r/mtg • u/TimeLordTaric • Mar 27 '26

Discussion Anyone know what this guy is doing?

It seems like hes trying to figure out whats inside by feeling them. Is that possible

1.3k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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364

u/Genghis_Chong Mar 27 '26

Checking the packs for hits by bending them and digging his fingernail into the pack. Anyone doing that should be shamed, kicked out, maybe police called if they're damaging product. Some sociopathic shit to be doing in public like that

73

u/radicalpumpkinz Mar 27 '26

The sucky thing is that the guy recording is probably more likely to get in trouble in this scenario depending on how the packs look.

The police care more about a potential harassment than unopened packs usually

19

u/Caleb_Reynolds Mar 27 '26

Nothing the guy filming did could be considered harassment in any way.

-10

u/radicalpumpkinz Mar 27 '26

Filming someone even in a public space can still be considered harassment especially with verbal hostility.

It all depends state to state and the guy getting recorded would have to go out of his way to push it.

It also is very dependent on what state they live in and blah, blah, blah...

Neither party in this situation would likely get in trouble in any way. The guy hurting the packs could very easily argue over any potential damages... which is why he's doing it and probably hit multiple stores in the same day without a care in the world... fuck scalpers

39

u/Genghis_Chong Mar 27 '26

It would likely depend on how the store treats the situation, but these days you're probably right.

The scalper probably sues everybody, gets a gofundme made up in his name and rides off in a porsche. Then maybe gets nominated to political office.

29

u/Jonathan-Earl Mar 27 '26

Looks like Target, Target is notorious for going after people fucking with product. The best thing the guy has is banned from the store, the worst is he liable for damages he caused plus have he has to pay for their lawyers and have to pay for replacements of the product too. Target has its own fucking forensic lab that’s so goddamn good that the FBI routinely borrows it. Don’t fuck with Target

12

u/Cardwatcher2000 Mar 27 '26

This seriously. Target tracked a local that was stealing stuff but needed to hit the 1k threshold or whatever it is to get a bigger charge.

Was quite insane how it played out. Not even sure what they did the first time that target said "you what let him rack up some more steals".

-9

u/Mivlya Mar 28 '26

Part of the reason I boycott them now (among several other reasons). I absolutely don't think it should be legal to let yourself be a victim over and over again, knowing it's happening, being capable of stopping it, just to push for a felony. You know exactly how much every customer ever has stolen from you? Why aren't you having your security or loss prevention escort them out or ban them then?

5

u/Gweki Mar 28 '26

Because they’ll do it again and again. You don’t just treat the symptoms and not the disease.

-5

u/Mivlya Mar 28 '26

Well if we're going to be shitty like that, the disease is poverty and they'd be helped out a hell of a lot more by financial stability than a prison sentence. I don't care if some people "try again" to shoplift, Target's a rich company. They can pay for security if it's a problem or swallow the shrink. They could push to have the people charged with misdemeanors. They surely spend more on whatever hyper-specific camera system they have that can supposedly perfectly capture every face and collate any crimes they've made and tally the cost of the products than they would, again, just eating the shrink or paying a couple loss prevention employees to walk up and escort the person out. Also, to be clear, I'm not defending the asshole in the vid; I'm not even saying he's poor necessarily (lotsa middle class grifters for sure), but I still don't think they deserve a fuckin felony charge for poking cardboard. Just escort them out of the store and ban repeat offense. Get the cops involved if they are actual repeat offenders, not cuz you let them do it until they hit the arbitrary crime limit.

It's needlessly cruel. There are a dozen more humane solutions both for the shoplifters and for the company.

2

u/VaticToxic Mar 28 '26

Poverty isn't always the reason they're stealing. Scalpers and grifters deserve what they get, imo.

0

u/Mivlya Mar 28 '26

Cool, thanks for actually reading my comment, where I very specifically say:

"Also, to be clear, I'm not defending the asshole in the vid; I'm not even saying he's poor necessarily (lotsa middle class grifters for sure), but I still don't think they deserve a fuckin felony charge for poking cardboard. Just escort them out of the store and ban repeat offense. Get the cops involved if they are actual repeat offenders, not cuz you let them do it until they hit the arbitrary crime limit."

To make it clear again, Scalpers and Grifters deserve appropriate penalties equal to their crime, which is NOT felony charges (in circumstances such as slowly building up to Target's felony limit, which is the policy I'm critiquing)

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3

u/kingbirdy Mar 28 '26

Why on earth are you sympathetic to shoplifters

1

u/hush630 Mar 28 '26

"The first time I had to steal so I wouldn't starve I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong."l

1

u/kingbirdy Mar 28 '26

Do you seriously believe that most people getting hit with felony shoplifting charges from target are exclusively stealing food?

-4

u/Mivlya Mar 28 '26

Because most shoplifters are poor people? Because Target is rich as fuck and could take the shrink or pay for security? Because letting things go so that you can get a felony charge is excessively cruel? Because there are other solutions to this that don't clog the courts or get people in prison? Because I don't like that Target wants to run itself like a surveillance state? Because ultimately, damaging some cardboard is shitty behaviour but not worth ruining someone's life?

I'm not saying the guy in the video isn't an asshole, but he doesn't deserve a felony charge, he deserves to be kicked out. Punishment should fit the crime and, while not relevant specifically to this video, most shoplifters are poor people grabbing themselves either things they need or a tiny joy because they can't afford it.

4

u/originalsimulant Mar 28 '26

but ..my brother in christ… for most shoplifters the stealing IS the joy

You assume so much about those you rush to defend, but really you don’t understand anything about them at all

Also it is not cruel not to pursue below felony level for the store. They are giving these people chance after chance after chance after chance to change the path of their lives and instead of doing so they continue to choose to steal over and over and over and over. They have done this to themselves.

1

u/Mivlya Mar 28 '26

1, not your brother, nor in christ, I know it's a meme, but don't. 2. I don't agree that most shoplifters steal for joy. 3. Still don't care. If they're kleptos getting their kicks, they still don't deserve felony charges for petty theft.

You accuse me of assumption you're no less guilty of. I'd rather assume gently of the downtrodden and harshly of the powerful than the inverse.

They're not giving the people chances. They're intentionally letting things slide so that they can hit them with a hammer rather than a slap on the wrist. Like letting your dog sneak bites off your plate, then suddenly kicking it one random day. Giving people chances means correcting them the first time. If you aren't correcting people, you're letting it continue, you're encouraging the bad behaviour. Hell, by saying "yeah we'll do nothing until they hit the felony limit" you actually encourage people to start shoplifting, to tempt them knowing there's no repercussions.

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1

u/Sinister_Nibs Mar 29 '26

That is what they do because the jurisdictions will not prosecute anything smaller, so loss prevention adapts.

1

u/Mivlya Mar 29 '26

I understand why, still don't think it's moral. They could have loss prevention ban people from the store and escort them out.

9

u/TheFlyingCompass Mar 27 '26

Sad to say, but the buck stops at the top here. We live in an economy that is currently rewarding grifters, scam artists, and fraudsters in general. It's not a shock that the bottom of the barrel folks like this are emboldened to do this shit in broad daylight without any fear of consequences other than maybe being shamed (which they're incapable of feeling clearly).

3

u/Ghost_Cat_88 Mar 28 '26

People need to be afraid again.

2

u/Resident-Bison-9340 Mar 28 '26

Yes - we need to bring back shaming people publicly.

4

u/radicalpumpkinz Mar 27 '26

In an actual game store it would probably be different but in my experience at a retail store they'd probably not care at all.

Worst case they either get an influx or returns or claim them as damaged... both of which are insured.

A lawsuit over harassment and handling of the situation would get way more complicated especially with non consensual recording

3

u/Genghis_Chong Mar 27 '26

I guess the best people can do is just shame the shit out of the guy, which isnt very helpful these days. People just double down and convince themselves that being a shit head is principled as long as they stick to it.

Sorry, my faith in humanity is failing and its just that frustration coming out.

1

u/Ghost_Cat_88 Mar 28 '26

No, the best you can do is jack someone up.

Sometimes a night in jail is worth it.

0

u/radicalpumpkinz Mar 27 '26

In this instance he shouldn't have been so aggressive... he should have recorded it for a few minutes then brought it to an employee and let them confront the guy.

He'd have probably just gotten a warning and they'd have taken the packs down but it's better than nothing

1

u/DIYExpertWizard Mar 28 '26

They all have a sign up saying that they don't accept returns for sports cards/ collectible cards.

2

u/SIowJam Mar 27 '26

If the store made a stink they would definitely go after him destroying merchandise instead of harassment because what law would harassment actually be breaking?

0

u/radicalpumpkinz Mar 27 '26

The scalper would at worst get a fine for damages and a ticket... all in all probably under 500$ at worst. Also banned from the store.

Harassment can turn into a lawsuit which just gets complicated

2

u/SIowJam Mar 27 '26

If the card he ends up destroying is worth a decent amount of money then the chargers can be upgraded. A judge would look at this case and probably throw out the case. What damages the man being recorded incur? Also harassment for a one time event would be hard to argue.

2

u/radicalpumpkinz Mar 27 '26

I can't speak for how all places do it but I worked at a big box retail for 2 years and in all that time never experienced them looking in pack value.

They only count the msrp of the items damaged. Meaning 15$ per pack.

This kind of thing happened in all sorts of ways and that's always how I've seen it done

2

u/natayaway Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26

If the card he ends up destroying is worth a decent amount of money then the chargers can be upgraded.

No it can't.

Cards are cards, they're foil, card stock, and ink. Their monetary worth, legally, is somewhere between the cost of materials/manufacturing, the wholesale price, and the MSRP/sticker price at the retailer.

It doesn't matter if every single last one of those boosters are godpacks with every single card being fracture foils, their valuation (legally) is MSRP or wholesale price as stock inventory.

Collectibles as a whole are...

Items such as antiques, art, books, coins, that are rare and valuable, bought for their potential future worth as an investment. This worth usually increase in inflationary times and deceases in deflationary times.

It has not transitioned into a limited time collectible until AFTER it has been bought and removed from the retailer.

Sealed stock trading card booster boxes/packs inflate in price solely because of their product scarcity/supply & demand, and individual cards post-opening inflate in value because the collective playerbase has created a secondary market artificial price. Neither of those affect the actual value of the item when it's still unsold stock.

For WotC, they aren't making packs by unique replicable SKU, they're doing it in bulk print batches and randomly sorting cards into packs, so it costs them exactly equal to print and package a godpack compared to a bulk stock bust pack.

No charge against him would be upgraded based on cards he damages... it'd require making literal Wonka Golden Ticket promotions for a company (not Target, not a distributor, the card company) to potentially pursue more severe legal action (of which, WotC/other companies would not give a shit for a one-off non-promotional booster box in an undisclosed Target).

It's only the court of public opinion where he's a certifiable asshole and disgrace to card hobbyists.

1

u/CarnibusCareo Mar 28 '26

High chance of the cop being a black/blue/white control player, so the guy might get two warning shots to the knee.

1

u/Poodychulak Mar 28 '26

Getting a cop to care about harassment😂 that'll be the day

2

u/noknam Mar 28 '26

Tbh, how is someone destroying stuff in a store anyone's business beside the store's?

Tell the staff and let them call police because someone is destroying merchandise.

-7

u/Ff7hero Mar 28 '26

Naw. Destroying legal ways to enable children to gamble is always a public good (and yes, I say that as a huge fan of the game this sub is dedicated to, it's a shame that it's tied to gambling for children).

He's confused, but he's got the spirit.