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My wife stepped right in it (again)

2K views 19 replies 19 participants last post by  TerryD 
#1 ·
So this time she was shopping in Walgreen's and suddenly theres a guy standing on her strong side about 3 feet away trying real hard to look like he's shopping. Every time she moves, he reappears right beside her again.

So she figures he's plainclothes security, which I kinda doubt they have the $$$ for, but maybe. More likely it's a manager who shed his vest, or a BG.

Reason? She finally figures out that her short jacket has ridden up over her weapon for all to see.

So what's the purpose of the shadow? What's he gonna do if he's one of the aforementioned people? What are you gonna do?
 
#2 ·
Perhaps he was the manager and he was just standing there so other people couldn't see her weapon. He might not even have known what to say.

Once she noticed it she should have covered it without saying anything and continued as normal.

The other day in a coffee shop I was in line behind a guy who had his Kahr IWB showing clearly agaist his white shirt, he must have thought his shirt was covering it. I just stepped up a bit and told him "your shirt isn't tucked anymore" I had to say this 3 times before he got what I was saying. Weird thing is he never fixed it, we were both in the cafe for another 30 mins and he never changed his shirt, weird.
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
I am sure he was staying close to her in case she tried pulling out the gun.

I have taught my wife to say, if her spidey sense is going off, " I don't know you, get away from me" as loud as she can. You get one of two reactions, they either book quickly (bad guy) or they step back do the people submission pose..... both hands up and they say something like "woooo, sorry". My 2 daughters know this also. When you do this, everyone within hearing distance turns and looks, bad guys do not like that.

If her gun was showing, they had a right to be concerned. If I was the store, I would have told your wife that her firearm was showing.... but I would have stayed close unless she volunteered
she had CHL permit.
 
#20 ·
If her gun was showing, they had a right to be concerned. If I was the store, I would have told your wife that her firearm was showing.... but I would have stayed close unless she volunteered
she had CHL permit.
Regardless if open carry is legal or not, you go around demanding to see someone's CHL, you are looking for a fight.

If my weapon happened to show, and someone came up to me demanding to see my CHL. They better be a COP, and better be showing credentials quickly. If not, I would tell you to ":censored:":ignore:
 
#6 ·
... suddenly theres a guy standing on her strong side about 3 feet away trying real hard to look like he's shopping. Every time she moves, he reappears right beside her again.

So what's the purpose of the shadow?
3 ft. away and clearly shadowing? Then, one thing is clear: whatever the reason, it's not for her personal benefit. Time to take simple steps to guard against the possible threat.

If it were me, given my physical disability and that situation, I would loudly question the person's purpose and physically move away in protection of my strong side. If the person has a legitimate and good reason to be shadowing, then it will become clear, soon enough; otherwise, it will become clear, soon enough. Either way, the security situation now has witnesses and I'm not blindly allowing the other to control the situation. In a place with other witnesses, it's highly unlikely to go any further, if a BG. If it escalates beyond there, I would respond as the threat required. If the person turned out to be legitimate store security or an LEO, that would be done clearly in view of witnesses.
 
#8 ·
In high school I had a uniformed, unarmed, security guy follow me around in a department store. He was looking at me and then when I would turn my eyes to him he would act like he were looking at something.

I made quicksteps down an aisle to see if he were really following me. Upon confirmation, I asked if he needed something with me. He accused me of shoplifting and grabbed my arm and tried to get me to go somewhere. I told him to let go of me and I'd go with him. He said that he wasn't letting go of anything. I nicely told him that if he didn't let go of me that he would have more trouble than it was worth. He did.

I wasn't lying, but I was kind of bluffing. At this point, I would have probably just punched him in the face because I didn't have the knowledge to do anything else. Then I probably would have been sprayed and then went to jail.

Fortunately for everyone, he let go of me. I went to the desk and he told me to empty my pockets. I did. In retrospect, I don't believe that I should have be that cooperative. He asked me if I had picked up a CD and put it in my sock. Whiskey Tango? Then he picked up my pocket knife (3 15/16" blade) that weighs enough to double as a fist loader and handed it to me and then told me that I could go.

If someone shadows me, I will confront him. Like mentioned before, it either completely diffuses a potential situation or goes ahead and gets the bad stuff over.
 
#16 ·
Man, I might be a lot of things but a thief is NOT one of them. Let me tell you... if someone in a store accuses me of stealing something they are going to have to shut the place down cause I'm going to have something to say! I'm old school with regards to things. A hand shake still means something you know? ha! In your case I would absolutely question them if they are standing that close to me. If there's something wrong then tell me and we'll resolve it. Don't play little games with me.
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
I would have said something...anything from "can I help you" all the way to back off...depending on what my spidey sense was telling me.
I've had people walk right up on me in Wally world before...trying to bully past me to get something off the shelf. they didn't like my reaction.
The only person in my bubble is my wife unless invited. All others are too close for my comfort...so why should THEY be comfortable :)
 
#12 ·
could be store security or a manager. Sounds as if you wife needs to learn to wear longer cover garments or check em more often anyway.
 
#13 ·
I can not imagine store security, or management standing with-in 3 ft. of an armed person, that would be just plain stupid. I would be observing from a further distance or with surveillance equipment. If it was apparent the "exposed" person was legitimently shopping, then approach them to inform them about their weapon. If it appeared they were casing the store out, then I would be calling 911.

Just my .02


Z
 
#15 ·
It wouldn't surprise me if it was some sort of security officer who was just trying to get a feel for her intentions. I know of a few Walgreens/CVS/Oscos around here that have security, especially at night. There are too many crazys in the world for a store full of prescription drugs not to at least somewhat try to secure themselves.

If I was in the situation I'd have probably confronted them asking if they needed something rather than letting them shadow me around the store. The longer they shadow me, the more suspicious I am of them. I'd think if it was just a security guard after he realized you were shopping would perhaps mention something directly about your gun showing rather than just following you around as you're picking up some toothpaste and orange juice.

That's just my .02...
 
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