The PC's Are At It Again
You might think that being a downtown story we would have more than our share of problems, especially since, for one reason or another, the homeless population definitely hangs around the downtown. I don't know why they hang around downtown, they just do. Yet, at the other store that I worked at, the ginormy bookstore, we still had issues with them. They would come in and hang out literally all day. Sleeping, eating, reading...all in the big bookstore. And the big bookstore was not near a downtown. It was in the middle of suburbia so they had to be traveling to this store right? Yet we had a set of regulars, so maybe they were in the neighborhood...but I have to ask, where were they staying?
Apparently last week, both managers were at the store when one homeless man came in and started swearing and yelling and, I suppose, just being scary because the customers were moving to the back of the store. The assistant manager had to call security to get the swearing/scary guy out of the store. As he was being escorted out of the store, he "decided" to take some books as he was leaving so the police had to be called.
Meanwhile the customers were now migrating back to the front of the store because there was ANOTHER guy in the back of the store urinating all over the African American and Spanish books section. The assistant manager needed a break after that.
I came in the next day to see that the africanamerican/spanish section was roped off. "What the???" and promptly asked the manager and she gave me the story. One could argue that this was not an attack of the PC's (psycho customers for those who may not have read my previous blogs)as they were never really customers, but I still have plenty of PC stories.
How about the one guy who came in time and time again to return a book that he NEVER had a receipt for, but had over $300 worth of store credit? Or what about the one where a mother came to me asking me to help find her 14 year old daughter as she had lost her in the store? I asked where she had last seen her? She replied "Well, I left her here in the children's department around 11 so she could study." It was now 4 in the afternoon! I couldn't think of how to reply to that. At the time and I am sure it hasn't changed, we had predators roaming the store. I knew it, the staff knew it and the management knew it, but we couldn't do anything about it until the predators did something illegal. Let's be honest here folks. When those predators do decide to do something illegal they are going to go for the gold and by then it will be too late "to do something about them." And you want to leave your child alone for 5 hours in this place? Naive.
And I know these people exist. My first month at the big bookstore, I was in the children's department putting books away when I saw this guy put his hands down a little girl's pants. The mom was only 6 feet away, but too far away to put a stop to it. I happened to be closer and reached over and pushed the guy away, grabbing his hands and forcing them away from the girl. By this point the little girl was freaking out and the mom, who had be gabbing with another customer, was confused. "What's wrong? What happened?" Six feet away and her child still gets assaulted, so don't even begin to think I am overreacting in calling the previous mother naive.
Yes, the police did come...actually 8 of them came. I had a heck of a time getting the manager to come to children's. I had only been there a month and didn't know that there was a code to get a manager to the department immediately.
The man who assaulted the little girl was mentally disabled. He had 5 people with him, but NONE of them had been keeping an eye on him. I had to make them stay until the police came. And though the police did come, I don't think the man was ever prosecuted. Why? I never heard from the police or anyone else ever again regarding the matter. Its like it never happened.
So the PC's are everywhere, even tiny, tiny little stores and big, big stores in the middle of suburbia. And I haven't even begun to exhaust my supply of PC stories. And I am sure there will be more from where the other's came from.
Apparently last week, both managers were at the store when one homeless man came in and started swearing and yelling and, I suppose, just being scary because the customers were moving to the back of the store. The assistant manager had to call security to get the swearing/scary guy out of the store. As he was being escorted out of the store, he "decided" to take some books as he was leaving so the police had to be called.
Meanwhile the customers were now migrating back to the front of the store because there was ANOTHER guy in the back of the store urinating all over the African American and Spanish books section. The assistant manager needed a break after that.
I came in the next day to see that the africanamerican/spanish section was roped off. "What the???" and promptly asked the manager and she gave me the story. One could argue that this was not an attack of the PC's (psycho customers for those who may not have read my previous blogs)as they were never really customers, but I still have plenty of PC stories.
How about the one guy who came in time and time again to return a book that he NEVER had a receipt for, but had over $300 worth of store credit? Or what about the one where a mother came to me asking me to help find her 14 year old daughter as she had lost her in the store? I asked where she had last seen her? She replied "Well, I left her here in the children's department around 11 so she could study." It was now 4 in the afternoon! I couldn't think of how to reply to that. At the time and I am sure it hasn't changed, we had predators roaming the store. I knew it, the staff knew it and the management knew it, but we couldn't do anything about it until the predators did something illegal. Let's be honest here folks. When those predators do decide to do something illegal they are going to go for the gold and by then it will be too late "to do something about them." And you want to leave your child alone for 5 hours in this place? Naive.
And I know these people exist. My first month at the big bookstore, I was in the children's department putting books away when I saw this guy put his hands down a little girl's pants. The mom was only 6 feet away, but too far away to put a stop to it. I happened to be closer and reached over and pushed the guy away, grabbing his hands and forcing them away from the girl. By this point the little girl was freaking out and the mom, who had be gabbing with another customer, was confused. "What's wrong? What happened?" Six feet away and her child still gets assaulted, so don't even begin to think I am overreacting in calling the previous mother naive.
Yes, the police did come...actually 8 of them came. I had a heck of a time getting the manager to come to children's. I had only been there a month and didn't know that there was a code to get a manager to the department immediately.
The man who assaulted the little girl was mentally disabled. He had 5 people with him, but NONE of them had been keeping an eye on him. I had to make them stay until the police came. And though the police did come, I don't think the man was ever prosecuted. Why? I never heard from the police or anyone else ever again regarding the matter. Its like it never happened.
So the PC's are everywhere, even tiny, tiny little stores and big, big stores in the middle of suburbia. And I haven't even begun to exhaust my supply of PC stories. And I am sure there will be more from where the other's came from.
posted by Catherine | 7:39 AM
1 Comments:
I remember you discussing the case of the challenged man and the little girl. I seems in some ways a defining moment in life. Sad for all parties. He may have been prosecuted and you would never know partially due to his situation. But more likely, the penal system doesn't feel entirely equipped to care for him when others could or the fines would just be paid by the government anyway so it would be a shifting of money. Too bad about realities.
Can I mention one more reality. I just read a book by sharon Drake and it was truly horrible, stereotypical and may help me give up on the entire genre.
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