Looks like a little glassbreak keychain tool would make for a quick and crunchy exit.
Me personally, I’d start kicking and hospital bills means a reason to sue.
I think I’d just leave though the fire exit.
Beat me to this response by an hour. Who the fuck do they think they are, right? What if I can’t find what I’m looking for, or was just browsing?
My thought was checking if their pharmacy has my meds in stock
This too, especially the way that a lot of retail has started to graft pharmacies onto their stores.
I have to go to a bunch of pharmacies every month to try to find Adderall
That’s going to continue being a problem for the foreseeable future, apparently the phama companies rein in distribution (thereby creating shortages) in order to avoid having more pervasive “empty shelf” shortages somehow. I’m not on the inside track of exact details, but first heard about it during COVID when they were able to blame it on “distribution & manufacturing shortfalls”, and people were coming up short on stuff like ADD/psychiatric/pain medication.
People go to grocery stores to just browse? I’m not defending this, I just thought it an odd argument.
If I went into a store that demanded money to regain my freedom, they’d find themselves in a precarious legal situation pretty quick. Unlawful detention quickly turns into kidnapping charges, or, an “I feared for my life” defense (2A) situation.
Not quite like window shopping in a department store per se, but essentially the same if I can’t find what I was looking for and search for alternatives on the way out. I’ve gotten weird looks sometimes when this happens, including cases where I’m asked for a receipt. “You didn’t have what I was looking for” or “What receipt? I didn’t buy anything” seem to satisfy staff inasmuch as I’m not a tiny person and aren’t inclined to take shit from rent-a-cop security or management - just try to detain me, I’m not waiting for the cops, I’m dealing with it first hand right away.
Aaaaah you definitely can’t resolve any situation without sprinkling a little bit of violence, that’s how it should be
When the situation is a corporation imprisoning you arbitrarily, I don’t think violence is unwarranted or unprovoked.
It is because no one present likely has anything to do with the decision, and even if someone is actively restraining you there’s a reasonable amount of resistance and while that includes mild violence it does not include shooting someone or similar. Unless you really need to be somewhere reacting to that with extreme violence is completely unhinged.
Maybe mild violence is what you meant, but that can easily be read differently.
My wife and I just yesterday stopped at a Target while on a 5 hour drive. We were looking for a specific pharmacy item. They didn’t have it at that store. We didn’t need anything else so we didn’t buy anything. That might not be as common in a grocery store, but it’s not unheard of.
And then there’s always the chance of “I just got an emergency phone call” and need to forget about shopping…
Not to browse, but I’ve left empty handed (without shoplifting!) plenty of times if what I wanted wasn’t in stock.
People go into stores to see what it’s like. They may leave for reasons like not finding what they wanted or being offended at being treated as a criminal. If I saw this crap, I can see my reaction likely being to just leave and go somewhere I’m more welcome
“Hmmm, I’m looking for this thing. I hope they have it” and then they don’t
So…fire hazard. Got it
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Yeah, no, if I’m trapped in a store, I’m kicking the door in
Experienced similar at a Vons in Long Beach, CA. Not only that, but leaving from the checkout was itself a small maze-like experience. This won’t last long once people die or are injured.
Is this not illegal as hell?
Oh for sure this would be unlawful imprisonment and probably break some minor fire codes but who cares about that kind of stuff these days.
There is profit at stake!
Yeah like the time a book store locked me and my wife inside. I pushed on the door not knowing it was locked and it broke open. Guess due to the emergency exit bar. They got pissed but I told them they illegal locked us in and fuck off.
This isn’t a minor fire code. but a death trap
And for that very reason, it’s also extremely illegal. If the fire exit is the only way to get out in the event of a fire, and it’s blocked by said fire…
The article says nothing about emergency exits being locked. If that was the only exit available to me then I’d use it and let the store employees deal with the alarm.
So false imprisonment is acceptable now if it’s a corporation doing it?
I’ve seen the entry gates in stores, where you can’t go out the front very easily. Except, you can force them open with a little bit of pressure. And yes, it sets off an alarm. It isn’t terribly loud, but it will turn heads.
You don’t owe anyone an explanation as to why you’re leaving through the entrance. They also can’t bar you from leaving if you don’t buy anything. I’m willing to bet those exit gates open just as easily. The article cites fire codes, but it’s also false imprisonment to keep people from leaving without probable cause to detain. That’s why a lot of stores’ policy is to let you exit the store even if they know you shoplifted. Because for it to be an actual theft, you must deprive them of their ability to sell it. Just pocketing it isn’t enough — once you step off the property however, you’re guilty of shoplifting. With the gates clearly being inside the store, even if you are holding merchandise you haven’t paid for, they have no legal cause to detain you.
The law is not clear on what your rights are if they are not actively detaining you and you are not able to leave, at least not here. Where you are, it may be different. I do know if you break something trying to leave, you can be charged with vandalism or destruction of property. If they’ve barricaded you in, they have to lift the barricade upon request. The law is fuzzy on how long they have to do it, though. So they can obstruct you from leaving for a time but they can’t detain you. What’s the difference? The law is not clear. It’s not five minutes, it’s not ten minutes, it’s not an hour. But also, if you hop over the thing without damaging it, you’re legally in the clear. And it looks like you can hop over it without much effort.
I’m not a big fan of Safeway. They have nice stores, and I enjoyed their soda (Safeway Select) when I was younger. Now, I don’t drink soda. I do admit they have good products (that they make) and clean stores, for the most part. When I am in Northern California, though, another chain gets my business. I don’t hate Safeway, but they are not my first choice.
Are we still pushing this “shoplifting is out of control” narrative?
It has practically doubled actually. People are starving and can’t afford food.
Its not out of control just the controls are nothing the oligarchs want to do.
They can’t hold you hostage. Oh wait, it’s the USA . Maybe that’s legal now. I don’t know.
Yeah the US can make anything legal and the citizens don’t do much. I’m pretty sure they still have the death penalty in some states
While I watched some customers struggle with the new technology, my receipt scanned immediately. The glass doors slid open, and I was free. But if, like this person on the San Francisco subreddit recounted, I hadn’t bought anything, my only means of exit would have been to beg the security guard to let me out.
The security guard
Yes I am.
Huh. I’m reminded of Roller Coaster Tycoon, which has scenarios where you have to have a certain number of guests in your park at a specific time; and a valid strategy is to get enough people to come into your park, and then delete the path behind them so that they literally can’t get out.
Peak American entrpreneurship
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Are you really playing Roller Coaster Tycoon if you aren’t torturing your guests
You got me some nostalgia there… As a kid in the 90s, I learned HTML to make my own Roller Coaster Tycoon website on geocities 😂
Nice. I learned Qbasic to make a Pokedex.
Doing so will cause a decrease in your park rating, When guests are trying to leave but unable to find the exit, it lowers the rating significantly. There’s a reason every guest goal scenario has a park rating requirement as well.
It is effective up to a point. It takes time before the guests realize they’re trapped and kill your rating. You have to time it right. The guest spawn rate calculations include the rating, so a low rating also reduces the number of guests who spawn. Trap the guests too soon and you’ll never get enough.
Trapping guests with no entry signs or removing the route to the exit will ruin your park in time. It can be effective in some specific circumstances but not many.
True, though I think you might be able to use entertainers to overcome the rating drops long enough? I’m not sure.
No, at least not beyond a certain point.
Entertainers increase guest happiness. Happiness is part of the rating, so entertainers do cause an increase. Most increases are capped, so you can only get so many points for happiness.
Lost guests lowers the rating directly. As I recall the lost guest penalty is uncapped. Blocking the entrance usually results in a park rating of 0 in the fullness of time, regardless of the park.
There are strange manipulations that allow guests to be trapped without the game realizing, which avoids the penalty. But as a normal player there’s no action that overcomes the lost guest penalty.
They pop out the way if pushed.
You cannot stop me, that’s false imprisonment and you have no authority in this jurisdiction. I will be leaving, or I will be pressing charges. Your choice. That’s not even close to enough for reasonable suspicion (which is debatably actionable anyway in most circumstances).
Unfortunately you have limited opportunity to make a fuss. Looks like they can claim the security guard can let you out.
Or maybe pull the fire alarm, idk. I don’t see how blocking the exits for an emergency is acceptable
Speaking of fires, what time does that store close and the people leave?
More than one way to skin a building.
