As Seen At Toys R Us

Mike and I were shopping for Lawrence's birthday party at Toys R Us (which is like the regular Toys R Us but about 1/10th the size), and I saw these.  I just had to take a picture.  I'm sure I wasn't supposed to, and I tried to do it on the sly.  I made it out of there alive and with my pictures, so I guess I succeeded!

Right in the front of the store, they had all of their new inflatable pool floats and toys on display.  I walked by the shelves about three times before I figured out what it was I was looking at.  At first I didn't really notice...I just thought "Something looks strange here."  Ah ha!  That lady has a black neck brace on.  And a black sleeve.  Hmm. 

And the two to the right of that, too.   ??

Then I realized that this is something that Mike has told me about for years, but I have not yet experienced here.  Half of his CD collection, the half that he bought here, has CD booklets with Sharpie-ed out women.  Remember, women are supposed to be covered.  And that goes not only for real live women, but also women on TV (who get pixeled out), women on billboards (who also get pixeled out), and women on inflatiable pool toy boxes, who get colored out with a Sharpie.  Apparently, there is an army of Saudi men who sit around in a room somewhere, Sharpie-ing out all the pictures of inappropriately dressed women on any item that comes in from another country.  (And just how do THEY get so lucky?  They get to see all the bathing suited women!)

Incidentally, I was really worried about this for our shipment.  I brought very few pictures from home because if Customs goes through your stuff and sees, for example, your wedding photos, they will Sharpie out all of the women.  The pictures I did bring I turned around in the frame, so that it looked like an empty frame.  Luckily, our stuff escaped unscathed. 

In Arabia, there is no accountability for authorities following the law.  Instead, authority figures just do what they want.  You want to bring in bacon from Bahrain?  One official might say: Sure, no problem.  (Read: I'm ok with westerners today.)  But the next one?  No way.  (Read: I'm on a power trip.) Next one?  You can have the bacon, but I'm taking away your computer because it might have illicit pictures.  (Read: I want a computer for my son.) (Yes, they really do this to steal things from you.)  Next one?  Your wife is not covered enough, so you'll be harassed in a small room for the upcoming four hours.  (Read: I need to prove I'm a man, and I haven't abused my wives today so you're getting it.)  Next one?  Since you have bacon, I'm going to unpack and *literally dismantle*  your car (yes, take the doors off and everything) looking for other illegal substances.  (Read: My supervisor's watching and I'm out to get the big promotion.)  (This really happened to friends of ours.)  You'd think that they would just enforce the law (no bacon; if you have it, it will be taken away), but no.  It's all up to the whim of the guy you get. 

So, anyway, (wow, that was a long walk for a short story) I find it amusing that in the picture above, the upper right lady and the lower right lady are the same lady, but clearly she was "taken care of" by two different Sharpie officials. 

 And there were more of them:

I love this last one.  Somebody bought it and returned it, but they put the baggie back on it upside down, so the guy looks like he is carrying a big black object and wearing a ten gallon hat.  Ooooooh - we might see skin.....avert your eyes!!