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Bald head gets me bad attention..

DreQo

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Jan 8, 2007
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2,350
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Minnesota
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So I shaved my head recently (thats a different story), and went out on Friday for my b-day. We headed down to Jacksonville for dinner, and to get some x-mas shopping done. I was wearing jeans, a nice black polo, and had my SW99 on my hip. I've never had any problems in that area (save the manager of Sam's Club, but I was expecting that). Well I ended up shopping around in Target for a good 30-40 minutes, spoke to one or two employees while looking for things, and generally goofing around and having a good time. As we were checking out I noticed a toy we had looked as though it had been re-taped shut, so I decided to run back to the toy section and get a different one.

Well just as I grabbed the toy and turned to head back up front, some short fat guy in red and khaki who hadn't shaved for a day or two asked me for "a badge or somethin". I said "nope!, don't have one." He then asked if I had a CHP, and I said uh huh... So he asks to see it, with this expectant tone like it was the right thing to do. I said "uh no, I don't need it for carrying openly anyway." He looked puzzled and said "umm you don't need it?". I said "nope, but hey I was just leavin, so excuse me" and I headed up to the front of the store. After I was about 10 feet away with my back to him, he says in a loud voice "o-ok sir, you're good to go!". Then he followed at a distance until I left.

Once I got back to my g/f, I told her what had happened and pointed at the guy before we left. He quickly looked away, my g/f laughed, and we walked out smiling.



Anyway this was the first time some idiot tried to treat me like I was doing something wrong. I'm thinking it was my change in appearance. Everyone I know has said I look a lot meaner with a shaved head and goatee. This goes to show that your appearance makes a big difference on how people react to you.

(BTW, I know I could have stayed there and discussed store policy and legality and all that crap, but it was my b-day and I was in a shitty mood, so I left it at that. I'm not gonna be kind and cordial every time, especially when he was an ass to me in the first place.)
 

JB

Regular Member
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Aug 13, 2007
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119
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Twin Falls, Idaho, USA
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I like how he informed you "you were good to go" like he had accomplished something. Must have made him feel good.
 

mastiff69

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2007
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573
Location
Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States
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:celebrateHappy B-Day aren't ya glad that someone on your b-day gave you some personal attention !

How would you have felt if he just ignored you:(. If you had felt like having a conversation you could have asked him the same questions ? Cop? NOPE ! then have a nice day your interfering with my peaceful journey. And my rights:cuss:Or the other option would have give him an education on the law, then we would have another educated person in the world, what a thought:Don lessdumb as-
 

zakst1

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Oct 23, 2007
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71
Location
Bremerton, Washington, USA
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That guy could have been Loss Prevention. I work retail now and got into a conversation with our Loss Prevention manager. He told me about "some guy 'who is a reocurring problem' who comes into our store in Bremerton almost always wearing a yellow shirt and a gun on his hip... and how it is illegal according to our lawyers." So I got all excited and told him "I KNOW FOR A FACT that OC is legal. Check out Opencarry.org." He was really surprised and interested in checking out the site.

When I am working I always keep a look out for "a guy who is wearing a yellow shirt and is OCing" as I would like to shake his hand and thank him for not allowing such a liberal infested population supress his rights.

Loss Prevention personnel are as clueless as many LEOs on legality of the bearing of arms.

bty, happy birthday and Merry Christmass!
 

DreQo

State Researcher
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Yeah,I assumed he was loss prevention as well. I forgot to mention I had just had a long, cheerful conversation with a female employee not5 minutes before this happened. She saw I was armed, but never once looked concerned. We joked and chatted for a while while my g/f shopped. She seems to be a better judge of character than their LP guy. :?

Thanks for the good wishes, btw.
 

DreQo

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I almost had the mind to ask if he really felt comfortable putting a bullseye right over his heart. :)I didn't want to come off as violent, though...:celebrate
 

Paragon

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Oct 18, 2007
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Hey, I just wanted to add that I was a dept. manager at Target for a while, and if the employee was in red and khaki, he was NOT any kind of security. They either wear their rent-a-cop outfits, or plainclothes. He was probably just a normal sales-floor employee who wanted to feel important.

He could have been a dept. manager, I guess, but we were required to keep a clean appearance. The easiest way to tell is by looking down. If they're wearing sneakers or their shirt is untucked, they're just basic employees.

Also, I OC frequently in the Target in Jacksonville, and I've not had any issues.
 

packingmama

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
317
Location
, Utah, USA
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I don't know if it was your bald head? Almost the exact same thing happened to me in the Payson, UT. Walmart. I just finished checking out and some random guy came up to me and flashed be something which didn't really seem to be a badge (more like a fake), I don't know? anyway he said excuse me you need to cover that up and I said no I don't. He asked if I had a permit and I said I do but you don't have to have a permit to OC. He said really, I will have to look that up and then said have a nice day. My guess is that he was maybe Loss Prevention and thought he was pretty mighty. It was a strange run in. Just thought I would tell my experience since it was so similar.
 

soloban

Regular Member
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Sep 14, 2007
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255
Location
Huntsville, Alabama, USA
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Paragon wrote:
Hey, I just wanted to add that I was a dept. manager at Target for a while, and if the employee was in red and khaki, he was NOT any kind of security. They either wear their rent-a-cop outfits, or plainclothes. He was probably just a normal sales-floor employee who wanted to feel important.

He could have been a dept. manager, I guess, but we were required to keep a clean appearance. The easiest way to tell is by looking down. If they're wearing sneakers or their shirt is untucked, they're just basic employees.

Also, I OC frequently in the Target in Jacksonville, and I've not had any issues.

I'll second that. with a followup. There are three kinds of LP's at Target. The first are the unifomed ones known as TPS (Target Protection Specialists) they dress in all Black and ususally have an embroidered badge with a Target Bullseye. They typically carry a radio, cuffs, etc.. The others are plain clothed.

When I used to work as a TPS in college the uniform was a Khaki shirt with black pants. Since you mentioned the bullseye over the heart remark, I'm going to assume you are referreing to the embroidered badge and interacted with a TPS. He was probably out of line questioning you about your gun or may have done so at the request of the manager on duty.

If you want to take the issue further, you'ld do best to talk to the Store Team Lead directly since he/she is the only non-AP person in the store with 1/2 a say over anything AP does. You probably won't get ahold of the AP Team Lead. :D

Unlike Wal-Mart, at Target its hard to tell a normal Red and Kahki employee from mangement becuase they dont wear badges they say "Store Manager" or "Dept Manager", etc... Usually age is fairly good indicator, but not always.
 

DreQo

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packingmama wrote:
I don't know if it was your bald head? Almost the exact same thing happened to me in the Payson, UT. Walmart. I just finished checking out and some random guy came up to me and flashed be something which didn't really seem to be a badge (more like a fake), I don't know? anyway he said excuse me you need to cover that up and I said no I don't. He asked if I had a permit and I said I do but you don't have to have a permit to OC. He said really, I will have to look that up and then said have a nice day. My guess is that he was maybe Loss Prevention and thought he was pretty mighty. It was a strange run in. Just thought I would tell my experience since it was so similar.
The reason I think it was my haircut is because I've NEVER had anyone approach me like that when I lookedless mean:D.
 
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