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Best Buy Invaded By Blue Shirt Improv Artists
deviantphil writes "About 80 Improv Everywhere agents invaded their local Best Buy store wearing blue shirts and Khakis. Eventually they were asked to leave, but not before capturing some great photos and video." From the article: "Security guards and managers started talking to each other frantically on their walkie-talkies and headsets. 'Thomas Crown Affair! Thomas Crown Affair!,' one employee shouted. They were worried that were using our fake uniforms to stage some type of elaborate heist. 'I want every available employee out on the floor RIGHT NOW!'" Their inspired cellphone symphony from this February is also well worth checking out.
What a waste ... they were probably more helpful than the regular employees
Well done Improv'ers ...
Hmmmm.... Imagine if the entire population of Slashdot each received one. Think of the possibilities. Also, can't this be considered Slashdoting something physically.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
the squeeze-till-your-bowels-explode race to be the first to post something is for idiot bloggers.
These people rock, I heard a story about them a while back on NPR on This American Life http://207.70.82.73/pages/descriptions/05/286.html
Wait, a real girl talking about money shots AND being geeky?
Omg your inbox is going to bulge...
Jeez, she should be fined.
"Is this an emergency?"
"Dear lord YES! there are people wearing Blue Shirt and Khakis! KAHKIS!!!"
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
http://www.improveverywhere.com.nyud.net:8080/miss ion_view.php?mission_id=57
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Big public wanking sessions are generally looked down upon.
Paul Grosfield - the quicker picker upper.
First, Policy:
Posted at the entrance to a store:
Persons impersonating store employees will be prosecuted for trespassing.
Later, Lobbyists:
Will introduce federal legislation to make this this kind of thing a felony.
Links to more info on the Best Buy incident here.
I wear a blue shirt at work and everytime I stop at Best Buy, I would get asked by numerous customers for help.
FYI, this is the same group that did the fake U2 roof top concert the day before U2 actually plays in NY.
I getting pretty tired of all these "dup!, I posted that last week! That's 10 days old, nobody cares now!" posts. Look, if you aren't posting on topic, or can't contribute in some positive way; why are you even posting?
You're new here, aren't you? ;D
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
Well, I _thought_ my server load was on the way down after three days of getting hammered by this story....
I wear a vacant look and maintain a surly attitude every time I Stop at Best Buy, I would get asked by numerous customer for help!
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"I wear a blue shirt at work and everytime I stop at Best Buy, I would get asked by numerous customers for help."
"Oh please help me! You're my only hope. None of the others will talk to me, and they just run away. *grabs pants leg* Don't leave me! I have so many questions."
That's ok, I still appreciate the link. Think about it, is it really that important (and therefore bad for slashdot) that you know about this story? Slashdot is not mission-critical stuff. I don't have a shitload of spare time to just cruise around online, but when I need a diversion I can get it at slashdot.
Guess what? For every article on here there are going to be people who heard of it first, heard of it 2 weeks ago, 4 months ago, whatever. Just STFU and go on to the next article. Do I give a shit about Legos? No. Do I bitch about it when a Lego article comes up? No. You are a lame bastard that needs to get a sense of reality.
navy pinstripe suits indicated a bank, doublebreasted suits meant insurance, charcoal gray suits were brokerages.
Today it is trivial for 21-25 year old women; red shirt is a computer superstore, blue shirt is big box retailer, and
white shirts with a yellow smiley face means WalMartians...
I can appreciate the humor but I also understand why the Best Buy folks were freaked out by it.
One time when I was working in the UC San Diego college bookstore back in the 1980's, a bunch of activists came in with cameras to film everybody and the inside of the store. They were eventually escorted out by Campus Security, but it really unnerved some people, because we weren't sure who they were or what they were going to do with film they shot. There was talk that the activists were going to identify us and attack us another time away from the store to get back at the "establishment" and those of us who were helping the "establishment".
So I understand why the Best Buy folks might be a bit unnerved by this event. I suspect if I was an employee, I would have been also.
To all of the people who complain about the stunts, the immaturity, the panic, the idiotic ideas...lighten up!
I hate to generalize (Ok, I love it, but pretend for a second I don't) but our society today needs some humor. We hear "terrorist this" and "gas prices that" and "x troops killed today in Iraq by insurgents..." every day. We seem so drenched in sadness and tragedy sometimes we forget what we are: free!
As long as a flash mob/stunt doesn't injure innocent bystanders and cause undue distress to officials I don't see the harm. The way that these people carry out "missions" with their "agents" is harmless. I admit that there is no screening process and no, I wouldn't want to be a manager on duty that day at Best Buy. But these stunts are things that you can look back upon 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, or 2 years later and grin. We need humor! I give my props to the people who have the audacity to go out there, do something very strange while surreptitiously documenting it, and post it for the rest of us to enjoy later! Way to go!
In a world filld with bad news, depressing ideas, and bad people, it's enlightening to smile at the deeds of others without having read it on Fark or the Darwin Awards.
I know I enjoyed the missions (the pantsless ones are priceless!) and I think that they have a great way of making people laugh. If you don't enjoy, that's fine. I don't get British humor and I hate Monty Python. Some humor isn't for everybody. But lighten up!
"This food is problematic."
The worst she could legally do to them, lacking a 'no blue shirts' type policy, and probably even then, would be to tell them that they have to leave, that they're not welcome at the store anymore. If they refused to leave the store in an expedient fashion(you don't have to run, but don't linger), then she could have the police charge them with trespassing. With it being a store, permission for the public to be on the property is assumed.
This was eventually done, at which point the people left.
I don't read AC A human right
That is absolutely outstanding. Rene and Pierce are liberal as fukall, but that was a good movie. It had subtleness to the pinnacle of any James Bond movie.
And I'll be honest: FUCK worst buy.
It's too bad they didn't steal trade secrets, sell them to CompUSA, then send accounting records to the New York Times and any other anti-capitalism newspaper that would review them for "discrepances".
Up your god damn ass, Worst Buy.
Droping the chance of free publicity has to be once of the worse moves in history. Calling the cops on potential costumers?, what's next.
And don't get me started on cops wasting taxpayers dollars attending a non threatning situation just only because a BB manager freaked out, go and fight crime pigs!!!.
Unreported were 5 red-shirt clad improv artists at the same event. Unfortunately they all were all killed by a freak car accident in the parking lot ;)
Ah, but you are physically attacking people.
And by definition, clowns aren't funny.
To quote Cmdr. Vimes:
"If it was funny, clowns wouldn't be doing it." Cmdr. Vimes, Diskworld by Terry Prachet
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Try wearing khaki pants, a white button down shirt, and a tie next time you shop at the supermarket. I used to have to wear that at work, and we'd often go to the Jewel supermarket deli counter for lunch. Usually I'd get mistaken for a store manager at least once per visit.
Eventually I stopped trying to tell little old ladies that I didn't work there. I had gotten to know the store well enough that it was easier to just tell them where their item was...
zonk happened. Of course, before him it was michael sims, jon katz, etc. slashdot has a long history of sucking.
This is about the stupidist thing I've ever heard of. Essentially, a bunch of trust fund babies deciding to hassle the working class. I'm reminded of Bertie Wooster stealing policemens' hats. "Well, they like it, just like foxes like to be hunted." It's not coincidental that Wodehouse was popular in Soviet Russia.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
It doesn't even have to be a shirt. I used to work at Home Depot. We had to wear an orange smock, but any color collar shirt.
After I had quit, I came in to get a few things one day, and I was wearing an orange shirt. I must of gotten stopped at least a dozen times by customers wanting help. Of course, I helped them out a little bit, not wanting to go back to my Home Depot days.
Slashdot has always been a site where they link to news they find might be interesting and nerd like in nature.
ALWAY been that way. That is their business. Don't like it? Leave.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"Thomas Crown Affair! Thomas Crown Affair!," one employee shouted.
:-)
Please, allow me to quote Dice Clay.
"You fucking geek."
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
the last thinkg a business want's is to be left alone*.
Something yopu might want to remember if you every start a business.
It is taky, and causes people not to listen to your point when you campare this to rape. Or anything to an absurd extreme.
*with the exception of used book stores. Which are just a fancy way for people to show off there libraries.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
There's also "disturbing the peace". Remember how thick law books are? Now you all have some idea why.
did you ever think you're comparing the attire of white collar upperclass to the requisite uniform of blue collar plebs?
See http://rocketboom.com/vlog/ three days ago...
Usually, slashdot beats them by a day or so.
I must have missed the part where the 60 people were assaulting customers.
But yes, if you want to go to Best Buy in a clown costume, feel free. It will certainly bring a smile to many people's face!
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
I once was at a best buy when something similar happened, except it was me asking if I could get some help from a best buy employee looking person this happened twice before I found what I think was a real best buy employee to help me but I guess I may never know. what if empoyees dressed as customers and pulled this same prank on customers they pretended to think were employees.
This reminds me of the job I has as a senior in high school when I worked as an usher at Seattle Sonics games. Our break room was right by the visitor's locker room, and we would frequently be leaving about the same time the players were leaving to get on the team bus. A couple times I walked by the fans that were thrusting the things they wanted autographed over the barrier and signed my name on their program, jersey, or whatever. They all thought I was just one of those bench warmers that no one knew about. ;)
Are people really that scared of single adult males, now? Because it probably wasn't to do with his appearance...
Of course, unless you happen to have some sort of irrational clown phobia. But that's just silly.
"Quoting yourself is stupid." -Me
I tour the store and feel pretty good about landing a spot next to the vacuum cleaners. There are no employees in sight. I hover. A 50-something bearded Jewish man makes eye contact, walks toward me, my first customer.
"Do you work here?" he asks.
"No, I don't."
He starts looking at vacuum cleaners, not knowing where to start.
"What are you looking for?" I ask.
"I need a vacuum cleaner," he says. "I have a Dirt Devil. It works really well, very powerful machine," I say.
"A Dirt Devil. Dirt Devil, OK."
A real employee approaches.
"May I help you sir?" the employee asks.
"Yes, I'd like to buy a Dirt Devil," the man responds."
I sold my first vacuum cleaner. Damn, it feels good.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
In this day and age the manager, employees and customers were supposed to know this wasn't a mass crime being committed, possibly a large hostage taking incident for some political demands..how? Psychic powers? Those "improv" idiots are lucky someone didn't draw down on them. Real DAMN lucky. Some things are funny, this one certainly wasn't. Not even close. If I had been a customer in there I would have been sorely tempted to assist the legit management in a little attitude adjustment on the moron invaders. I know my first reaction would have been to see a serious potential emergency security threat. Which would have required some very fast emergency steps taken for risk mitigation purposes.
We live in a day and age with suicide bombers, hostage incidents, various weird groups with wild ass agendas, and who knows what, certainly not the imposter idiots, or they just might have thought of that. Perhaps they did and just didn't care. Dangerously close to swarming, happy slapping, wilding..or worse.
You just don't *fuck* with shit like that anymore, you don't mess around. You can do any number of other things for shits and giggles, you DON'T fuck with people's security or *perception* of security.
This is a new time, a new day, a few of the older ways to think/act/do are just GONE now. Not my fault, not your fault, but that IS reality now. I don't like it, but I live in the real world, and deal with real adults, not nintendo MTV comedy show videogame virtual reality world addicts.
You don't stand in line at the airport and "joke" about "Hi! Jack!". You don't go to the buffet and mumble under your breath loud enough so other people can hear you about "germs in the salad, wonderful, wonderful germs, THEY'LL SEE!" even if YOU think it is funny.
Hey, let's just throw some blow up mannequins out on the freeway and get some BIG LAUGHS as people swerve around dodging the "dead bodies". Won't that be funny? I mean, it isn't real dead bodies, so it must be cool to do that, right? And we'll VIDEOTAPE it for extra chuckles later on as we get wasted!!1!
Nope, what they did was lame, rude, stupid and I hope they get charged, criminal trespass, terroristic threats (a large group in what could be construed as identical gang colors or political group colors meant on purpose to decieve the legitimate people in the store is in itself intimidating and could be so construed as terroristic in nature, a felony in my state BTW) and a few other assorted charges. The store manager should be commended for showing *restraint*. The idiots are lucky several of them didn't get capped.
On the other hand, it could be just a stand alone complex.
I'm kind of dissapointed how the Best Buy employees handled that. They are taught to be friendly and everything, but, they sure were quick to start getting rude and ugly about it.
Related to my life. ;)
A few times, going into Walmart wearing my "Your Company's Computer Guy" shirt, I was asked for assistance, because of the way Walmart employees wear those vest-like things. Sure, it's a totally different shade of blue, and a different style, but that didn't stop them.
And yes, I did help them even though they realized mid-question that I don't work there.
The above is most likely humour. Slashdot foot icon goes here.
Good Job.
Very Funny!
Best Buy should give you all gift cards for all the free web advertising they are getting.
I wouldn't be surprised if the original idea came from a real Best Buy employee, finding some
'Useful fools' to create the best commercial ever.
Notice nobody would do this at a SEARS - there are no customers in those stores to interact with.
I like Best Buy for the smaller priced items,
but Circuit City offers better deals on computers, laptops, and TVs.
It is fun to think up odd (but real) questions to bug bothersome employees with.
"Uh, What is the total number of minutes of footage in all the ST:Voyager DVDs combined?"
And finding a reason for an odd question is even more fun!
(I want to watch all of the DVDs over the span of 9 days, so I need to know how much to watch each day.)
Note that their answer will be an under-value, because the 'Easter Egg video files' found on all ST DVDs are not included in the total minute count printed on the outside of the box.
this is awesome. i wish someone would do something like that around here.
"Welcome to America, were all men are immediately considered to be sexual predators."
Reading slashdot will clear that right up.
WOW. This is insane.
People SHOULD be able to get away with stuff like this without criminal charges.
It's a sad country when two kids get into a fight, one says "I'm gonna kill you!" in the heat of the fight, and that kid gets expelled, where the other gets a 5-day suspension (or nothing at all, and then sues the other kid he was fighting.) It's sad when every single thing that can be tried as possible terrorism is tried as terrorism.
I'm going to go to the other side of the extreme here. It shouldn't be illegal unless the terrorist act is actually committed. "Attempted" crimes PERIOD are bullshit. Attempted murder, attempted burglary, etc, etc. Don't charge 'em unless they actuall get in and the person's dead or the stuff's stolen.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 SU CK IT MP AA
This is false, at least in some jurisdictions. I've personally seen it happen at least twice (in Virginia).
In soviet russia, You ask not what country do for you, but what you do for country!
Oh wait...
I've had some great help from employees at Best Buy, and some really bad experiences from them. Little point in arguing with some of them, who make crazy, unfounded, unsupportable claims about the merchandise, too often speaking strictly from a wrong orifice.
However, even without a blue polo shirt, for some reason people ask me a lot of questions of the "Will this router work with Comcast?" and "Does this one take movies with sound?" -- I try to be helpful, but as I'm not an employee I find this sort of amusing.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
What the fuck are you talking about?
Well, if you read enough of the site and comments you'll see some one speculating that there IS going to be a new policy of some sort of crazy ass dress code of what you can't wear into their stores now. Seems f'd up if you ask me.
I fail to see how a store can dictate what you can and cannot wear while shopping. Its funny how people can assume so quickly that a bunch of people are conspiring just because they happen to where the same type of clothing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Now I'm not saying impersonating is a good thing. I'm not even saying that is what happened here. If you read the statements from the people involved as well as watch the videos you can clearly tell they did not say they were employees. They may have helped out a fellow citizen find an item or help make a choice on an item. But that is not impersonation. And since when did just browsing a store become an offense? I can browse all the hell I want without purchasing an item. That is all I do half the time anyways. I go from BB, to CC, then to Target and just look. Finding the best deal is important to me because I like my hard earned cash.
This shows how much a pole is stuck up Big Buisness' ass. It also shows you the compentancy of our law enforcement officers also known as 'Peace Officers' or 'Keeper's of the Peace'. From what I could tell the only people making a big stink and upsetting the peace were the managers.
So what is to happen now if a regular joe citizen is to walk into a Best Buy with a pair of kahkis and nice blue shirt and also just happens to wear black shoes as well? I'd say Best Buy would be taking a nice stroll to the local court.
All in all. I found it funny, but at the same time distrubing that both our law enforcement officers would act in such a way as well as company who is SUPPOSED to be at your beck seeing as they NEED your money to stay in business. Just my 0.02
"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty."
Wow... this poster is the perfect example of why we need more stunts like this, not less. Anything out of the ordenary happens and chicken-littles like this decide the sky is falling. "We can only fight terrorists by maintaining a constant state of alert!" they cry... in fact we can only defeat terrorists by refusing to be afraid.
How about attempted-suicide?
It's the only crime where the 'attempted' has a harsher judicial punishment than actually doing the deed.
"Cement Teddy Bears" http://www.cultdeadcow.com/cDc_files/cDc-0368.php My favorite Christmas story of all time!
I have a couple red shirts. Maybe I like to dress like Tiger Woods or something.
Anyway, if I wear one to Target, I often get questions from customers, sometimes even if I'm wearing jeans.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
I loved it! Fantastic idea.
It's too bad they didn't really clown around a bit, act like cockroaches, walk into walls, curl up on the floor and go to sleep, do a little dance; perhaps The Robot etc..
Doesn't anyone do mpeg or QT anymore so the rest of us can view it?
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
Yes, we Americans are entirely wrong to think we have a monopoly on tragedy when things are much worse in Iraq.
To underline your point, I suggest 80 of us dress up as the prophet Mohammed, and wander around Baghdad for a day, to, you know, lighten things up a bit.
Thank you for pointing this out. Why should we have all the lightening up here, when lightening can strike much more powerfully abroad?
What reason? To cause havoc @ Best Buy and have them lose customers because of what looks like incompetent workers? Seems wrong to me.
That which does not kill me only postpones the inevitable.
Was that Best Buy in Iraq? Shit I read that entire article and I thought it was in New York, USA! Wow... I need to get my eyes checked. How on earth does this event, his comments or anything else in here relate to how bad things are in a country outside of the US? He was speaking in relative terms... related to our country several years ago. Not every country on the planet. If you'd bother to grow up a bit and understand more than one point of view, you'd have relize that. But you choose the popular, foriegn (again, in case you didn't notice, relative to the US) path... "hate all Americans!" BTW... attacking us repeatedly with the "stupid Americans, you don't know anything about the outside world" thing doesn't exactly motivate anybody to quickly pick up an international newspaper and start reading. If you keep that attitude you'll get the general, western, response of: Go fuck yourself!
I agree, at least MPEG. I couldn't view this at work because I can't install Flash 8
You must be new here.
"Sir, I'm the store manager and you need to leave right now, please walk this way." If they refuse, then they're trespassing. The only times they *asked* (note the word ASKED) someone to leave and he sought to clarify, it was made 100% clear that he was NOT being TOLD to leave, only asked.
Is this the condition of reasoning in that United States; to assert that requests of incomplete information are to be construed as commands? I've heard this before...
_ "Sir, do you know why I stopped you?"
_ "Sir, it isn't about tort; it's about policy and code 123xyz."
_ "Sir, no, You are not under arrest."
_ "Sir, just because you aren't under arrest doesn't mean you can leave."
X "Sir, can you please step out of the vehicle?"
_ "Sir, if you don't step out of the vehicle, I will arrest you."
_ "Sir, Yes we have your name but your need to sign it here."
_ "Sir, if you don't voluntarily sign this contract(ticket/confession), I will arrest you."
_ "Sir, you may not sign this voluntary ticket as 'under threat durress coercion'"
_ "Sir, thankyou for subscribing to our non-official side of services, enjoy the Day we sold to you."
without prejudice
Funny as hell. I love the managing staff and security losing it while the rest of the employees just shrug it off. They really should try and pull something like this at a few different stores. Preferably at the same time.
Some slashdotters need to get a serious humor injection though. They didn't scare anyone but a few overly paranoid security folks and managers. I doubt that any of the regular employees cared one way or the other and the customers weren't overly concerned either. Just because some manager got a stick up her ass and jumped the gun on calling the police is no reason to go all negative on these folks. I'll admit that the cops didn't seem all that amused but cops are always pissy when they're on duty and abnormal shit is happening (never mind that these were New York cops, not known for being real understandinf, and things were being filmed). Doesn't matter; still funny. Hell that makes it even funnier.
There is a customer after the goods and services are payed, and until payment in full. Just holding a guaruntee/limited-liability in the form a receipt/claim would construe there to be a customer even after exiting BEST BUY and until the full discharge of association with any agents of Best Buy. As far as private-property is concerned, there are express and implied invitation on the front door (open/closed--banking hours) AND advertised commercial speach why one should enter BEST BUY.
The manager was acting in such conveyance that could impugn the value of BEST BUY stocks and bonds; the misplaced manager's actions were regulating who can enter the retail market on prejudice of clothing-color and origin, without a cause of tort or theft. One of the greatest intimidations is to walk into a store that happens to sell the same goods that is being worn by the patron; from which, there can be an accusation of theft after someone sees a non-buyer walking out of the dressing room wearing the clothes they owned upon land and entry to the store. The same can be said for product conventions, sheeps-bladders, coconuts, and little rocks that can float.
Think of a store as a pool of marketing space, a small storage building tended by stewards on behalf of the owners and manufacturers of the products for sell; BEST BUY doesn't own the products, BEST BUY is under contract to sell on behalf of the owner of the products on display, BEST BUY is held accountable for misplaced and stolen property they are stewards over, agents of BEST BUY admit that they aren't competing with the products on display with a "house brand", and agents of BEST BUY are in misplaced trust by odd characters to press for monopoly holdings to compete with non-customers and possible buyers willing to exchange a security interest or fee for a product.
In other words, they are all just a bunch of lousy people that can sweep, wash windows, dust, unlock a door in the dawn, lock a door at dusk, and complain to someone else about their lack of qualifications for a ministerial position that avails them to ploy all the idiocy of minions to echo their psychopathicly ordered-disorder.
without prejudice
A lot of folks seem to have an issue with the Manager calling 911. And while I agree that it certainly doesn't seem like an emergency it may not be that ridiculous. I was in a situation with overly obnoxious and rude neighbors in my apartment building that loved playing their rap music late into the night at ridiculous volumes. I called the police station on two separate occasions and both times I was told to call back on 911. Both times I stated that it was NOT an emergency I just wanted an officer to stop by and tell them to turn it down since multiple times of myself going over and requesting this same thing got no response.
All in all, just because it isn't a case of life and death apparantly doesnt mean it isnt a 911 situation I guess. And to those wondering I don't live in some podunk little town. I live about 20 miles west of Chicago. So it's not like the station only has 911 and no other number or dispatch.
I bet it's all a deception to give everyone the idea that Walmart is a communist's store. When someone realy enters to change the price-targs before buying, there'll be some Senior Citizens from Seizure World Retirement Center or such saying...
without prejudice
That alleged "Security Officer" was acting in misplaced trust, and without disclosure of his actions thereby he was being equally as dishonest as the alleged arrest. The moment his character tresspass with his office, or the violation of trust from his oath to act lawfully on behalf of whoever appointed him, then there is NO Officer -- because he is acting on his own. In the republic, the people conversing about their way is known as court; on the corporate side of things, inferior to the politic, is the second court/accusation (which is banned by the Constitution -- that is why there is such a push to have politic carry ID that belongs to a corporation; corporations are quite criminal, and the people thought associated with a corporation would need to be held to answer for what corporation is called by presentment. That's why all alleged "Officers" are in their corporate mode to seize people until they have presentable corporate character (ALL UPPERCASE NAME id) and are governed under a code. As people should know, politic are governed by the laws of physics in the universe, etc. The alleged "Security Officer" was just being polite to sit the King down on his bench, and wait for him to be comfortable to any distractions that may cause him to mis-manage his person (aka corporate-sole). That's not a seizure, because politic isn't an issue--because politic is incorporated to be an organelle in the corporation. They organelle only seizes when Ordered.
According to Uniform Commercial Code, there is no such thing as theft...because in commerce, anyone that causes damage or walks away with posession of somone else's property - simply forgot to pay for it. Title is still with the one that holds a security interest to the property, and the possessor is to be reminded to pay Rent for the depletion of value for every moment its retail aspect is diminished by their occupation. The property isn't stolen when it's whereabouts is known. Everything is for sale, if it isn't held in fee simple absolute.
The recent mis-application of Commercial Code is at the mal-application of emminent domain procedure; where recently there has been perfectly owned private property literaly stolen and displaced to another non-interested privateer, or public property to a privateer where is deadicated to a ffalse-public use.
without prejudice
This is just a special case of a general phenomenon -- people in a uniform, even if it's just a shirt color, tend to become defensive about that uniform.
I once had a temp job at a hospital loading dock. Horrible, crummy job, but it was a job. So all the people on the loading dock wore brown polyester pants, white shirts, and black shoes. So, my second day, I wore brown polyester pants, a white shirt, and black shoes. I was reprimanded for "wearing a dock uniform", paid for a half day, and asked not to return.
A different situation: There was a Greek Festival, where all the food service people were wearing black pants or skirts, white shirts and a black hat. My girlfriend and I happened to both be wearing black pants, white shirts, and we each had a black hat, all coincidentally (we didn't even know about the festival, just chanced upon it), and so we just sort of hung out for a while and all the workers treated us like we were hosts not patrons. We ate and drank for free and hung out while everybody partied after the festival was over.
Anyway, if you wear a blue shirt to Best Buy I'm sure they can throw you out if the laws of your state allow it, "for any reason", but not just because you wore a blue shirt, unless they eject *everyone* wearing a blue shirt (not just you.)
The band of pranksters could test this by being not just a bunch of clowns, but some organization whose uniform is *also* well-established as blue shirts and khakis, go in the store with legitimate business, and get kicked out for no reason other than their attire, they might be able to force the store manager to explain to a judge why he considered a shirt and khakis to be inappropriate attire, or whatever was his bais calling the police was.
But in this case, it is clear that the group was intentionally creating a disturbance, and that it was not terribly difficult to get a police officer to agree. If a reasonable person believes your intent is to disturb the peace (which it clearly was) then I hope it was enough fun to be worth the potential legal hassle.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
I used to have a job that required the shirt and tie too. (Why should a programmer wear a tie?? Whatever.) Anytime I went to any kind of retail establishment on the way home, I would get around one customer question every ten minutes.
Definitely, if you want to cause havoc like this, it's far easier (and more plausibly deniable) to go for the shirt-and-tie route.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Same uniform...
I shop at Target quite a lot, and I also work in a call center. We don't have a uniform as such, but typical attire for men is khakis and a polo or button-down. Now, I happen to like red shirts. Anytime I go to Target after work, wearing a red shirt, I get asked at least once if I work at Target. I always say no, but I know the store well and usually point the person in the right direction... but now maybe I'll avoid Target altogether. I've already been hassled by security for browsing too long, picking up items and putting them back, putting hands in pockets too many times, all the "classic" loss-prevention warnings of a thief, et cetera; now, they'll probably be aware of this incident and be prepared to throw me out on the grounds that I am not only a "potential shoplifter" but impersonating a Target employee as well. Yet another reason to shop online!
Without being a total Douch Bag.
That's really hilarious. What a marvellous idea! I wish they did something like that around here. I could think of a few places where a stunt like that would work very well. Keep on rocking, guys!
If a train station is a place where a train stops, what's a workstation?
Go and try to ask a basic question on something you already know about.
Your not one of those people that think 911 is just a convient way to help you for any ol' thing, are you? I hope not, I hate those people.
No, perish the thought that people who are in need of the police and feel threatened (rightly or wrongly) should call the one number they remember.
You're a typical programmer: when your system can deal with user expectations, you blame the user and add an obscure rule.
In fact, a better thing to do would be for 911 services to invest in a little intelligence. Maybe a phone system that says "please press 1 or stay on the line to report an emergency in which lives are at stake, otherwise please press 2 now".
If she starts screaming about her civil rights because of a camera, do you think that upper managment will want her? NOT A CHANCE. it shows that she does not play well with the little kiddies let alone the big boys.
Other than that, I thought that she was heading straight for CEO material.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
are threre really still jurisdictions where suicide in one's private home is a crime?
Bring an ipod. Throw it away.
Join an immigration march. Smile and wave as you march.
Secretly take pictures and comment on how clever you are.
Reminds of me of a prank me and my coworkers use to play in Fry's Electronics. For those of you who have never had the experience of visiting Fry's Electronics, their customer service is arguably much worse than Best Buy. The store dress code is much less inspired- white shirt, dark slacks, dark tie. Pretty much the same dress code of our VAR company at the time(remember those?). We'd often frequent Fry's for miscellaneous hardware, as it was cheap, and close to our offices. Of course, since we were dressed like every other employee there, we'd get asked for help from clueless customers all the time. We got so sick of being asked we finally started giving out random answers, telling them the item they wanted was in the back of the store through the double doors (the stock room), or pointing them to ther customers in the store ("you want to talk to the old beared guy in suspenders standing over there. He can help you with that.") I really miss those days.
Recently I visited Fry's Electronics in thier new store several months ago (well, new for me. I live in NYC now, and hadn't yet been to the store on Auto Mall parkway in Fremont). A customer approached and actually asked "I know you don't work here, but can you tell me if this will work in my computer?"
Yeah, I miss those days...
Shameless plug for my photos on Flickr
Some of the people who were the targets of the improv were really traumatised by it. I listened to the ThisLife segment and thought it was really funny but I wouldn't want to be the target of one of these.
Yes, you aren't exactly doing something "illegal", but your intention is obviously to make life harder for other people, which in my book counts as "immoral" (at least as long as these "other people" haven't done anything wrong towards you!)
I find the whole episode comparable to someone who have gotten hold of some disappearing ink, spray it on random peoples shirts, and then write a web-page about it where they talk about how angry some people became because of this, even though it was just an innocent gag.
I'm sorry, but if some random person sprayed my shirt with disappearing ink, I would not find it funny. And if some random crowd of people had agreed to enter my store with clothes similar to the uniform of my employees, I wouldn't find it funny either. Now, had the random person in either case, been someone I knew and trusted, I might have reacted otherwise, but this depends a bit more upon the situation. When doing practical jokes, it's a fine line between what's funny and what's just cruel.
Oh, by the way, I killed your dog just to see how you'd react. But don't worry, here's a new one...
I always wanted to go through the airport with a shirt that said "Smuggler" and paint "Contraband" on my luggage. It would probably qualify me for "Special Glove" treatment.
So I skimmed over the article pictures and didn't read every bit so I don't know if this was done by the store manager or not, but this is what I would have done:
..simply repeat every hour or so, until they seem to be mostly gone.
1) Announce the following on the Best Buy intercom (if there is no store wide intercom, they should really invest in one):
"Dear Best Buy customers and employees, there seems to be an elaborate social engineering prank occurring in the store. It's not a coincidence that there are many people in the store wearing blue polo shirts without best buy tags and khaki pants. If they do not have a best buy tag do not ask them questions about products or store policies."
Imagine if Hot Topic did that.
(If you go to Hot Topic you'll find that staff and customers are almost indistinguishable. Yet they don't seem to have any kind of problem with it.)
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
These non-employees seem to be more helpful and easier to find than regular employees of retail outlets. I think that the next time I go shopping, I'm just going to ask the other shoppers questions, rather than the employees.
.. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
You can download it in quicktime on the site. Or just go here
I'm not sure about Flash 8, but what I used to do is use Ethereal to look at the HTTP traffic when the video player first initiates the connection. You can get a direct link to the FLV that contains the video this way and use FFMPEG to convert the FLV to some other format. Of course, you need to have Flash installed for this to work.
it seems to me that we are in a situation where the police :(
are getting called for every little problem.
are we, as a society, that afraid that we are demanding
a police state to exist?
Understanding is much like a 3-edged-sword. in this: there are always 2 sides and the truth.
nice to see all the anonymous cowards come out of the woodwork in order to give me the proverbial slap on the wrists. lol.
"To err is human, to mod Funny divine."
"Attempted" crimes PERIOD are bullshit. Attempted murder, attempted burglary, etc, etc. Don't charge 'em unless they actuall get in and the person's dead or the stuff's stolen.
So you welcome a burglary or robbery attempt against you and would not want the criminal to get arrested and charged for trying to steal from you? Perhaps you would you prefer to be the victim of an attempted rape or attempted murder instead.
I am glad that works for you, but I'll stick with defending my person and property.
That said, I have to agree with you that the parent post was a moronic troll. Identically dressed people behaving politely in a store is not a threat of any type.
Bring back Sirius Punk!
I have heard of these people and what they do is not art or fun or acting or improv its called being jackasses. Their "improv" creates a public disturbance, annoys people and they laugh about it and find it cute.
If you want to get all semantic about it, racisism doesn't exist because there is only one race when it comes to humans. The differences between 'white', 'black', 'Asian' etc do not constitute 'race' biologically speaking.
I like to ask people what they think of the Washington Redskins or Atlanta Braves. And what would they think of the Washington Blackskins or Atlanta Zulus (with corrasponding 'war whoop' and foam spears).
You mean "courtesy" (but maybe you're thinking of "curtsy", like what a woman might do in the 50's as a greeting?). That was funny, anyway.
Given the image most sports teams want to project, "Zulus" would be an excellent name for one. "Blackskins" not so much, since in this country's history that equates to being on the losing side more often than not.
In conclusion, what's your point? (addendum: the foam spears would be awesome)
...it's really a sad day for America when we require a goddamn ACT OF CONGRESS to make our DVD players work properly. ~
The truth of why we are so violent and fearful, which nobody wants to address, is that we're living like rats in large cities when we're not adapted to them. Biologically and psychologically, we're ideally suited to living in communities of 40-200 people.
Get rid of the cities! With modern communication and transportation technologies, we don't need to live this way anymore!
I guess my point is that there's a lot of discrimination out there- be it anti-black, anti-gay, anti-women, anti-American, anti-this-or-that-religion. I ask about sports teams, because nobody seems to see any problem with them. If you ask questions about other forms of racism, you usually get PC responses.
i don't know about screaming, but they've already at least done pantless 5 times on a new york subway.
... who would have been called if 50 arab-looking guys walked in in the Best Buy outfit... I imagine that the Feds would have been around in about 3 minutes... And those same 50 guys (within a couple of hours) would have been visiting that lovely holiday camp they have done in Cuba these days...
Nice one.
It was stupid, immature, not funny and potentially dangerous. Don't worry about the moderations, it all averages out. Some people just have a warped sense of humor and think vandalism is funny. This was an example of group vandalism, and by their sheer numbers, was meant to shock and scare people, that was supposed to be the "funny" part, to throw something very close to terrorism at people just to see how they would react. It wasn't performance art, it was gang-like activity, just a step aways from happy slapping or wilding, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of the members partake in those other activities when they aren't deluding themselves they are artists. It reminds me of what the "young people" thought was funny sport in a clockwork orange..
Most of my time at Best Buy is spent trying to avoid the blue shirts. That is
I estimate that 95% of the people working at Best Buy/Circuit City/CompUSA haven't the foggiest clue of what they're talking about. They are just parroting something some sales rep told them.
What is absoluetly the worst is when someone asks me to go with them to the store and I end up getting into an argument with the sales reps. The stuff that comes out of their mouth is absoluetly amazingly, collosally ignorant.
And no, you do NOT need the service plan.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
a) You'll never see a good thief or gang of thieves. They dress incognito for obvious reasons. Dressing in fake uniforms (no Best Buy logo) made these people immediately conspicuous and hence the subject of scrutiny by the door checker.
b) The bit in the Thomas Crown Affair was about RETURNING a stolen item.
c) If you were going to steal something in faux uniform, you'd show up dressed like a cop.
d) If you want to steal, you need to cause a diversion like a fight (just like in Ocean's Eleven) that will draw the security people away from their posts. That or a really attractive person of the opposite sex (or perhaps same?!?!?!?) to divert the attention of the door checker.
e) An alternative strategy would be to get some item tags that are still activated and have lots of people go through the security checker with these things on. After so many "false alarms" they'll turn the thing off for the sake of keeping the business open.
So you see the manager was a dufus and got played by reacting to the prank. If he had ignored the pranksters as people with too much time on their hands, he would have spoiled their fun.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Waah waah waah.
I have no sense of humor.
You're probably the manager of a Best Buy some place. That would explain a lot.
I think that he's more likely talking about prosecuting "intent to commit a crime," something which has always seemed really shakey to me. Sure, he's got floorplans of the bank. Yes, he rented Bonnie and Clyde from Blockbuster 13 times in a row. Still, unless he's actually stated that he's robbing a bank, or has made an attempt at it, you shouldn't be able to bring charges against him. Suspicion of intent is a valid reason to bring someone in or to do an impromptu search of a person or property, but only under certain rules and the officer is required to justify themselves if asked.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
Most stupid comment
Ever
Yes, they lied - but if you want to hold that against them, you have to do likewise for every actor you've ever watched pretending to be someone they're not!
If lying were a crime they'd have to clear out the Best Buy sales staff as well. Or is a cable modem broadband router really faster and more secure than a switch so that's why Best Buy doesn't sell switches? Hmmm?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
My husband, child and I were waiting in a 3 hour line to see Santa. It was tremendously boring so I decided to go grab a cup of coffee from an overpriced mall coffee vendor. Of course, child wanted to go with me because mommy is better, so I took her and left poor husband in line to wait for Santa. He called me and made me bring child back because he was getting too many dirty looks from either people walking by or in line. -I was pissed, I wanted coffee.
No, husband does not have a Santa Claus fettish.
From TFA:
"Nothing of the kind", indeed.
Next time you might want to RTFA before you accuse someone else of lying about the article's contents...
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
I can definitely understand why the managers and security got all uppity. But their response was really unprofessional and stupid. "My civil rights are violated by you bringing a video camera into an electronics store." Yeah... right...
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
What, exactly, is "cock throttling"? This is a term witch which I am completely unfamiliar.
"Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
dude, your bio is fucking funny. i just never knew there was a bunch of hot asian ladies on /. that were looking for a studly geek.
anyways, i was metamoderating today, and saw that your comment was modded offtopic. i determined that was unfair. hopefully the person who unfairly modded you will get his mod privelegdes taken away.