No. Why not? Gee, maybe because they’re children. Impulsive, fun-seeking, easily-amused kids.
Ahh, whadda I care? Rant away! 
I have a confession to make. I used to try to see how many Elmos I could tickle before they stopped shaking.
:::hangs head in shame:::
I think you should hand out free whistles to all the kids who do that, just as they’re leaving. Perhaps it will teach their parents to control them. No, probably not, but it would be fun anyway.
And a moment of silence for the folks in the garden center, who have to work near the motion-sensing, croaking plastic frogs…
I’m very amused by those things…I like to press the buttons and see what sort of sound they will make…
BWAAHAHAHHAHHAAHA !!! I press all the buttons I can! I love turning all the noise makers on. Bwhahahahaahhaaa!
Two things.
One: I went into FAO Schwartz a few years ago to look for a gift for a friend’s kid. I’d never been in there before. I walk in the front door (this is the one in Seattle) and stop a few feet inside, stunned by the indescribable kafuffle: lights, motion, sound. The worst was this huge Brontosaurus head-and-neck sticking out of the wall on the second floor and over the escalators; whenever somebody would go up, they’d be sensed, and the dinosaur would swivel over and berate them gawrshingly. (An adverb I just made up to describe that aw-shucks voice you hear from Goofy, Goliath, etc.)
Anyway, I’m standing there, looking around with consternation. A clerk – a girl in her late teens – notices me and comes over. “Can I help you?” she says.
I glance at her, look around again briefly, and say, “How on earth do you put up with this?”
She stares at me for a couple of seconds, and then, marvelously, she smiles faintly and looks at the floor. She nods as if she’s having a private conversation, chuckles, and finally says, “Yeah, it gets pretty bad sometimes.”
I sympathize briefly, and then she routes me to the Legos. The incident has stuck with me because I’m always so pleased when a service-type person can drop the facade for a moment and respond as an actual human.
Two: I actually came up with a legitimate usage for those awful piercing music-trilling chips inside greeting cards. Get a pen and take notes, kids; you’ll want to do this.
This was a few Christmases ago. First, I went and found the most obnoxious musical card I could find. As I recall, it had “Jingle Bells” in a high treble register and at a tempo that was juuuuuuuuust enough too fast to be truly irritating. I then took the card apart and removed the little microchip-whatever musical device.
Then I put a package together for a friend who worked at my company but on the opposite coast. It was a boxed Kahlua gift set, or something similar; doesn’t matter. I got a Fedex container ready, with packing material and stuff.
Then I bent the contact on the music chip and taped it down so it was stuck “on,” chirping away; dropped it into the box; sealed it; and mailed it.
My friend called the next day and said the Fedex guy who brought it up to the office complained about listening to the chirping package on his delivery rounds. And three days later, when they opened their gifts, she said it had played solid for the whole time – not loud enough to be disruptive, but just enough to intrude on the lower threshold of consciousness. When they finally opened the box, the office manager made a point of taking out the chip and stomping it to death.
I’m so evil. 
My SO’s mom really loves those electronic nightmares. (Actually, my sister has more of them- the meowing cat-shaped cookie jar, the big mouth fish, and ::shudders:: the lobster …but I hardly ever see her so it’s not that bad.) For his mom’s birthday last year we were scouting out a card and I found one that played Happy Birthday- when I showed it to him he just froze for a second, then put back the card he’d already picked out. She LOVED it. No, really- she did. She has a few of the nightmares in her house, but fortunately the dog- who I guess has more taste in these matters- tries to eat its own brain when they play.
The funniest electronic horror I’ve seen was that stupid bouncing Tigger they put out a few years ago. We saw them down the toy aisle at the local Wally World- there weren’t any clerks trapped nearby, by the way- and started a few of them up. This one on a different shelf started hitting it’s head on the next shelf up before falling over and proceeding to hump the Barney that way laying there. OMG I never expected THAT down the toy aisle!
BAAHAHAHAAA!!!
::::copy and pasting for posterity:::
http://fathom.org/teemingmillions/pofunnies.adp
Sorry, that last post was me.
I have a talkin WWF UnderTaker poster in my apartment. It’s right by the bathroom door. Visitors look at the door and see a Weekly World News article about a haunted, killer toilet. Then they open the door and turn on the light. This activates UnderTaker who says “My creatures of the night will feast on the flesh of your corpse.”
I also own-
Talking Ed Grimley
Talking PeeWee Herman
and Talking Freddy Krueger
I like to sit them down together and have them hold conversations.
One day I will get a Talking Ernest P Warrel and the collection will be complete.
The comic book store I subscribed at had a Star Trek transporter toy on display. I thought it was neat and moved the sliding button. The owner explained that he'd put the batteries back in so I could see the toy work. As owner, he'd removed them almost immediately. I suggested he leave them in and charge 25 cents or so to move the button. He responded immediately with "It's not worth the money. I could charge $25 and it still wouldn't be worth it." He removed the batteries before he even rung up my purchases.
RE F A O Schwartz-
The abundance of audioanimatronic displays in the store is one of the many things that prove the company is eeeeevil.
Re electronic kids’ books-
I HATE these things. I have fond memories of Dad reading us the Hobbit. I look forward to doing voices for my kids someday. Mom and Dad should be the ones talking in a falsetto, calling for Pluto, and making chipmunk noises! NOT the book!!!
Hey, I actually LIKE Bouncin’ Tigger!
LOL…I mean, I have a few noise making stuffed animals-a dolphin, a whale and a stegosaurus that cries/roars.
But I don’t set them off all the time!
My friend has a stuffed cow which, when turned upside down and then back right side up, will make a mooing noise (like that cow-noise can in THX commercials in movie theaters). However, years of repeated use have deteriorated its vocal abilities somewhat. Instead of a sharp, clear “moooooo”, the creature lets out a plaintive “bwaaaaaaarrrrrrrp”.
Update: my little brother discovered Disembodied Santa in the basement storage room. He hung it up on the door to the sauna. If there’s anything worse than “HO HO HO!! Meeeerrry Christmas!! tinny Jingle Bells” during Christmas time, it’s “HO HOARRRR HOWARRRRRRrrrr!!! Mrrrrry Chrrrrrrsssssmwrs… beeeeeeeeeeeeep” in May. On a positive note, though, the batteries do seem to be running low now. Finally. I was considering burying the head in the back yard.
My Mom has a Santa doll that plays a very annoying version of “Jingle Bells” while periodically ringing a bell in his hand. His legs move and he has little wheels hidden in his feet, so he walks while playing the damn song. Charming, huh? Of course if you leave him on for more than 30 seconds (he moves very fast), he runs out of room and falls off the table or tips over. So he keeps playing the song and ringing the damn bell while waddling in place. Arrrrgh!
One X-mas, while my family was out, I decided to drive home the fact that I hated this piece of shit with all my being. I took the thing into our hallway where the pulldown door to the attic was. I tied an old shoestring around Santa’s neck and knotted it to the string hanging from the attic door. Perfect. I took a piece of paper and then wrote, “I couldn’t take that song anymore!” After taping the note to Santa’s hand I went and hid. When I heard my family come home, I got very quiet so the house would be still whenthey came in. Arms full of packages, My Mom and sister come into the house and head for the hallway leading to their bedrooms. They both jump and scream.,What do they see?
Santa slowly twisting at the end of a noose.
Mom goes ballistic, my sister laughs until she nearly pees herself. Then she takes pictures of Santa’s suicide. She still shows them to everyone at Christmas. Mom still doesn’t find it funny…