- The staff have fun temporarily working in Grace Brothers' toy department. Mr. Humphries enjoys a giant dollhouse, Mrs. Slocombe sells peeing dollies and Mr. Grainger gets sentimental playing with a train set.
- After a brief misunderstanding causing the staff to believe they are being replaced and Mr.Grainger to lose his job, Mr.Rumbold tells the staff that they will be working in the toy department for a while. With Mr.Grainger back but in the junior's position, the staff have fun remembering what it was like to be a child as they sell toys to the customers.—Nadia Nassar
- Cued by Harman that the reason for the mysterious meeting the board room is in a folder waiting for Grace and Rumbold to come preside, the staff banter whether and in so who should peek. After Lucas got a glimpse mentioning Peacock, he rushes to read to frightening first pages, which suggest a mass staff layoff. They decide to resign instead, but after Grainger takes the lead, triggering a cascade of replacement/promotions, the bras reveals the plan is merely for departments to switch jobs a while. Grainger's noted resignation can't simply be undone, so he's 're-hired' in Lucas's most junior spot. Peacock studies the toys they are to sell and demonstrates before assigning individuals to age- and gender-specific sections. Despite some teething problems and scolded misunderstandings, they soon enjoy themselves, to the point Grainger acts disappointed when restated as he loved playing with model trains more the selling menswear.—KGF Vissers
- Mr. Harman leads the staff of the clothing department into the boardroom, telling them that they have been summoned there by Mr. Grace himself for important news and that he and Mr. Rumbold will soon join them. The staff ask him what it's about, but Mr. Harman declares that he's bound to secrecy. However, as he leaves, he drops a hint that the large folder at the end of the table has all the information they want, if they have the nerve to risk a peek.
The staff, waiting on Mr. Rumbold and Mr. Grace, speculate various possibilities what it may be about. Mrs. Slocombe thinks they might be in for a pay raise but Miss Brahms feels a pay cut would be more typical. Captain Peacock suggests an army or navy takeover, which pleases Mr. Humphries. Miss Brahms suggests they might have been bought out by Arabs like another famous department store, and Mr. Lucas cracks a joke about Mrs. Slocombe being attractive to Arabs, which does not go down well.
Mr. Grainger finally admits he wants to know what's in the folder, but he thinks it demeaning to go peek. Mr. Humphries also declines to peek, though he's close to the folder, and Mr. Lucas decides to go, while Mr. Humphries keeps watch at the door so no one will get caught. However, just as Mr. Lucas is about to peek, Captain Peacock sternly reprimands him and he returns to his seat, having only caught a glimpse of the first line. Mrs. Slocombe asks what the line said and Mr. Lucas says he only saw the name "Captain Peacock" and the word "Replacement". Captain Peacock throws dignity aside and rushes to the folder, reading through the first page in alarm, and announces that it says they ALL are to be replaced en masse. Everyone is aghast. Mr. Grainger suggests they should all resign before they are fired, and asks for show of hands to vote on it - Captain Peacock alone demurs, feeling they should not be hasty, but then changes his mind and makes it unanimous.
Mr. Grace arrives, secretary and Mr. Rumbold in tow. Before he can make his announcement, he is informed by Mr. Grainger that he wishes to resign immediately. The secretary makes a note of it, and Mr. Rumbold goes on to explain that he and Mr. Grace are trying an experiment to give everyone in the store a fresh experience. Ergo, they are all to move to the toy department, and be replaced on the clothing floor by the staff from the toy department, for a few days. Other departments are switching places as well. He adds that since Mr. Grainger has resigned, this means Mr. Humphries will now be the senior in the department, and Mr. Lucas the second senior, both advancing a position since the senior position is now vacant. Mr. Grainger, realizing his error, tries to explain, but Mr. Grace says he is only allowed to return to work as a junior, since that is the only position left now that Mr. Lucas has been advanced.
Monday morning, the staff arrive at the toy department to meet Captain Peacock, who is supposed to give them a tour. Mr. Lucas is greatly enjoying being "senior" over Mr. Grainger and teases him, but Mr. Humphries is more sympathetic and tells him he has no need to worry, Mr. Rumbold is doing all he can to get things sorted out with Mr. Grace regarding his accidental resignation. Mr. Harman, riding a bicycle, wearing a party hat, and blowing a party blower, comes onto the floor and tells the staff Captain Peacock will soon join them, but he's in a bad mood because in order to properly give the tour he had to come out on Sunday and acquaint himself with the toys. Captain Peacock arrives, indeed very grumpy, and isn't amused by Mr. Harman's antics, but Mr. Harman reminds him that working in the toy department requires a sense of play, and leaves, blowing the blower and riding the bike.
Captain Peacock gives the staff a tour of the various areas of the department. He starts with the toys for babies and toddlers which includes a Magic Mushroom Tree and a large playset of Wibbly-Wobblies. Mr. Humphries shows a knack for demonstrating the latter. Mr. Lucas finds a puppet and tries to add to the demonstration with it but when he has it playfully "eat" a Wibbly-Wobbly, Captain Peacock sternly tells him that might frighten the children, and an exasperated Mr. Lucas throws the Wibbly-Wobbly back.
The next couple stations are all the moving toys, such as the walkable robotic dogs, the space robots, the tanks and cars, and so on. Two of the space robots appear to get into a "fight" when they are set off at the same time and collide, and Mr. Lucas, enjoying himself immensely, starts to break the fight up with one of the tanks. This attempt at playfulness DOES amuse the rest of the staff and even the sour Mr. Grainger, who is upset about his demotion and the prospect of having to deal with children, starts to perk up. Mr. Humphries and Captain Peacock play with a couple of the walkable dogs - brand names Daisy Dachsund and Billy Basset, respectively - further amusing the staff, though Mrs. Slocombe laments there are no mechanical cats in the lot.
Finally, Captain Peacock demonstrates some of the practical joke toys, which starts Mr. Grainger off on childhood memories of playing with stinkbombs. He demonstrates some dolls as well, and Mrs. Slocombe shows lively interest. Per her request, it is decided the men are not allowed to mess with the dolls, even the masculine ones, as it seems more appropriate that way.
Mr. Rumbold attempts to contact Mr. Grace and get him to reinstate Mr. Grainger, but the latter seems to be having an attack of elderly forgetfulness and can't process the question, eventually hanging up on an aggrieved Mr. Rumbold. Mr. Rumbold calls Captain Peacock next.
On the toy floor, it has indeed transpired that Mrs. Slocombe and Miss Brahms are selling the dolls, Mr. Humphries is selling the toddler and baby toys, and Mr. Lucas is with the Robotic toys, just as they were before. Captain Peacock is showing a customer one of the playhouses, but goes to see Mr. Rumbold when the phone call comes through for him. Mr. Rumbold explains he's tried to contact Mr. Grace but can't seem to get through, though he'll keep trying. He then tells Captain Peacock he is to wear a propeller hat for the remainder of the time he's working in toys, and demonstrate it to the children. Captain Peacock, not wanting to look stupid, marches straight to Mr. Grace to appeal over Mr. Rumbold's head. However, Mr. Grace is highly amused with the toy and will not give Captain Peacock permission to remove it, instead offering several suggestions as to how to make it practical for flight.
At lunchtime, the staff come to Mr. Rumbold's office to let him know various issues that working in the new department has caused. Mrs. Slocombe is annoyed that Mr. Lucas keeps playing pranks, and that Mr. Humphries keeps helping, unasked, to sell the dolls. Mr. Humphries says he is just helping stimulate customer interest, and that if she were to help him sell the toddler toys he would not have any issue. However, the women insist everyone should stay in their section. Mr. Lucas points out Mrs. Brahms keeps coming over and overwinding his windup toys, and Miss Brahms retorts with the fact that Mr. Lucas keeps crawling under the counters of sections not his own, but Mr. Lucas offers the defense that he's just catching runaway robots. Captain Peacock returns in a foul mood, wearing the propeller hat, which prompts a smug look from Mr. Rumbold. To cap off the complaints, Mr. Harman comes in, showing that a customer brought a real dog in the store and that it attacked a Billy Basset and destroyed it, and also attacked the seat of his trousers and bit him.
As the week goes on, the staff get more accustomed to their new duties. Mr. Lucas and Mr. Humphries work together to sell an indian costume to a little boy and his father, the same way they would trying a suit on a grown man in their normal department. Mrs. Slocombe sells a bridal doll to a girl's mother, throwing in the groom doll as a special buy-one-get-one deal, though the fact the doll talks is a bit of an issue, as all the dolls say the same thing - "I want to go to the potty". Mr. Grainger is eagerly demonstrating a toy train set to a group of youths, and seems to be heartily enjoying himself. Mr. Rumbold comes onto the floor to see how things are going and is surprised, until Captain Peacock explains that Mr. Grainger has always loved model trains, to the point he'll forget his intense dislike of children while he gets to play with the train set. Furthermore, his enthusiasm has caused them to sell many of the train sets.
Mr. Rumbold finally gets Mr. Grace to say he will let Mr. Grainger back in, but then the old-timer reveals he was planning to do this all along and was only faking ignorance. He just wanted Mr. Grainger to cool his heels a bit as punishment for acting rashly. They go out on the evening of the last day the staff are to be in the toy department to tell Mr. Grainger the news. They discover that Mr. Grainger, despite the fact it's after closing, is still playing with a train set, and the rest of the staff are playing with a bicycle race game and betting on the winners. Captain Peacock wins the race just as Mr. Grace comes onto the floor, and compliments them on getting into the spirit of the toy department after their initial reluctance to do so. The staff prepare to leave, though now they are as reluctant to leave as they were to be there. Mr. Lucas laments he wasn't able to test out the racing car sets while he was here because he had wanted to do so. Mr. Humphries says goodbye to the Wibbly-Wobblies and the Magic Mushroom Tree people as if they were real, Mrs. Slocombe purchases one of her dolls because she can't bear to leave it behind, and Mr. Grainger ignores all that is going on and continues to play with the train set. Mr. Rumbold comes over and tells him he can go home and is once more senior of the Menswear department, but Mr. Grainger says he'd almost prefer to stay on as a junior in the toy department so he can go on playing with the train sets. Mr. Grace sympathetically tells him this isn't an option, but that he will stay after with Mr. Grainger and the two of them will build some model train sets together for the last time tonight.
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