deal with their children complaining about wanting to go home, but not nearly as bad as my adolescent anxiety attacks!

Arnell Damasco

I used to belive that the fountains at the mall were somehow connected to the urinals in the men's washroom, so from then until my Dad finally explained to me what the fountain was all about, I was terrified of going close to fountains.

Kate

When I was little(3-8ish) I used to believe that if you were under 21 you weren't allowed to walk through the aisles where there is alcohol in stores. Nobody told me that, but I just kinda made it up. I everytime I would walk down it with my parents I would always check to make sure that nobody that worked at the store was around because I didn't want to get into any trouble. The first time I walked down the alcohol aisle I thought I was being so risky.. I don't know how I found out that it wasn't illegal.

Michaela

When my mom took my sister and me to the mall, I would stay clear away from the fountain that was by the food court. My sister had told me that if I got too close and didn't throw money in, the troll that lived in there would get me. I was always scared for those people who sat by the edge of the water and didn't do anything. It seemed like a death wish to me.

Public Pool, anyone?

When i was really little, i thought that pharmacy was a shop where you could buy animals, like pigs and cows.

Anon

I used to ask my mother why she would complain about spending money at the grocery store. At the end the cashier would hand my mother some coins. So, I reasoned, if you were getting more coins back than the bills you gave, then you were MAKING money, not spending it.

Jayme

Before I learned to read, I would go shopping with my mom. If I wanted to go into a toy store, she would point out the sign on the door and tell me that it said "No little blonde boys allowed."

jeff

i used to think adoption was done by visiting the baby store, and picking out the one you wanted. i can still remember my vague versions of a store lined with babies.
kind of like a pet store i guess.
i had a wild imagination.

Donielle.

I used to believe that coconuts would fall off of trees in the Pacific Islands, then float all the way to our shores, where there were workers who go around all the beaches picking up all the coconuts, who then gave them to supermarkets.

Captain Raison

When I was a kid, I used to think there was some way to read the barcodes and figure out how much stuff at the store cost

Anon

I used to believe that if I touched things at the department store, there was a person at the store who would come cut off your ears. My Grandpa is responsible for this belief!

Marcia

When I was young I used to think that WHSmith was all one word, and was thus pronounced "Wwwhhhhuuusmith"

Nathan

For a few years in early childhood, I thought that all places that played Muzak had a full orchestra above the ceiling. I imagined them all sitting up there playing their instruments, tucked out of sight.

T

When I was little, one time when I was little I needed to get some new school shoes. I tried on a pair that were quite uncomfortable but I decided to choose them because I thought that the person who made them would be sad if no one got them.

Mark

I used to sit on the bus and see the big supermarket 'Safeway', I believed it was a place where people could feel safe.

Lisa-Dionne

For a while until I now(I'm 15!) I misunderstood when expensive looking jewelery was called"paste"(fake) I thought that it was literally made out of glue. Though I always wondered how they made the gem stones out of glue...

Glow worm

When I was a kid, typical grocery stores in my town had slanted mirrors in places, like behind the produce bins. For a long time, I didn't realize that they were mirrors. I thought they were windows allowing a view into a different part of the store, a part that wasn't level but steeply slanted. It seemed almost a magical part of the store. Shoppers there seemed to effortlessly walk up the steep floor with no danger of sliding down. And they could leave their shopping carts in place without them rolling downhill. I figured that it was only a matter of time until my parents would have occasion to shop in that other strange and wonderful part of the store, and they would take me there with them. Eventually I was very disappointed to learn that no such thing would ever happen.

Bobby