Urban Sprinting!

[giza]

Urban Sprinting, it's the new craze!

Here are the rules:

1) Go into a department store.

2) Do NOT take any merchandise, but be sure to set off the alarm on the way out. This starts the clock.

3) Wait for security to give chase, then start running. If the guard catches you, you FAIL.

4) The clock stops when you reach the nearest fast food joint. (Burger King, McDonald's, etc.)

5) Lowest time wins.

"Isn't this illegal?"

Not as far as I know -- nothing is stolen, and private security guards are not law enforcement. Of course, if a police officer orders you to stop, you should do so immediately. Getting arrested will definitely ruin your day.

"Isn't this dangerous?"

Possibly. You should consult your doctor before attempting such things.

"This is mean to security guards!"

Is it any meaner than overzealous security guards/employees at the nearest K-Mart or Best Buy who treat paying customers like thieves and demand to see their receipts for something you just purchased 10 feet away? You tell me -- discuss it in the comments all you like.

Finally, here's the game in action:

Watch on YouTube

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, unciaa.

Comments

[omnibahumut.livejournal.com]

Thats pretty funny- though I do wonder how legal it is... otherwise looks like fun! :D

[triggur.livejournal.com]

well, dont do it in any mall you like spending time in; they'll ban you at least. They could also probably get you on "disturbing the peace."

But it's still funny. :)

[flykat.livejournal.com]

i think he'd have been caught easier if he was black cause he'd be watched more often and they'd be closer, it'd be more of a sport and ic an say that bieng a black person :p

The Meek Inherit the Cell

[byzantyndragon.livejournal.com]

Actually at our store it's teenage girls that get caught stealing cosmetics. Someone actually has to see them doing the deed (usually the supervisor on duty because I'm mostly pinned behind the register doing ringups and we don't have the staffing to have a floor-walker; it's usually just two people during the day).

The males usually just take off running and are out of the mall before we can get mall security on the line (and if we're swamped by customers we can't even take the time to call). They know we can't chase them outside the store.

The girls, black-or-white, are actually meek enough to come back when we call after them--go figure.

They get arrested and leave in handcuffs, usually crying their eyes out. We've yet to catch a male shoplifter, black-or-white, on any of my shifts.

not cool

[zorvox.livejournal.com]

you have no right spreading that "everybody hates black people" b.s. a shoplifter is a shoplifter whether they be black white yellow whatever and its "i can say" not "ic an say" check your spelling. considering the fact that you say something or in this case type something like that really makes me question your intelligence and being black is not a excuse for being racist

Re: not cool

[flykat.livejournal.com]

well wow your replying to a comment i made in 2006?

anyhow i was speaking from truth not from "everybody hates black people" point of view.
(nor did i say anything of the sort)
anytime I do go into a well to do store, I am followed by security like I am about to steal something usually til I confront them and they turn tail, and 50% of the time it's another black person doing the tailing so can't be racist.

as for the typo, that's exactly what it was, and back in 2006 you could not edit comments to fix them.

And this is my last response to you dealing with a comment I made nearly 3 full years ago in 2006.

[redrob.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's me, maybe it's my neighborhood, but I've set off the security beepers leaving the store several times, and maybe one time in ten an employee (ever a security guard) will wander over (eventually) and see what's going on. I've stood there, with the beepers going off, for 2-3 minutes and no one showed up.

This was all in the days before internet shopping. Now I buy online. Simpler, cheaper, faster.

Alex

[byzantyndragon.livejournal.com]

Ours is a farce! Our system goes off all the time from cellphones or tags from other stores or people just walking past in the mall. I'm not allowed to chase anyone outside the store even if I saw someone take something. I have to call a manager and he calls mall security. By then the perp is out of the mall. I'm usually so busy doing ringups I can't even watch anyone anyway. It's friggin' open-season! *frustrated*

[simbab.livejournal.com]

Looks like that's from Australia? I've never seen so many conspicuous security guards. But then again Columbus is something of a center of high-end snooty overpriced shopping, so they are a bit more subtle about their Orwellian activities, I suppose.

[nemetfox.livejournal.com]

Given that they're just doing their jobs, yeah, it's both mean and cruel.
They're not doing it because they want to, they're doing it because they have to.

[byzantyndragon.livejournal.com]

I work at a CVS in a mall with a stupid alarm system that is set off by cell phones and tags from other stores more than ours. Ironically it's some customers that get all panicky when it's set off and they stand there staring at me as if I'm going to leap over the counter at them like some ravenous beast. I just wave them off.

C'mon! in a mall store the system is useless and good only as a deterrent for folk who wouldn't steal anyway. Unless an employee actually sees someone take something and try to leave without paying for it, that dumb alarm is more of a nuisance than a preventative.

"Pardon us, we forgot to de-activate the inventory control sticker on your purchase. Someone will assist you momentarily"

YEAH, RIGHT!

[acerover.livejournal.com]

I would never do it and niether should you so don't do it.

[particle-mann.livejournal.com]

A-ha! Nice to see I'm not the only one (http://particle-mann.livejournal.com/52421.html) that's discovered this fine new athletic tradition :) My friends are already saving up bail money I think. I just love how the video is put together too-the cartoon explanation boards and the Australian accents just make everything better..."LEG IT." and "I want some F***in chicken nuggets!" especially.

So...anyone in SoCal up for a round or two of this?

[streakthetiger.livejournal.com]

Hehehe, that`s crazy. I used to work at Officemax and that WAS the rule. Doesn`t matter what they steel, if they are outside of the store, we can`t chase them. NORE can we hold them IN the store. (we didn`t have a security gaurd though) So even if we catch them, and chase them in the store, if they make it out of the store, they win.

[patchoblack.livejournal.com]

I have to agree that this isn't a good idea. You don't like a store's policy? Then don't shop there, and let the folks in charge know why you are not going to shop there. This sort of "annoyance protest" only makes trouble for workers who most likely have little to no voice in store policy. If you want to bug someone to get a change, bug the right people at least!

[giza.livejournal.com]

Well, here's the question: is it store policy? Or overzealous employees?

For example, I recall reading one horror story where a customer is hassled on his way out of Best Buy, and tells the employee checking receipts, "You *saw* me buy it, now zark off!" Best Buy employees apparently responded by following him into the parking lot and blocking in his car so he could not leave.

I strongly suspect that the above wasn't store policy, but employees getting out of hand. Hence my dislike of some of these setups.

[patchoblack.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, yes, you will run into an employee drunk on his small dose of power. However, I'm pretty sure that nine times out of ten, even though both you and the employee know the policy is stupid, it is a stupid policy that could get them repremanded or even fired if they don't enforce it. While the reaction of the Best Buy employees wasn't right, nether was the customer's harsh way of dealing with the matter to begin with. Got a complant? Complain to someone one who can actually do something about it. And when you complain, try to do it in a way that is reasonable. Shouting and cursing, even if you are in the right, will most likely cause the target to lose any intrest they had in you and your problem.

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

I agree with those who say it's a bad idea. Funny concept, but obnoxious as hell to repeat.

The equivalent online is skript-kiddiedom. A lot of cr/h/acks are clever and elegant, and admirable for their conceptual beauty. But some poor shlub (like you) has to clean up after them when they're actually launched.

[furahi.livejournal.com]

It's funny to watch, but I would't want to see a lot of people doing it...

[furahi.livejournal.com]

Ah, darn, I LOLed

[skippyfox.livejournal.com]

Hah, that was awesome. I'd never do it myself though. I don't know about other countries, but here in the US there's a crime we like to call "resisting arrest."

[giza.livejournal.com]

Not with security guards. They are not police officers, they do not have the power to arrest people.