There never was much of a chance of us buying an American Girl doll for Poppy. I’ve seen it argued that they’re “heritage quality” and that the parents who buy them intend for their daughters to hand them down to their own daughters some day. For me, though, that just isn’t enough to justify paying $90 for a doll.

And now that I’ve read this story, they could be giving the Girls away and I don’t think I’d take one. OK, maybe I would. But just to sell on eBay.

Apparently the American Girls salon (seriously) turned a 6-year-old girl away because her doll wasn’t “real.” Their defenders say the company just doesn’t want to risk injuring a doll that they aren’t familiar with, but the way the “beautician” and the other mothers there treated the little girl is just despicable:

“This isn’t a real doll!” the stylist exclaimed. … And to prove that a fake doll isn’t worth the plastic she’s molded out of, she refused to do the doll’s hair.

… [The little girl] cried and cried and cried, and your stylist held her ground. That was a good lesson for her too. That feelings don’t have a place in “the heart of Manhattan’s prestigious shopping neighborhood” …

And did you realize how loyal to you all the other mommies in line were? You’d have been proud of them.

One chided Etta for not knowing she couldn’t bring a fake doll to the store. Tsk tsk. She’s in first grade now and can read by herself (taught herself, in fact). She probably should have done the research. There’s another great lesson for her. …

One mom just smiled and said “Well, American Girl Dolls aren’t for everyone, you know.” A sentence cleverly crafted to make Etta feel like someone cared about her but also to be aware that she really didn’t belong there in your fancy store with the other, richer, better girls.

So that seals it for me. I really hope Poppy never gets her heart set on one of those things.