Dubliner Padraig Byrne used a bold trick to sneak into Penney’s without booking an appointment.
Mr Byrne’s genius TikTok went viral in the last 12 hours. The video has surpassed a whopping 6,500 likes and has over 60,000 views so far.
Padraig had the smart idea of pretending to be someone's brother in the queue, despite only meeting his saviour outside Penney’s minutes beforehand.
He explained: “I went into town on Wednesday night. I wanted to go to Penney’s but I couldn’t get an appointment. I was on the verge of queuing but I just kept bouncing up and down.
“I walked past Penney’s to see if there was any way of getting in, so I thought about it for a while and I was watching around for an hour or so to see what would happen.
“I saw two girls coming up by ToyMaster on Mary’s Street, and I heard them saying they were going to Penney's.
“They didn’t sound like they were from Dublin, they had country accents so I asked them how they got their appointment to start the conversation, so I told them I wanted to go in and I didn’t have an appointment.
“I asked would one of them pretend to be my sister and say I couldn’t get an appointment because you couldn’t book two people together.”
After this brave move, one of the girls agreed to help Padraig out.
He continued: “One of the girls agreed, when the lady came out with the iPad we told her that only one of us could get an appointment on the website and asked could we go in together since we’re from the same household.
“The girl couldn’t stop laughing, she had to put her head down, and if I didn’t have a mask on I wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face.
“The worst thing was that I had to stand in the queue with two complete strangers for half an hour, and I was the only man in the queue too.
“I think one of the girls was called Debbie, I'd say the girls would’ve been in their early 20s.
“If this was published with Dublin Live, I might be able to find out who the girl was, it was awkward enough standing beside her without asking who she was and where she was from.
“The friend that was with her didn’t want to know me.”
But why was this young man so determined to get to Penney’s? Padraig told us why he was so adamant about getting into the popular Irish store.
He said: “I needed socks, jocks, jumpers, hoodies, jeans, shorts and the whole lot. I didn’t get to go before Christmas. I ended up spending 280 euro in total.
“It’s funny because I was a man that went in, it’s normally girls. It was embarrassing but I had the confidence to go up and say she was my sister.
“I put it down to confidence and how to approach them in a nice way. I asked the Penney’s staff if I could get in if someone didn't show up, but the sister's excuse was enough.
“It was a bit awkward with all the women. But I was shaking with excitement, I was pure buzzing to go into Penney’s.”
You can watch Padraig’s TikTok @padraigbyrne22 where he says: “Got into Penney’s with no appointment thanks to my fake sister.”
Concluding the 30 second video he said: “My bank account is crying now.”
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