Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!cmcl2!phri!roy From: roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) Newsgroups: sci.electronics Subject: Re: Stock Control Tags and Theft Message-ID: <1990Oct30.181149.226@phri.nyu.edu> Date: 30 Oct 90 18:11:49 GMT References: <13911@mcdphx.phx.mcd.mot.com> <2772@naucse.cse.nau.edu> Sender: news@phri.nyu.edu (News System) Organization: Public Health Research Institute, New York City Lines: 21 > the "security" guy said he saw me put something in my front pocket. I > did, a somewhat used Kleenex. The manager told me to empty my pocets and > I refused. What's your problem? The security guy's job is to make sure that people don't walk out of the store without paying for stuff, a perfectly valid goal for a store attempting to make money. He didn't pick on you at random, or even because you fit some profile of what he considers a high-risk based on sex, age, and/or skin color, but because he had good reason to suspect you were stealing something, i.e. he saw you put something in your pocket, which, indeed, you say you did. The guard's only problem is that he wasn't following you around closely enough that he could discern that it was indeed a Kleenex, not a piece of merchandise you were attempting to steal. The guy's just doing his job, give him a break. -- Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy "Arcane? Did you say arcane? It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"