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miamayaDoug Barry
10/27/13 2:15pm
I wonder how many white people take advantage of the staff honing in on Blacks to steal everything that isn't nailed down. I'll bet shoplifting is much more common among white women (the least likely to be suspected of shoplifting) than all the brown people combined.
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  petrichormiamaya
  10/27/13 2:24pm
  There is this woman I know casually...a white lady married to a very rich man. Lives in a huge house in the historic district, kids go to Ivy League schools, etc. Rumor has it she is a serial shoplifter. I guess being able to walk into any store and just buy whatever she wants takes the fun out of it?
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  thebloodofthematadormiamaya
  10/27/13 2:35pm
  I think, statistically, that white, middle to upper middle class women are the biggest shoplifters.
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AriaheadDoug Barry
10/27/13 2:12pm
At least I'm poor and can't shop in these stores anyway. At least there is that. Though I have been profiled in some really crappy stores too so I guess that I'll just start wearing potato sacks.
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  zap rowsdowerAriahead
  10/27/13 2:41pm
  I was followed around Whole Foods two months ago. I guess comparing the ingredients of pasta sauce while loudly listening to RadioLab screams thief these days. Oh wait, maybe it's my skin color.
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  Ariaheadzap rowsdower
  10/27/13 2:49pm
  Geez. Who steals out of whole foods? I get confused trying to find the exit every time that I go in there because they are all set up like mazes around here. I remember going into Clair's when I was younger and the clerk was following me. Mind you that those stores are the size of a closet so while she s following me, three white girls are cleaning her out. She turned and saw them and gave them a good talking to and then let them go after they returned the stuff. I get the feeling that I would have been in handcuffs.
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KatieInAtlantaDoug Barry
10/27/13 2:06pm
I'm confused on what's happening - these guys are buying expensive shit and then getting stopped / arrested for... ?
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  RockYouLikeAHermanCainKatieInAtlanta
  10/27/13 2:10pm
  Shopping while black, essentially.
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  WalkingonSunshineKatieInAtlanta
  10/27/13 2:14pm
  I'm kind of confused too. I know when I'm shopping at high end places I always get profiled - if I'm dressed down I will usually get dirty looks and get ignored; if I'm dressed up I will be fawned over. But I've NEVER been frisked - and if I was that would be the last time I ever shopped there. I've also never even seen anyone frisked - is this because I'm Canadian and it doesn't happen up here, or because I'm not black? Questions, questions...
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I am calm, but thanksDoug Barry
10/27/13 3:22pm
I've seen a lot of white commenters note that they get treated shabby when they go to stores dressed down. I often go in "nice" places like Norstroms (looking for clearance shit) and Neiman Marcus (sniffing perfume I can't afford). I often dress down on the weekends (jeans, t-shirt, hair in a knot bun, converse, and no make-up). I feel like I always get treated well enough. So I have to ask. Am I just to stupid/dense to notice that what I think is good customer service is really me getting "watched" or does my natural bitch face convince folks that I belong even while dressed down. I'm worried that it is the first.

Edited to add there is only one time that I felt staff was being rude to me and that was at Barney's New York. They perfume people were hella rude to and I was actually prepared to spend some cash. I love perfume and while I might not be able to afford the clothes/shoes there I was ready to spend on some cosmetics.
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  MetallicatI am calm, but thanks
  10/27/13 5:52pm
  I don't get this. I worked in high end retail and hotels and the first thing I learned was that the dude in the sloppy outfit may be a billionaire and the guy with the diamond rolex and the Armani suit may be a complete scammer. I remember one incident in a hotel as a desk clerk where a (white, because someone may ask) guy came in with a set of LV luggage, dressed to the nines and wrote a check (this was pre-check verification). For some reason I looked at it and after he walked away said to my colleague, "this is going to bounce." Sure enough, it was rubber. That was not the last time something like that happened. If anything I started paying more attention to people who were *too* flashy. Race/ethnicity/etc was irrelevant.
  
  The guy who actually owned the place was a bummy looking billionaire. Be careful judging a book by it's cover - especially if you want the book to spend money in your store/hotel.
  
  While one has to be careful that one isn't ripped off, how someone looks, color of their skin, clothes, etc., is not necessarily a leading indicator. It's dumb to do it.
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  I am calm, but thanksMetallicat
  10/27/13 7:07pm
  I agree. I really didn't understand the barneys folks being rude to me. However, unless I am being really dense. In my personal experience (which I don't assume extends to other people's experiences) most folks are like you and treat me just fine in spite of the fact that I am pretty casual on the weekends.
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accesskathrynDoug Barry
10/27/13 2:11pm
This shit makes me furious. We've gone from driving while black to shopping while black. What's next, breathing while black? Actually that's probably already a thing. And I don't know what I can do to stop this, other than boycott Macy's and Barney's. I never shop at Barney's, and rarely at Macy's, so that doesn't help much.
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  Eric Scottaccesskathryn
  10/27/13 2:18pm
  "What's next, breathing while black?"
  
  Ahem. Trayvon Martin. James Craig Anderson.
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  LuxxiePaccesskathryn
  10/27/13 2:20pm
  "breathing while black" was already a thing
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JustHereforthefreeSnacksDoug Barry
10/27/13 3:06pm
When I was a teenager, I was a major shoplifter (troubled home, etc., I've moved on since then!) Believe me when I say that one of my biggest advantages was shopping while white. I got away with a lot by looking like a little suburban girl who may just have a credit card from mommy or daddy (a far, far cry my my real situation, believe me). I tended to frequent malls where there were lots of black shoppers, because if I was in a store at the same time as a group of 5 or 6 black kids, I could clearly see all attention was focused on them - and not on me. (I never thought of this as a civil rights issue until I was much older, obviously.) As a 14 year old kid, I could tell stores were profiling based on skin color (especially young people), so I am quite certain that those individuals were aware of it as well. The hilarious (OK, and larcenous) thing is that as stores were focusing on making black people feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, I was quietly stealing thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Barney's and Macy's may want to rethink their anti-larceny strategies - just sayin'.
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  KazaliJustHereforthefreeSnacks
  10/27/13 3:31pm
  That would probably make an excellent shoplifting strategy, actually - a black guy and a white guy go into an expensive store as team. The black guy wanders aimlessly and attracts all the attention while the white guy robs them blind. Haha... (I'm laughing to hide the pain and misery inside.)
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EldritchDoug Barry
10/27/13 2:05pm
I expect better from you, Macy's! All that goodwill you gathered by telling people to buy out of stock items at Gimbels has been wasted now. Mr. Macy is probably rolling in his grave.
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One_Hot_RedheadDoug Barry
10/27/13 2:58pm
They also dislike us poors. I give off a "poor college student" vibe being that, despite working full time, I am a poor college student. I get major stink eye any time I go in places like that. And God forbid I touch anything or look at anything up close. They rush over in a panic glaring at me and saying in a nasty tone "Is there anything you need?" (not even the customer service friendly "Can I help you find anything?" or "How may I help you?"). I do sometimes have money to spend on myself, but I have learned to spend it elsewhere instead of wasting it on businesses that don't value me as a customer. It would be nice if companies weren't a-holes, honestly. In the past I seriously had a hard time not blowing up at them for being jerks, so I commend the people in mentioned here for having more restraint than I would in their shoes...
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OvdanyakadDoug Barry
10/27/13 5:22pm
I am so so confused. From what I can tell all of these people PAID for these items. Using recognized currency. The part that really gets me is this is somehow related to theft or grand larceny - which honestly at that point the AFTER THE TRANSACTION point has nothing more to do with the retailer. That wasn't her card? Excellent you will find that out during a chargeback process NOT by calling the cops on her. This is madness.

And to tell me no one else, walked in there and looked "suspect" or "not rich enough" give me a goddamn break. Also how much you want to bet they run the cards of Mr So and So for Mrs So and So's purchases all damn day long.
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YouFail4EvaDoug Barry
10/27/13 2:31pm
Shop and Frisk. When do we just fuck the first term and just frisk? Not like the fourth amendment was meant to stop people from doing this kind of shit!
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