A Nation of Finks

[prole]

Safeway Security Guard Fired After Interrogating Girl; Company Faced Criticism for Similar Incident

 

Safeway has fired the security guard who interrogated a 4-year-old girl for alleged shoplifting after he saw her eat from a bag of apricots and put the bag back on the shelf.

 

The girl’s father apparently hadn’t noticed what his daughter had done and was taken aback when he was stopped by security on his way out of the Everett, Wash., store.

 

The guard then interrogated Savannah Harp, 4.

 

The girl’s mother, Alissa Jones, said the guard proceeded to tell Harp’s father that the tot was banned from the store and that it would be pressing charges.

 

“He told them, ‘Your daughter stole and she’s banned from the store, and we’re pressing charges. And she needs to sign this form saying she understands she can’t come into any Safeways,’” Jones said, according to ABC News Seattle affiliate KOMO 4 News.

 

Savannah, who can’t read or write yet, was forced to scribble on the piece of paper.

 

“It’s pretty troubling. It’s not like she even knows what she was doing,” Jones said.

 

Safeway officials expressed outrage over the guard’s treatment of the little girl and issued a formal apology to her family. The division president offered to take the little girl around the bakery to show her that the store was not a scary place.

 

“In this case, neither our policy nor commonsense seems to have been followed,” Safeway said in a statement.

 

The California-based supermarket chain recently came under fire in a similar situation. A pregnant woman who was shopping with her husband and 2-year-old daughter in a Safeway in Beretainia, near Honolulu, was arrested and charged with theft after she ordered two sandwiches for a total of $5, ate one while she shopped and forgot to pay for them at checkout on Oct. 31.

 

Nicole Leszczynski, 28, and her husband Marcin, 33, were new to the state and had gotten lost on their way to the grocery store. When they came upon the Safeway, she was famished, the Associated Press reported.

 

The pregnant woman, a former Air Force staff sergeant, said she was embarrassed about the lapse and offered to pay for the sandwiches, but managers wouldn’t allow it.

 

Instead, the couple were handcuffed, searched then released on $50 bail each, and their daughter was temporarily taken away by the state Child Welfare Services, the AP said.

 

The incident caused furor across the nation. Safeway dropped the charges and apologized to the woman. The company also said it would re-examine its worker training polices, the AP reported.

[Pete_H]

Well, kid's probably never going to shoplift again.

[prole]

Cutting off her hands would also achieve that result.

[sobo]

Cutting off her hands would also achieve that result.

Well, they'd only cut off one, cuz it's a first offense. So technically the little scofflaw could become a repeat offender.

But I'll lay even money that Safeway will be watching that whelp much more closely in the future, rest assured of that...

[G-spotter]

They didn't pepper spray her?

Talk about a missed opportunity.

[Pete_H]

Clearly she was a member of the Occupy Safeway youth movement.

[prole]

 

Meanwhile...

 

How much crazier can Black Friday get?

AP 11/26/11

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?

 

As reports of shopping-related violence rolled in this week from Los Angeles to New York, experts say a volatile mix of desperate retailers and cutthroat marketing has hyped the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales to increasingly frenzied levels. With stores opening earlier, bargain-obsessed shoppers often are sleep-deprived and short-tempered. Arriving in darkness, they also find themselves vulnerable to savvy parking-lot muggers.

 

Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.

 

"These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already," Williams said. "What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?"

 

Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.

 

A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, N.C., a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.

 

In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in Soho. At a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, Calif., shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, N.C. and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, N.Y.

 

"The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles," said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.

 

The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite "a few unfortunate incidents."

 

Black Friday — named that because it puts retailers "in the black" — has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.

 

The idea of luring in customers with a few "doorbuster" deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.

 

"There's an awful lot of psychology going on here," Jacoby said. "There's the notion of scarcity — when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone."

 

There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters that usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.

 

The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.

 

"The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years," Williams said. "It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?"

 

To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.

 

In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.

 

"There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers," Fox said.

 

The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.

 

In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the "arms race" of earlier and earlier sales.

 

Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.

 

"A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours," said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.

 

Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.

 

Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.

 

To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.

 

"If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal," Thomas said.

[ZimZam]

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

[Jim]

Any other earth-shocking headlines?

[E-rock]

Any other earth-shocking headlines?

 

Seriously. Idiots becoming security guards isn't exactly a new phenomenon.

[prole]

Well I can tell that you two bored, jaded hipsters have seen it all, but in my experience it appears that our fellow citizens are getting dumber, meaner, more medicated, shorter fused, and better armed by the day. But hey, maybe it's just the lamestream media...or maybe I'm not listening to enough Jack Johnson around a campfire or some shit.

[E-rock]

Gawd, you sure must love the smell of your own farts, cuz you're high on your own fumes, man.

[Jim]

So, what ? Your browser is set to the National Inquirer and you just want to share? This constant chatter is about as lowbrow as the behavior you attempt to chastise. GAL already.

[prole]

Hey, you guys are the ones finding the time and inclination to comment. Change back to Masterpiece Theatre or whatever the fuck you were watching...

[G-spotter]

KENT STATE!

[prole]

KENT STATE!

 

Fairweather's got the photos! Blames it on the hippies, don'tcha know.

[prole]

Hey, they were told to leave.

[Pete_H]

I was talking with a friend of my dad's the other day who is a retired Seattle cop. He worked downtown and he's seen everything. In general, I'm no fan of cops but this guy is a very nice man, a real gentleman - the kind of guy you would want to be a cop.

 

He said it used to be that protesters would protest and the police would show up and let them protest for a while and make their point and then the cops would arrest them and usher them off into the Paddy wagon or whatever. Noone got hurt and everybody's happy.

 

Then the protesters started sitting down and when it was time to be arrested they wanted to be carried off to make a big scene and everything. So the cops would carry a few off, the media would get some good pictures, and then the rest would get up and go be arrested. Noone got hurt and everybody's happy.

 

Then after a while the protesters decided no one would get up and they all wanted to be a carried off to be arrested. So the cops did that. But sure enough, people started suing the city saying cops hurt them and dislocated their shoulders and what not and whining about it.

 

So now the cops just pepper spray the cocksuckers.

[AlpineK]

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRRWGgmvKS0

[genepires]

Then after a while the protesters decided no one would get up and they all wanted to be a carried off to be arrested. So the cops did that. But sure enough, people started suing the city saying cops hurt them and dislocated their shoulders and what not and whining about it.

 

So now the cops just pepper spray the cocksuckers.

 

hey here is a novel idea, why not just let the occupiers just stay there? Why is it so important that protests disburse? Taking the protesters away only feeds the message that they are making.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like the protesters are picking parks and public areas and are a problem to very few people. Not like they are sitting down on a highway.

[JayB]

Then after a while the protesters decided no one would get up and they all wanted to be a carried off to be arrested. So the cops did that. But sure enough, people started suing the city saying cops hurt them and dislocated their shoulders and what not and whining about it.

 

So now the cops just pepper spray the cocksuckers.

 

hey here is a novel idea, why not just let the occupiers just stay there? Why is it so important that protests disburse? Taking the protesters away only feeds the message that they are making.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like the protesters are picking parks and public areas and are a problem to very few people. Not like they are sitting down on a highway.

 

-How would you feel if it were right wing Christians using the same tactics to restrict access to Planned Parenthood?

 

The only difference between the above and the "Occupy" is a set of subjective value judgments.

 

If it was right wingers "occupying" public spaces in the name of whatever ideological crusade they thought entitled them to interfere with everyone else's lives, the average Seattleite would be demanding to know why the police hadn't whipped out the water cannons, batons, and tear gas cannisters on day one.

 

 

[prole]

...restrict access...interfere with everyone else's lives...

 

Where is access being restricted? Whose lives are being interfered with? If anything, restriction to access and interference with people's lives are what is being protested against.

 

The only difference between the above and the "Occupy" is a set of subjective value judgments.

 

Q: What does it mean to reject "subjective value judgements" in the context of a deeply unjust set of circumstances?

 

A: Justification for the continuation of the status quo.

 

[Pete_H]

I think most people, especially in Seattle, respect others' right to utilize their freedom of speach and protest in a reasonable manner. Even if it includes occupying public space for a while. And I think a lot of people believe most protest movements have valid things to say.

 

But after an extended period of time a protest gets unreasonbable. After a while, a protest movement is joined by criminals, anarchists, and hooligans. Seattle CC wants the protesters off its campus because "protesters" are leaving hypodermic needles and garbage everwhere, and generally trashing the place.

 

I can't help but think the purple-haired mohawk guy I see at the Occupy movement doesn't represent most people's (even the 99%'s)values or concerns and, perhaps, is part of the movement because he really has nothing better to do.

 

Moreover, what exactly are the protesters seeking to compel the City of Seattle to do? Its one thing to protest Congress in D.C. or protest the President, but the City of Seattle has no control over federal policy like bailing out banks. Meanwhile, occupiers are costing the City millions of dollars it doesn't have.

 

I really don't see how that is having a positive effect on public policy.

[tvashtarkatena]

Then after a while the protesters decided no one would get up and they all wanted to be a carried off to be arrested. So the cops did that. But sure enough, people started suing the city saying cops hurt them and dislocated their shoulders and what not and whining about it.

 

So now the cops just pepper spray the cocksuckers.

 

hey here is a novel idea, why not just let the occupiers just stay there? Why is it so important that protests disburse? Taking the protesters away only feeds the message that they are making.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like the protesters are picking parks and public areas and are a problem to very few people. Not like they are sitting down on a highway.

 

-How would you feel if it were right wing Christians using the same tactics to restrict access to Planned Parenthood?

 

The only difference between the above and the "Occupy" is a set of subjective value judgments.

 

Wow. How many minutes a day do they let you out?

 

The Kristians have been long term-blocking access to Planned Parenthood for decades. They've also added death threats, shootings, and bombings, with fatal results, to the party. Otherwise, JUST THE SAME, right?

 

In addition, the Kristian goal is to deny equal rights to fully half the population based on a kooky idea that an embryo = a fully grown woman, which was invented by Nixon to get re-elected (yes, his administration recruited Falwell, and the rest is history, as they say. A phony idea invented to play partisan...

 

...much like the systemic wealth imbalance that has put one out of every 3 people in this country under or near the poverty line.

 

Otherwise, SHEEEIT, I kin hardly reckon any difference at all.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2011 by tvashtarkatena

[JayB]

Then after a while the protesters decided no one would get up and they all wanted to be a carried off to be arrested. So the cops did that. But sure enough, people started suing the city saying cops hurt them and dislocated their shoulders and what not and whining about it.

 

So now the cops just pepper spray the cocksuckers.

 

hey here is a novel idea, why not just let the occupiers just stay there? Why is it so important that protests disburse? Taking the protesters away only feeds the message that they are making.

Maybe I am wrong, but it seems like the protesters are picking parks and public areas and are a problem to very few people. Not like they are sitting down on a highway.

 

-How would you feel if it were right wing Christians using the same tactics to restrict access to Planned Parenthood?

 

The only difference between the above and the "Occupy" is a set of subjective value judgments.

 

Wow. How many minutes a day do they let you out?

 

The Kristians have been long term-blocking access to Planned Parenthood for decades. They've also added death threats, shootings, and bombings, with fatal results, to the party. Otherwise, JUST THE SAME, right?

 

In addition, the Kristian goal is to deny equal rights to fully half the population based on a kooky idea that an embryo = a fully grown woman, which was invented by Nixon to get re-elected (yes, his administration recruited Falwell, and the rest is history, as they say. A phony idea invented to play partisan...

 

...much like the systemic wealth imbalance that has put one out of every 3 people in this country under or near the poverty line.

 

Otherwise, SHEEEIT, I kin hardly reckon any difference at all.

 

 

-Exercising free speech rights is subject to time, place, and manner restrictions and doesn't include the right to interfere with lawful access to public spaces, much less any other illegal activity - so I'm all for using force against people who unlawfully restrict anyone else's access to churches, strip joints, Best Buy, the local vegan harvest collective, or public roads.

 

The whole point is that the law is supposed to be value neutral and apply impartially to everyone, irrespective of whether or not the general public loves or loathes whatever agenda they're trying to advance by, say, blocking a bridge at rush hour.

 

-Income inequality. Good news! See below.