Balloon incident at university

[niklooner]

I was at uni back in the 2000's and I used to be on the committee for a student club. Every year we would have a fair where all the clubs had stalls and would advertise for the new students to join up etc. I was on the stall one year and had inflated some 14 inch balloons to decorate it.

I had a similar incident. Back in my university days, I found myself manning a stall. Across from us was this store that boasted the most incredible 14-inch Jewel-tone helium balloons. They were inflated just right—large, vivid, and tight. I was dumbfounded when the girl strolled in, with this massive bunch of beauties.

I didn't want to seem too eager, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. All day, I brainstormed ways to make them mine—considering buying them or crafting some clever excuse. However, with my friends around, a perfect reason eluded me. So, I decided to bide my time, waiting until the end of the day when most of the people had left, hoping that fate would intervene.

As the day wound down, I assisted in packing up the stall and took a short break to load up the car. It was meant to be a quick affair, no more than ten minutes. When I returned, there was no trace of the balloons. I hesitated to ask my friends what had become of them, but a glance at the bins told the story—broken fragments. I was crushed. They had been a sight to behold, and the memory of those stunning balloons still lingers, even after nearly three decades.

Dude but it was amazing!
Did she stomped on them?

[Erik Grand]

I was at uni back in the 2000's and I used to be on the committee for a student club. Every year we would have a fair where all the clubs had stalls and would advertise for the new students to join up etc. I was on the stall one year and had inflated some 14 inch balloons to decorate it.

I had a similar incident. Back in my university days, I found myself manning a stall. Across from us was this store that boasted the most incredible 14-inch Jewel-tone helium balloons. They were inflated just right—large, vivid, and tight. I was dumbfounded when the girl strolled in, with this massive bunch of beauties.

I didn't want to seem too eager, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. All day, I brainstormed ways to make them mine—considering buying them or crafting some clever excuse. However, with my friends around, a perfect reason eluded me. So, I decided to bide my time, waiting until the end of the day when most of the people had left, hoping that fate would intervene.

As the day wound down, I assisted in packing up the stall and took a short break to load up the car. It was meant to be a quick affair, no more than ten minutes. When I returned, there was no trace of the balloons. I hesitated to ask my friends what had become of them, but a glance at the bins told the story—broken fragments. I was crushed. They had been a sight to behold, and the memory of those stunning balloons still lingers, even after nearly three decades.

I can imagine this story so well. I still have this feeling when I see balloons somewhere (I'm in my mid-30s). Especially if you look out for it or can keep an eye on it, I am completely sedated and very afraid that I will miss them if they are destroyed when I am not looking. The stupid thing is that when I read it from you, a rush goes through my mind because I see it in front of me. I would also look in the trash to see if they were there.

I recently had something similar. I looked from my gym on the 2nd floor on the cross trainer, on a sports field. There was some kind of sports day because there were streamers and balloons hanging. Then I'm completely distracted. Bunches of 12 inch balloons hung from several poles on the field and bunches of balloons hung from all 6 flagpoles in the stands. I spent my entire 20 minute exercise checking to see if there was a child who was bursting, but nothing, I was hoping that it would be over and they would clean up, but nothing like that. After my next workout, I checked again, but all the balloons were still hanging and more and more parents with children were leaving. I still thought about what I could do but I didn't know.

The next day I of course went to exercise, I looked out the window and.....nothing. it looked like a normal sports field. there was no sign of the balloons, and there was a normal football practice. I looked around to see if I saw any broken balloons, but I didn't. That really gave me a bad feeling. should I have waited longer? Should I have walked over and asked if they needed clean-up help? but that would have been crazy too, and the stupidest part is, what am I worried about? I have thousands of balloons, yet it keeps you busy and bummed.

[StartledPopper]

Seeing your stories about balloon decorations and cleanup reminds me of an incident I was just telling someone on here about. I was at a nice hotel on vacation once and walked by a conference room where some kind of event was happening - many booths/stands with presentations, and tons of balloons tied in small clusters tied to every stand. I loved the sight of all those balloons. I walked by later and everything was still there except every single balloon had been popped - the floor was absolutely, completely covered in colorful shreds of latex! I was like "what did I miss???" I was sad I missed it but that sight fueled my imagination pretty powerfully. Nobody was around cleaning up at the time, so I'm guessing the balloons were popped just for fun after the event.

[Erik Grand]

That's bad, en exiting in one. What have you thought? To bad O didn't wait till the end? And wil you do this different wen you see it again? This is exactly the reason I don't like to see big decorations, because I hate it that somebody will pop it because it's his job, and I would pay to do it, like it's my best dream

[StartledPopper]

Yeah I wished I could have seen and heard the balloons being popped! But it was fun seeing the shreds everywhere and imagining people having fun. The way the shreds were everywhere but nothing had been cleaned up, made me think they were burst just for fun after the event! That particular time I didn't have time to hang around anyway so I didn't feel too bad about it.

[Erik Grand]

That's wright, when a cleaning crew did it, they will gather them together, and pop them