That "bag of forks" thing is funny because my roommate in college was a jazz drum major and he ruined a bunch of lo-fi stuff for me the same way, kept pausing tracks to point at ghost notes I never would've caught. Now I catch myself tapping out those same "mistakes" on my steering wheel at red lights.

I used to toss boxes without a second thought, figured the toy was the whole point and cardboard was just trash to recycle. Then I found a beat up 60s ray gun with a box so cool I hung it on the wall, and honestly the box gets more looks than anything else I own. For the broken robot, I'd say either glue the gear so it at least looks right on a shelf, or pull the guts and turn it into a little planter or something.

Did you end up going back for more records once you finished that sandwich? I had almost the same thing happen at a used book shop in Floyd, Virginia, where the owner kept a cooler of pimento cheese in the back and sold it by the scoop with crackers. Ended up walking out with a beat up copy of Rumours for three bucks and a full stomach. Those back room setups always beat anything you find on the main street.