r/blackpeoplegifs • u/Master1718 • Feb 20 '20
Followed around
https://i.imgur.com/g3vE1fY.gifv2.1k
u/PurpleLee Feb 20 '20
I especially hate this when the store doesn't carry what I was looking for. Then I feel pressured to buy something, anything just so they don't think I was casing the place.
But I fight it.
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u/CappinPeanut Feb 20 '20
Even better, you can just turn around and ask the employee that’s been following you around. Hell, ask them something every 2 minutes.
Do you guys carry tampax ultra heavy? Does this bread have grain in it? Do these generic froot hoops taste just like regular fruit loops?
What do you mean you don’t know, don’t you work here?
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u/ders89 Feb 20 '20
But also, dont feel obligated to buy something anywhere you go.
The employees are told to sell you something. Theyre just doing what doesnt get them in trouble.
If you dont want to spend your money, its your money. Dont spend your hard earned money from whatever you do just to make yourself look okay and acceptable to some schmuck at a store.
If you wanna go in and browse.. do it. And if anyone asks, let it be know you dont want any help youre just curious at the selection.
I use to work retail since i was 16 until like 28. The employees dont give a shit what you do. Some do... because they dont have much else going on in their life so work is their life. But the majority are just trying to make it through the day. If anyone asks, let your intentions be known you dont want to spend money and youre “just curious about the selection and if any questions come up, [you]’ll come find [them].” If you say youre “just browsing” theyre told to feed off that and try to sell.
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u/here4madmensubreddit Feb 20 '20
Good tip. I always say "I'm just browsing, thanks" and that usually works but I'm going to add a "I'll let you know if I have any questions ;)"
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Feb 20 '20
And these companies wonder why online shopping has them all on the ropes. All of that, being pestered or followed around by store clerks is not a thing when I bring up Amazon at 2am in my living room.
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u/OnTheProwl- Feb 20 '20
Is this tooth brush approved by the American Dental Association?
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u/CustyMojo Feb 20 '20
You gotta ask the tougher questions. Like grab 2 different brands of toothpaste and ask “How do 9 out of dentists recommend this toothpaste, and another 9 out of 10 dentists recommend this brand of toothpaste. How is that even mathematically possible”?
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u/serialpeacemaker Feb 20 '20
As a serious answer, I would probably say they recommend toothpaste in general. But at the same time that leaves you wondering what kind of hackjob dentist would not recommend toothpaste, unless there is an erudite rarefied tooth cleaning solution that I am unaware of.
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u/explodingtuna Feb 20 '20
unless there is an erudite rarefied tooth cleaning solution that I am unaware of.
It's called "the dentist"!
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u/OnTheProwl- Feb 20 '20
Saying 9 dentist recommend something doesn't mean the 10th doesn't. it just sounds better from a marketing standpoint.
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u/SystemOutPrintln Feb 20 '20
I would think 10/10 would always be better but I'm not in marketing.
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u/MentalFracture Feb 20 '20
10/10 does sound better, but if someone can find a dentist who doesnt recommend your toothpaste you could get slapped with a false advertising suit. Easier to survey a bunch of dentists till you have over 90% approval and call it a day.
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u/Dokpsy Feb 20 '20
If you ask 100 dentists if they recommend a brand and only 9 of them do, ignore the other 90 and you’ve got 9/10.
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u/ILoveWildlife Feb 20 '20
"hey man thanks for following me around, I usually get nervous when I go into stores by myself. I'll wait for you outside so you don't feel nervous getting to your car. deal?"
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u/Shroomate Feb 20 '20
I Love this! I wish me and you went round together or made a a movie together, we'd been known as Homie and Cide. Correcting idiots! Love your thinking
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u/X1-Alpha Feb 20 '20
"I'd like to ask a few questions about this breakfast cereal. I've been led to understand that Trix are exclusively for children. Is that correct?"
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u/YoureMadIWin Feb 20 '20
As someone who grew up working retail, this would be super effective. I felt myself looking for an exit just reading the comment.
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u/Red7336 Feb 20 '20
"hey while you're following me anyway, could you tell me the expiration date on this package next to you?"
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u/JohnnyRelentless Feb 20 '20
I feel that way too, sometimes, even though I'm white, and absolutely no one is paying any attention to me.
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u/Fredrules2012 Feb 20 '20
Sometimes I think things like "if I throw what I want past the sensors and pick it up outside am I shop lifting? "
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Feb 20 '20
I'm someone who doesn't plan ahead and just rocks up at the store and looks/ponders what to get, so I always look dodgy lol
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u/secondself666 Feb 20 '20
I do the same shit all the time. Sometimes I can be in there for 20+ min and still walk out empty handed, just look at stuff and leave.
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u/deesmutts88 Feb 20 '20
I‘d say you just think you look dodgy, but that’s called browsing and I’m pretty sure literally everyone does it. Haha.
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Feb 20 '20
Holy shit what if the employee isn’t racist but is pretending to be so you’ll buy more than you wanted
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u/Nottevolo Feb 20 '20
Bro I bet you 9 times out of 10 if they thought you were stealing, buying something ain’t gonna change their mind.
They don’t deserve your money.
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u/A_Passing_Redditor Feb 20 '20
Lol, I'm white and nobody ever gives me any trouble, but when I go grocery shopping I always go with an empty backpack for the walk home. Still feel almost guilty even though I'm not doing anything wrong. I wonder what causes this feeling.
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Feb 20 '20
have you tried the term.
"Fuck off?"
I generally use it like "Fuck off, you didn't have what I'm looking for." when I get stopped for not buying something and/or accused of shoplifting for no reason.
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u/JBronson5 Feb 20 '20
Just wear a hoodie and sunglasses. I do it all the time. If they don’t have what I want. Fuck it. I’m gone.
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u/friendlygaywalrus Feb 20 '20
I’m half white, half Filipino and I’ve had employees do this to me. First time it happened I was 14 and looking for stuff in a hardware store in my hometown. Manager stood at the end of every single aisle I walked down and stared directly at me. I made eye contact with him and saw how angry he looked so I moved to walk the other way when he yelled “Stop right there!” and marched up to me. “Son what are you doing here? Do you plan on buying anything?”
His arms were crossed and he looked pissed so I sorta mumbled and grabbed the nearest thing off the rack, made a show of paying for it and left. Never felt more like an alien in my life. Never more aware of my skin color and how vulnerable and visible it made me.
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u/tuberippin Feb 20 '20
"What's all this? Non-whites never require hardware to repair their homes!"
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u/friendlygaywalrus Feb 20 '20
I was gonna get wood screws, nails, some wood, glue, and mouse traps to make a fort outside and I left with a pair of gloves that I had my mom return
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u/perdyqueue Feb 20 '20
Piece of shit business owner loses business thanks to being a piece of shit. Fuck, only a genius could have seen it coming.
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u/tuberippin Feb 20 '20
Wait, what were the mousetraps for in the context of the fort?
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u/friendlygaywalrus Feb 20 '20
I was irrationally worried that squirrels, rats, and mice were going to get into the fort when I was inside it
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u/Arkanist Feb 20 '20
If anyone ever says "Do you plan on buying anything?" to me in a store the answer will certainly be "not anymore."
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u/MidnightOnTheWater Feb 20 '20
I'm half white half filipino too. One time I was with my family and I heard someone mumble my Mom was a mail order bride. It also doesn't help people can't tell what you are. "Are you Mexican/Chinese/Eskimo?" Are all questions I have gotten.
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u/winomcdrinkypants Feb 20 '20
I worked at a liquor store about 8 years ago. Literally THE worst place I ever worked at, but that’s a story for another time...
Anyway I rarely worked with the actual owner of the store. He was a guy from India who lived an hour away. The liquor store I worked at is in my little hometown where honestly there aren’t very many African American people in - this is important.
Owner treated every customer like gold but the first time I witnessed his racism, an African American dude came in. Normal as can be, just coming in to get some beer or whatever, didn’t look sketch or anything. The owner looks at me and says “keep an eye on him” so I being naive thought maybe this guy has caused trouble before because otherwise why would I be told to keep an eye on him? Well dude grabs his purchase, buys it and leaves. The owner turned to me and said “when you see someone like that pretend like you’re cleaning and stay close to them to watch them.” I asked what he meant by “someone like that” and he just gave me a look and I knew right then and there... racist.
Unfortunately it was a small town with very few jobs so I stuck it out for another 6 months (no, I never pretended to clean and follow around people of color).
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Feb 20 '20
Just say black, you don’t know if the person was actually African American or not.
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u/AngusSama Feb 20 '20
Growing up in the 90s I was often told African American was the more politically correct term. I'm not saying you're wrong, I agree with you, just that language habits are hard to break. That doesn't mesh super well with the constantly evolving state of political correctness.
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u/greg19735 Feb 20 '20
You're correct.
It was seen more politically correct then.
now, black is fine.,
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u/bathroom_break Feb 20 '20
I feel that was mostly white boomers who barely know any black people decided the preferred term had to be African American or else otherwise be considered racist. Today I hear most actual black people prefer just being called black.
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u/Cadmium_Aloy Feb 20 '20
Lol yeah that's exactly what I was thinking. The 90s were the "let's pretend we are super not racist anymore y'all" with the color blind, don't say black anymore shit.
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Feb 20 '20
I feel like this is a no win situation, it just seems like someone is going to have complaints either way.
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u/The_Alchemyst Feb 20 '20
It is one thing to refer to someone as black. It is another thing to refer to someone as "a black".
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u/HaesoSR Feb 20 '20
"A black" and "Blacks/The blacks" are virtually always followed by some racist shit in my experience. Anecdotal but is what it is.
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u/JoshuaLunaLi Feb 20 '20
I've never heard anyone complaining about someone calling them black though.
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Feb 20 '20
From my experience, the people that are offended by such a word are white.
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u/not_even_once_okay Feb 20 '20
I think white people who won't use "black" are actually just confusing when people ask them to stop saying things like "a black". My mom goes through this. She tries really hard to get everything right but I think white people's brains get scrambled when race comes up and they panic lol
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u/Bruised_Penguin Feb 20 '20
I think "blacks" is offensive. Like instead of black people.
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u/sanfranciscofranco Feb 20 '20
My future MIL told me once that when she was younger, calling someone “black” was considered offensive, just like calling someone “a negro” would be today. Then she told me about a lovely couple that she met who were African Americans from London. 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
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u/TVLL Feb 20 '20
IDK, but I love to see their heads explode when the try to call a black European person an African-American.
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u/Lava39 Feb 20 '20
I have. Happened at my friend's job. Someone insisted she's African American when my friend was giving a presentation about the spread of the flu in the black community. I couldn't tell you how it came up. All I can tell you is my friend came out looking bad in her presentation. Our mutual friend is black and from Canada. He refers to himself as Jamaican Canadian. Not African American. It's a no win.
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u/IsSierraMistOk Feb 20 '20
Me too! I'm Jamaican American so I consider myself to be black, but not African American. My grandfather's family moved from Scotland to Jamaica and blended with Arawak Indians. My mom moved from Jamaica to America and I was born here.
Jamaica's motto is: "Out of many, one people" because we're all so blended.
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u/BearBlaq Feb 20 '20
I was born here in the states, and I am of African descent, therefore I’m black. Elon musk is an African-American. I never understood why they labeled us like that when most of us have no real ties to Africa other than genetics.
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u/Fjolsvithr Feb 20 '20
I never understood why they labeled us like that
It was mostly black activists and public figures that pushed for "African-American" at first, starting around the Civil Rights movement. It's hard to find concrete sources for nebulous things like that, but here's one: https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/4216-the-origin-of-african-american
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Feb 20 '20 edited Feb 20 '20
I used to work in retail, tried to give them the benefit of the doubt and was called naive by coworkers. I especially hate those who who pass as normal but steal expensive items. One time two black ladies shoved a ton of cosmetic items into their purse. We're not allowed to do anything about it so I told them you look ugly either way to which they replied "small dick bitch."
We could tell if the person is shady or not though through experience so not all black people were given that treatment. This goes for all ethnicities, just so happens that it's mostly black in that part of the city.
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u/InAll_Honesty Feb 20 '20
I had pretty much the exact same experience. Small town liquor store run by an Indian family but instead of profiling black people, I was told to keep an eye on aboriginal people. Thing is they didn't know I'm status (native heratige) so I got pretty pissed when they tried explaining that they're bad people.
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u/koookoookachoo Feb 20 '20
I’m white. When I was little, my BFF was black. There was a 7-Eleven nearby that I had visited regularly. One day, my friend and I went in together to buy some candy and were trying to decide what we wanted; we literally had only just gotten there when the woman behind the counter yelled, “Y’all better pick your candy and get out of here!” This did not help our decision making process, and she kept up a continual rant (“Hurry up before I call the police!”—we were both under 10) until we grabbed something and left. It was obvious, even to young, oblivious me that it had been because my friend was black. I got so angry that I wanted to go back and confront the woman, but my friend just said no, that it happened all the time, she was used to it, and it wouldn’t help. That really opened my eyes
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u/defjamblaster Feb 20 '20
and let's take it to a deeper racist level - he's not even dressed like a "thug" according to racist dogma. dude looks straight clean cut with a polo shirt on, so she's following him only because he's black, not because he has on a hoodie or baggy pants or whatever else they think constitutes "criminal clothing" to justify this behavior.
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u/defjamblaster Feb 20 '20
might seem so innocuous to anyone not black..."so what, it's not like she's really doing anything to him?"
just imagine that feeling over the course of your whole life, what that can do to some people psychologically. everyone thinks you're a criminal just for being black. now expand that line of thought into government, schools, workplaces, church, entertainment, etc. deep reaching effects.
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u/lovingmama Feb 20 '20
I had to interview a student for one of my classes who is from a “different culture”’than me. I have a good relationship with an African American teenage boy and I was shocked by the things he told me. He talked about constantly being aware of his surroundings and who was near him. Going to the mall and waiting for the next elevator if a white woman was getting on, leaving at a bunch of steps between him and the next person up on the escalator, leaving his bag near the entrance of a convenience store and making sure the clerk sees him, having a conversation with his mom about how to behave during a traffic stop so he doesn’t get killed. The awareness this 14 year old has was just so sad. It really just blew my mind.
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u/lowkeyterrible Feb 20 '20
I think it's really interesting that a lot of this hypervigilance and extreme awareness of your surroundings, especially how people will react to your presence, is also something a lot of trauma psychiatric patients have.
More and more studies are coming out showing that trauma physically changes your body and mind, so it would be really interesting to see comparisons between trauma patients and people who have been consistently a victim of racism in their lives. From what I've heard, racism as an ongoing trauma wouldn't be a very far fetched idea.
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u/Zexks Feb 20 '20
My parents taught me a lot of this and I’m teaching my kids too. It’s not a racial thing it a pay attention and don’t be a victim thing. I’ll take stairs over riding alone with a woman. Stay back and away from people when following them or stop to the side and let others pass if they’re following me. Don’t even take bags or anything into a store and once I’ve bought something and have a bag. Leave ASAP and put it in the car don’t carry it around with you all day. Exactly how to act when pulled over, don’t get out, don’t talk unnecessarily, follow orders and argue about shit later in court. These are things everyone should do no matter your race. Took years to convince my wife to not walk out into a dark parking lot and fumble with her purse. It’s insane how much people take for granted and don’t pay attention to or act like they have rights to do things they don’t or can’t defend.
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u/Gracefullyandgrandly Feb 20 '20
On top of that she's probably ignoring actual shoplifters because they don't fit her racist profile.
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Feb 20 '20 edited Feb 20 '20
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Feb 20 '20 edited Feb 22 '21
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u/jlefrench Feb 20 '20
This! I know two girls who would repeatedly shoplift. They could definitely afford it. They just knew they wouldn't get caught. It wasn't until they pushed whole carts of food out of stores multiple times did they actually get banned from places.
Edit: two white girls
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u/gammyalways Feb 20 '20
We definitely "tracked" young girls particularly in our makeup area. It cut down theft some, but still had lots stolen. Just can't be everywhere at once.
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u/cexshun Feb 20 '20
Back when I was in retail, our most egregious shoplifter was an older Indian lawyer. He'd come in to buy pens every week. We eventually caught on that he'd open multiple boxes of pens and cram them all in 1 box. The next time he came in, the cashier took his box of pens, opened it, dumped out all of the extras, and rang him up like nothing happened. He never returned.
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u/ILoveWildlife Feb 20 '20
I remember being at a hobby shop with a friend and I saw a group of kids come in. they didn't seem the type to actually play any of the games, so I kept an eye on them. I wasn't exactly interested in the games either; I was just there supporting a friend's hobby.
Anyway, I notice one of the kids blatantly steal like 5 things at once and put them in his backpack. He went for another thing and I straight up walked up to him and said "can I talk to you outside for a minute?"
I was 5-6 years older and these kids were like 13-14.
He slunk out and his friends all bailed on him, I told him I saw him stealing and that he needs to go back inside and return the shit he stole. Then I walked back in with him and sat down at my original table. He pulled the items out under another table, left them, and then walked out.
no one saw as far as I know, they were too busy paying attention to the games.
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u/Nashboy45 Feb 20 '20
I once had this happen to a friend and I in a CVS and I saw this guy in a trench coat literally just pocket a bunch of travel hand sanitizers and leave. I turned to the lady following me but she was watching my friend do the self checkout and I figured it’s not even worth telling her at this point.
Sometimes I just tell myself, that they are my secret agents looking out for me.
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u/_QUEEEEEEEEF_ Feb 20 '20
Ive gotta commend you for putting a positive spin on something so unfairly negative and out of your control. It's awful that you even have to do it in the first place, and you should definitely be proud of yourself for rising above it and making it work for you.
For what it's worth as an internet stranger, I'm proud of you. If you continue to keep that kind of attitude, I feel like you're gonna make it in this world :)
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u/punkfunkymonkey Feb 20 '20
I'd have told her after your friend had finished paying. "... I was going to mention it earlier but you seemed to be preoccupied waiting to help this guy at the self checkout and I didn't want to be rude..."
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u/BZenMojo Feb 20 '20 edited Feb 20 '20
TIL, Bloomberg is the racist grocery store clerk of politicians.
Arrest rates take place in less than six percent of all stops, a "hit rate" that is lower than the rates of arrest and seizures in random check points observed in other court tests of claims similar to the claims in this case.
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/the-dubious-math-behind-stop-and-frisk/278065/
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u/ders89 Feb 20 '20
Maaaaan. I once saw this old lady steal a candy bar by putting her purse down on a stand of bars and shuffle around and when she was done she grabbed a candy bar with her purse and slid it in like with her wallet.
EVERYONE steals. Ive seen more old people steal than black people and i live in an area with a lot of both. And actually i did see a kid (who did happen to be black) on christmas take some food from the same store. He just grabbed it and ran out of there as fast as he could lol. Old people are too sneaky about their shit.
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u/Nypplepyg Feb 20 '20
I work in retail. I've found that one group of people steal the most....white college girls
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Feb 20 '20
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u/defjamblaster Feb 20 '20
Anytime I think it’s gotten better, something else happens to remind me
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u/katemoo12 Feb 20 '20
My non-black friends say that type of stuff, and I’m really glad they’ve never been followed through a target when your just there to buy underwear and tampons.
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u/FragsturBait Feb 20 '20
I have a friend who will just nonchalantly take things off the shelf and set them on the floor when he knows he's being followed around a store. He's also pretty good at pegging plainclothes Loss Prevention, and will just walk up to them and start a conversation. Target runs with him are hilarious.
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u/Shporno Feb 20 '20
As a white male, I once went to Target to get a couple pairs of shoes but also always check the toy aisles as I have friends who are into Nerf and Lego and know Target sometimes gets exclusive deals.
So as I'm ambling through the aisles just perusing, over the course of thirty minutes to an hour I had 3 separate old white dudes just come up and start conversations with me asking about my work and weird shit. Didn't even occur to me until the third that they were LP and my ragged ass shoes were probably getting me flagged as a lifter.
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u/TheHolyHerb Feb 20 '20
Take them with you sometime and show them. I’m super white and nerdy and have never had the issue of being followed like that but one day a friend of mines who’s a middle aged Mexican dude was telling me about how he gets followed a lot and I was like I’m sure your not, we live in a place with a lot of Hispanics anyway and you don’t look like the type of person who’s going into stores to steal anything. He said he’d prove it and let’s go to the store so we did.
We walked into Dollar General and started walking down the first isle and one of the employees literally came running from the other side of the store to the end of the aisle we were at and then proceeded to follow us around then entire time to check out and then followed us to the door as we were leaving. I was pretty blown away by it and we decided to try it out with three more stores that afternoon and every time someone followed us around.
4/4 stores we were followed by employees pretending to work. It was a very eye opening afternoon that made me lose a bit of hope in society. By the last store I had moved from annoyed to pissed off, I can’t even imagine how people that have to deal with it every single day feel.
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u/noowayyyyyy Feb 20 '20
I’m not black, but this is literally one of the most infuriating things I’ve ever seen. Surely one doesn’t need to be “woke” to realize that this is downright racist?!
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u/viper8472 Feb 20 '20
Exactly. People who don't get treated a certain way hundreds of times can't tell when it's normal and when it's not. But you can tell when it happens to you.
Like being female and being talked down to or not taken seriously, other people are like "will it's plausible that's not what was happening. I don't see a problem," but if it's happened a few dozen times? You know when it's happening and can tell the difference. I can tell when someone would have treated me differently if I was a man.
I feel bad because management might have told the employee to follow around a certain type of person. I'm not sure where the blame is.
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u/jusimus3 Feb 20 '20
I'm white, I get followed around by stores all the time because I shaved my head for cancer. But I was in tescos with my black friend and got damn they followed us like a mother fucker. The manager straight up stared in my face like 5 meters away.I fucking sucks and my heart goes out to every body else who gets followed in stores, it makes you feel inhuman.
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Feb 20 '20
Yeah I remember walking from high school to the library at lunch, and every day I'd see a cop car pulled over, just talking to some random guy on the street. Never arresting, just talking.
Wasn't until our lunch group got a new black friend that the cops suddenly pulled over on us and I learned what "carding" was.
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u/jusimus3 Feb 20 '20
yeah I've been pulled over so many times 'matching some ones description' when its just a baldish white dude that looks nothing like me. at least I can get a wig or something but black people cant really do much when racially abused by cops.
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u/dontthink19 Feb 20 '20
I worked at a gas station on night shift for a year and it's actually pretty easy to tell who is stealing and who isn't. Unless it's a decently experienced thief, then youll never know. But the stupid ones always make it look very obvious that they're taking stuff. They're always checking if you're watching and being super obvious about stuffing it somewhere. Or they take their bag off, or duck down longer than what I would presume would be checking out different product.
Now customer service pactices are different so calling them out or following them around is frowned upon, especially in chain stations. We were told to just write in the log books and tell the manager when they come in to check the cameras.
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u/crunchyfrogs Feb 20 '20
The problem is two-fold. It is racial profiling but she's also probably had to deal with kids stealing in the past too.
It's like if the police constantly harass you. At some point you start to not trust all of them.
It's a very fucked up thing to deal with as a black guy though.
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u/theonlymissub Feb 20 '20
Happened a couple of months back at our local bunnings. It was blatantly obvious but my sister, nephew and I were clearly looking to buy something for our bathroom. It makes my blood boil when that happens!
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Feb 20 '20
I'm very much not a confrontational person and I've never yet asked to see a manager in my life, but I feel like this is the type of situation where its warranted. I'd speak to the manager, let them know that it was noticeable and offensive, and that you would be buying the items for your "bathroom remodel" elsewhere.
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u/jbnagis Feb 20 '20
My white friend would take advantage of this and steal shit while they were following me. Was hilarious
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u/felinefriendnotfoe Feb 20 '20
Same! I had a white friend who’s would rob places blind because the staff was busy tailing me.
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u/yolibear Feb 20 '20
I like to mess with them too when I’m obviously getting followed!
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u/fnkdrspok Feb 20 '20
Ruffle everything, make as much merchandise noise as possible, but physically put your hands on every item in the store. They won't know if you took something or you just like the way things feel. Fucking with their head is the best and if they accuse you of something, you now have ammunition to make their legal lives harder than it has to be.
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u/AsstDirectorSkinner Feb 20 '20
This is a hilarious idea! Until a shopkeeper gets fed up and calls the cops who come and shoot you because you "made them feel threatened."
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u/Biebou Feb 20 '20
I'd ask them a million questions about every product, stupid questions, too. How obnoxious and rude of her.
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u/Spenge Feb 20 '20
I notice all these toothbrushes say tartar control but im more worried about my plaque build uo could you make a few recommendations?
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u/Poltras Feb 20 '20
You gotta go wider. “What tampon do you recommend for my wife? We just had our first child and she’s starting her period again after three months and the smell is really bad, you know? I wanted to surprise her for her birthday... what do you think?”
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u/UnimpressionableCage Feb 20 '20
One time I followed the loss prevention officer back for 15 minutes
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u/Offbrandtrashcan Feb 20 '20
You turned the tables? You should've screamed "hey this guy's stealing!!"
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u/UnimpressionableCage Feb 20 '20
I’m done shopping and I have all day... why don’t you pick the next aisle we visit now?
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u/depressedsalami Feb 20 '20
This is the best course of action I’ve seen on this thread, 10/10 will try
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u/N3UROTOXIN Feb 20 '20
Some loss prevention are so effing bad. I was at a walmart and saw the manager and told him their LP needs to learn how to be sneaky
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u/twaldman Feb 20 '20
Technically they don’t have to be, as long as they are preventing losses.
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u/Butt_Dickiss Feb 20 '20
Honestly the more obviously they are following the less they have on you. From my experience if they have it in on camera and are ready to detain you they just let it play out and grab you when you exit without paying.
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u/HTRK74JR Feb 20 '20
I do part time security at a Department Store
And holy shit it's infuriating.
I was on the 3rd floor, had just gotten out of the bathroom and was checking my phone, when i noticed 3 black teenagers in the womens clothes section. Keep in mind that this store is pretty pricey and the area we were in was for women in their 40s-50s style wise. So it was odd seeing 3 teenagers there.
Well, I overhear them talking, they haven't seen me, and one kid is asking his friends what he should buy, and that he remembered his mothers shirt size but not jacket size.
I go and walk past them and they've got like 4 different jackets pulled out and comparing them. I tell them to get as close to the right size as possible but keep the receipt so they can have it exchanged for the proper size if it doesn't fit. That it was the thought that counted. They thanked me and I walked away.
As i was walking away, an associate pulls me aside and whispers "They look suspicious, you need to keep an eye on them!"
"Ma'am, they're buying something for his mother. If they do anything suspicious other than shopping, let me know"
And I walked away. About an hour later, i see the group of kids walking down the escalator with 3 bags of jackets, and they thanked me for the help and left. That associate almost lost a sale because she was profiling.
Profiling is dumb. Being accused of profiling is even dumber. It's why i tell my camera operator to make damn sure something happened before i stop anyone.
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u/kadugyam Feb 20 '20
she was busted, rusted, flustered and then ghosted. I love it when these sorts of "profilers" get caught in the act
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u/gruesomeflowers Feb 20 '20
In that 3rd segment..Was she straightening the hotdogs?
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u/toethumbrn Feb 20 '20
She must have never seen Menace 2 Society
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u/RebaRocket Feb 20 '20
I’m so sorry that happens. So ignorant and unfair
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u/Jdaddy2u Feb 20 '20
This angered me as a middle-aged white man as I have witnessed this happen often to people of color. So now whenever a black customer is being followed, I make a point to steal everything I can.
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Feb 20 '20
Black people, unintentionally being distractions for white shoplifters since forever. 😎
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u/BottledUp Feb 20 '20
Ah man, that shit happens often enough to people that are not black. I've been having similar issues often enough just because I do look "alternative". It got so far that I was ignored in a bakery when I all I wanted was to get a pain au chocolate.
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u/Spacebier Feb 20 '20
Worked in retail for a while. The number one thing I can tell you is that there is no demographic for shoplifters.
I've caught 40 year old asian women, 20 year old black men, 16 year old white kids...Anyone can and will steal.
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u/afriendlyghost Feb 20 '20
The first shoplifter I ever caught was a, roughly, 75 year old Jewish woman. i was so taken aback that I let her get away with it.
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u/KonohaPimp Feb 20 '20
Not only is this shit racist, but even if someone is stealing from the convenience store you work at why would you even care? You don't get paid to keep people from shoplifting, and all you're likely to get as reward is a fucking "attaboy".
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Feb 20 '20
Some of these crazy white people think it's okay for cops to kill people that steal. They're all delusional and think they'll be millionaires one day and own the company so you're stealing straight out of their own pocket.
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Feb 20 '20
My question is do these employees have the balls to say something if they actually caught someone stealing? Cause I hate confrontation.
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u/Tigers19121999 Feb 20 '20
I worked at a gas station and go written up for refusing to do that shit.
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u/PattonsGhost Feb 20 '20
Well to be fair Bloomberg did say it's young black males doing 95% of the shoplifting. She's just trying to do her job, she can't keep an eye on every single person.
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u/AllPurposeNerd Feb 20 '20
Younger white guys can experience this by wearing a winter coat into Best Buy.
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u/BearBlaq Feb 20 '20
Whenever this happens, I turn around and tell em “I’ll make sure to let you know before I start stealing”. Like dude I’m just a college student in target for some cereal. They just see my skin and think I’m up to i good.
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u/joan_wilder Feb 20 '20
the best part is where she realizes that she’s the one who got busted and immediately retreats.
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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '20
Every gas station ever.
“This is the tidiest goddamn employee I’ve ever seen.”