My encounter with ‘loss prevention’ thugs.
After work today I was walking up Broadway and passed Century 21, a huge department store in Manhattan. I thought I’d duck in and look at shoes really quick. Little did I know that a few minutes later I’d be threatening someone with serious bodily injury.
So I went in and looked around for a few minutes. After about 5 mins I decided their prices really weren’t that great and they had nothing I liked. The entire time I had my Shure earphones in and was listening to the latest ‘This American Life’. With those things in I can hear nothing but my music/podcast.
Once I decided the place sucked, I headed towards the door on to Cortlandt. There was a lady in front of me lugging a big ass suitcase trying to get out so I waited a sec for her to get out the door then followed her. I get about 20 feet down the sidewalk and I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look over and there’s a dude in a blazer talking at me. I pop out a headphone and he says ‘Would you mind following me, sir?’ I looked him up and down and said ‘Actually, yes, I do mind.’ then turned and continued on down towards the subway entrance. I feel another tap and turn around, this time a bit more pissed and say ‘What?’. He kid of steps in front of me and says ‘Our door beeped when you left and I need to look in your backpack.’ I told him ‘Like hell you do.’ then stepped around him and kept walking.
Next thing I know there’s about 7-8 of these blazer clad goons standing around me on the sidewalk telling me to follow them. I looked at the guy there that looked like he was in charge and said ‘You guys better get the fuck out of my way or we’re going to have a problem.’ They continued to follow me and another one stepped in front of me blocking my path. I then dared him to ‘fucking touch me and find out what happens.’ I stepped around that goon and got to the top of the stairs headed down to the Cortlandt Street subway stop. As I approached the stairs two of these large guys turned to face me and completely blocked the subway entrance. I walked right up two one of them and said you better get out of my way or you’re going down those stairs the hard way. About now a few people behind me start yelling at them to get the fuck out of the way. I love New Yorkers. 🙂
These two morons stepped aside and I continued down the stairs. Guess who kept following me. By now there were probably 10 of these guys. I get to the turnstile and swipe my card and one of them jumps in front of me and says that I really need to follow them. I again said get out of my way and tried to push past. He kept dancing in front of me. I looked at shorty in front of me and told him he was intimidating me and I will be calling the cops and pulled out my phone. He told me to ‘Go right ahead. They’ll search you and your bags.’ I told him he was full of shit because there’s no probable cause and that he and his buddies had no right to detain me and if he didn’t move he’d be seeing me in court or be hurt. His choice. He apparently got the nod from the leader over my shoulder because he then stepped out of my way.
By then my swipe of the card had expired and I had to re-swipe to get in. I think that’s what pisses me off the most. Those fuckers cost me an extra fare because of their bullshit.
Seriously, do I match the profile of a shoplifter? Those that know me know I do not fit the ‘shoplifter’ profile. I’m so far from that profile it’s not even funny. I’ve never experienced anything like I did today. They knew they couldn’t touch me and I knew that too. I wasn’t intimidated by their antics as much as pissed off that they were getting in my way and implying that I was a shoplifter.
So, in closing: Fuck you, Century 21!