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    gingerbugDoug Barry
    12/22/13 12:11pm

    It shouldn't be too much to ask people to get over the fallacy that all black people are shoplifters.

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      chalicenongingerbug
      12/22/13 12:22pm

      I don't think the fallacy is "all black people." It's probably black people of a certain look.

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      cynmacgingerbug
      12/22/13 1:04pm

      Or that we are bad tippers. Or that we grew up in 'the ghetto'...

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    SisterfunkhausDoug Barry
    12/22/13 12:58pm

    I don't if people realize this, but you do not have to stop and show receipts for purchase unless you signed a contract, at say a place like Costco, giving them permission to do so. You can walk past them and say no thanks and go about your way. If they call the cops and detain you, you can sue them and could very well win. Once you buy something, it becomes your personal property and no one has a right to open up your bag and touch it or rifle through it. If they catch you in the act stealing or on a tape, that is another story, otherwise it is illegal detainment.

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      anomalopotamusSisterfunkhaus
      12/22/13 1:09pm

      I didn't know this! Thanks!

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      dunkinbronutsSisterfunkhaus
      12/22/13 3:53pm

      Oftentimes if a black person tries to uphold their rights against the police they still get detained and often times a lot worse for "resisting."

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    Buttsaw2Doug Barry
    12/22/13 12:26pm

    My Mom's lawyer friend was fat-shamed at Macy's. She went in to buy some new clothes for her new position as a high-powered attorney making like $200K a year and when she asked the clerk at Macy's where the plus-size section was, the clerk rolled her eyes and said "We don't cater to larger sizes." Stupid bitch. (Yes I know this has nothing to do with race...although my Mom's friend IS black, I don't think that was the issue. I am rambling)

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      dunkinbronutsButtsaw2
      12/22/13 3:55pm

      The thing is...they *do* cater to larger sizes....

      I am confused. Macy's plus size section is totally a thing that exists.

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      ThatChickMellydunkinbronuts
      12/22/13 10:28pm

      Yea it is. I actually got an awesome Ralph Lauren dress there. And a Calvin Klein one that I ALWAYS get complimented on.

      Though, not all Macy's have the same awesome selection. Sometimes it's a dark corner on the bottom floor with really really ugly shirts.

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    CatzOnCatzOnCatzDoug Barry
    12/22/13 12:26pm

    I worked at Macy's over the summer and have had some issues with them. The Macy's I work at is in a suburb, but there are buses that bring people in from other parts of the area, including poorer, mostly African American areas. We get a lot of customers (and sales associates) who come in from those poorer areas to buy clearance/sale items or to use coupons.

    I was working one night at the end of August and a large African American family (probably from one of the poorer areas judging by the state of their outfits) came in with a couple of school-age children and a baby in a stroller. I had someone in the security office call me to "keep an eye on them" and make sure they weren't stealing clothes or hiding them in the stroller, and was told that if I thought they were doing anything suspicious that I needed to call a manager immediately and stall the family at the register until someone came to assess the situation. They also apparently had an undercover security guard following them around the store making sure the one little girl didn't steal the backpack she was wearing.

    Couple this incident with my "diversity training" where I was told to pay special attention to minority customers because they're more likely to complain about being mistreated and to "use the race card to get their way," and I'm glad I'm done there. (That was an exact quote from the manager running the training, btw.)

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      JanesawCatzOnCatzOnCatz
      12/22/13 4:56pm

      On the other side, I once got called racist by a customer (middle-aged black woman) because I couldn't give her cash for a return that she charged to her debit card. (Our POS system would not let me do that, and I explained that it was for the customers't protection as well as the store's.) I had to get a manager to come over and override iso that she would stop freaking out at me. The fact that the manager was black and about her age set her at ease a little, but she wouldn't let up until she got her cash.

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      opheeliaCatzOnCatzOnCatz
      12/23/13 12:08am

      Stop the world, I want to get off.

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    ondiacDoug Barry
    12/22/13 2:30pm

    The Macy's near me will email receipts instead of printing them. (You can also choose to have your receipt emailed and printed or just printed.) I always opt for the emailed receipt sine I figure it's a way I can be a tiny bit greener.

    It never occurred to me that I should be worried that I'm leaving the store without proof that I purchased my items. I guess this is one of those white privilege things... I usually think I'm aware of my privilege... I'll just be over here reconsidering my worldview.

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      nachotacoondiac
      12/22/13 6:13pm

      This happened to me YESTERDAY! At Anthropologie. The check out girl forgot to remove the theft tag and I usually ask for an email receipt. For some reason, this time, I was like, "No, just print it." And as soon as I walked out of the store, they ran after me saying the alarm was going off because they forgot the tag removal. So glad I had the printed receipt this time! It was really crowded in there.

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    DuchessODorkDoug Barry
    12/22/13 12:07pm

    Meanwhile, here in DC, at least half of the people in Macy's at Metro Center (if not way more) are black so they'd have a pretty hard time trying to profile them all at once.

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      ladeefrickendaDoug Barry
      12/22/13 12:09pm

      I don't know how many times I set off an alarm in a store. Sometimes I stand there and look around, like, "Do you want to check my bag or what?" But they just look at me like, "Whatevs, carry on." I know those things are sensitive and I didn't actually steal anything so I don't know why it was set off, but the detail here is, I am a white woman. These stories make me wonder what would happen if I were black in that situation.

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        Jessica (KapaiGirl) Hammondladeefrickenda
        12/22/13 1:04pm

        This kind of experience is what made me finally "get" white privilege (understand it, that is - I presumably got it just by being born white). In my case I really had walked out of the store without paying! (By accident of course!) But still, no one batted an eyelid. I just walked back in with the alarms still ringing and paid for the stuff and walked out again.
        People automatically put the best interpretation on my actions because I'm because I'm white and look middle class and respectable. Well sorry, world - I'm no less of an arsehole than the next person.

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        MeganRiveraladeefrickenda
        12/22/13 3:00pm

        I've set off alarms before but I'm never bag-searched unless my dark skinned Puerto Rican husband is with me.

        White privilege disgusts me.

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      sassytarsierDoug Barry
      12/22/13 12:32pm

      Unfortunately, I think this happens a lot in retail. I very briefly worked at Victoria's Secret, and whenever a black woman would come into the store, our GM would come over our headset and say, "make sure this young lady gets extra special service." She basically wanted us to follow her around the store! This all while pre-teen white girls were four in a changing room giggling and pulling off censors. The whole thing was very gross.

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        Janesawsassytarsier
        12/22/13 4:54pm

        Yeah, see, the groups of white pre-teen girls were always the ones we kept the closest eye on when I worked at VS - also because they would trash the Pink room nine ways of Sunday.

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        sassytarsierJanesaw
        12/22/13 6:47pm

        Yes! The Pink room was the thing of my nightmares.

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      peterf1972Doug Barry
      12/22/13 2:27pm

      I worked at Best Buy for a while. The area where i worked was in a corner, and there was an isle with a blind spot - no camera got there. A lot of people grabbed stuff, went to that isle, unpacked it (to get rid of the strip that would cause the alarm to go off) and stuffed it away. I caught many of them in the act... This best Buy was extremely diverse, white, black, Latino, Asian.... - But guess what - the people stealing were almost always white..... During my time at best buy i caught one african american boy trying to steal a CD because he was 3 dollars short for it... The rest was white or a few times asian.

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        squintierDoug Barry
        12/22/13 12:43pm

        I remember the first time I was profiled. I'm Mexican and so I guess some people are not used to us having money sometimes? lol I am laughing because I just made a joke but it did hurt me when it happened, I must admit.

        I even kind of blamed myself for a little bit -but don't worry I've gotten over that! The reason for my temporary insanity thinking I had contributed it to my profiling is because I was pretty casual that day and I don't think I was even wearing makeup because the place I was going to had make up and I wanted to try some stuff. Anyway, I was definitely on a "shopping Spree"; my then husband and I had just sold our house and I had a little cash to burn so the (plain clothes) security lady must have thought I was a bit too zealous with my shopping choices (I bought 3 purfumes! +).

        Funny thing is I don't think my purchase was anymore than $200, which is mild to most people's "shopping sprees" I'm sure. Anyway, she literally stood so close to me that I could hear her breathing and this is when I was in line to pay. I asked the lady at the counter if she had observed the same thing I did and she nervously said yes. Believe it or not, it was not until that moment that I realized I had been profiled because the poor cashier had this look on her face like she felt bad for me (it is clear employees new this lady was undercover).

        Anyway, never been back there and I'm not mentioning the name of the store because there still hinges this small possibility that the lady was not profiling me, right? I mean it sure as hell felt like it in the end but I was not humiliated as badly as the gentleman who was made to show his receipt after his purchase. My heart goes out to him and although I do not condone litigiousness I think sometimes people don't learn unless they suffer monetary consequences.

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