“Argh, not again!” I’ve just walked in to Aleksi 13 for a coffee with my girlfriend. Just before I stepped through the door I said “I’m going to beep now”. And I did.
For some weeks now, I’ve triggered nearly every EAS system in every shop I’ve walked in and out of. The first time at H&M I tried to sort out what it was on me that triggered the gate. I only found out that it was something in my backpack, but didn’t investigate it more closely. The shop assistant I talked to just noted that I evidently hadn’t stolen anything, so she let me go.
I didn’t think more about it, assuming that it was a temporary thing, but later when visiting other shops and department stores I was still beeping. Not once could I be bothered to really check what item in my backpack triggered the system, so I got used to beeping wherever I went.
Last week I had gotten so used to it, that I instinctively said to the personnel on my way out that “I’m going to beep when I leave, because there’s something in my backpack that triggers these systems and I don’t know what”. Surprisingly in almost every case, the personnel just replied “Ok, I believe you, just go on”.
What!? My backpack is beeping and you just let me go with a simple explanation? Just like that? It occurred to me that If I had been willing to walk on the wild side, I could easily have stolen whatever items fitting into my backpack just claiming that “there’s something in there that beeps…” Of course I didn’t (just for the record).
Anyway, today when stepping into Aleksi 13 I was again certain that I would beep again. And as you know, I did. Now it is kind of embarrassing having, in the worst case scenario, a bunch of guards running after you and having to explain the whole story again, so I decided to find out what the hell was triggering the gates. Taking my backpack to a quiet exit of the store, we started digging out stuff and swinging them through the gate. A book, a digital camera, some notepads, an organizer, … Nothing.
After having swung nearly every item through the gate, I finally got to the traitor: a rolled up 5m network cable. Red. Not surprisingly, a guard was there in about 3 seconds wondering what the heck we were doing. After a brief explanation he oddly enough encouraged us to trigger the gate some more times. I guess his salary is somehow bounded to how many shopliftings he has prevented…
You might of course wonder why I’m carrying around a red 5m network cable in my backpack all the time. Well, maybe this post should have gone into the Geek speak category instead ;)
Beep-beep. There comes a time in every man’s life when he looks upon his geekiness and decides to go wireless.
I mean fuck privacy if you have to empty your bag every time entering/leaving the store.
Hmm. Maby one shold announce a walk-around-with-netowk-cables-in-you-bag-day and see how many shops start beeping. :)
Wonder why that one beeps, and not ie the gate at verkkokauppa.com where those items are bought.
A man could do all kinds of things with a 5-m network cable. If he were so inclined.