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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.
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
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...
Uh, if the cops bothered to show up they aren't going to fine you for calling. They really don't do that unless it's a prank. Hell, something like 1/3rd of their calls are basically nothing: loud noise, suspicious person. However, having the cops present isn't a bad idea; You never know when a confrontation might occur. Perhaps some manager freaking out about losing control of the situation loses his cool or something. It could happen.
The most interesting thing about the whole affair is the insight that it provides into people's thoughts. When something sufficiently strange is going on, people get completely confused and frustrated that they don't understand your motives. Because of this misunderstanding, they tend to assume the worst. At one point they were speculating that it was some elaborate heist. "Thomas Crown Affair", funny, but at the same time fitting, given what the employees knew. Although with 80 people I might rip off a better target than Best Buy - maybe a bank or something.
I also got a kick out of the human resources woman going undercover to take snap shots of those involved. Don't they have security cameras? Still, I can understand her feeling the need to do something, so that later she can explain it and not look lazy. There's a reason why the managers freaked out the most - they're used to having control. A regular employee just shrugs his shoulders and laughs. And as usual, the cops freak out the most and try to intimidate the guy with the camera.
I think the part that resonated with me the most was when a manager claimed that filming in Best Buy violated her "civil rights". Perhaps they were at the fringes of the law by partially concealing their cameras, but the right to privacy is not guarenteed in an essentially public place. And while it may be against Best Buy policy, unless you commit an actual crime in the legal sense, all they can do is ask you to leave.
However, I do think that at some point they should have just explained the whole thing rather than leave on such bad terms. They freaked people out and then left in an arrogant huff, that shows a basic lack of curtesy. On the whole, the act and documentation offer interesting insights into society, true performance art.