Large Scale Central

No men over 65 allowed in mall from now on

General Discussion
#1

No men over 65 allowed in mall from now on.
Sounds like that’s where it will have to go, doesn’t it?

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/dec/23/sleepy-shopper-upset-over-columbia-mall-ban/

Columbia Missouri Tribune said:
Sleepy shopper upset over Columbia Mall ban

By Rudi Keller Columbia Daily Tribune

Thursday, December 23, 2010

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A Holts Summit man caught catnapping at Columbia Mall was banned from shopping there for a year, and he’s not happy about it.

Roger Wheat was at the mall with his wife Friday when, he said, he stopped to rest. Surrounded by packages containing their purchases, he said he was sitting as his wife shopped when security guard Ryan Tripp approached.

“I heard somebody say, ‘Sir, are you OK? We can’t have you sleeping in here. This ain’t a hotel, and you can’t be sleeping in here. If I come back and catch you sleeping again, I am going to throw you off the premises,’ ” Wheat recalled.

When Tripp walked away and conferred with other guards, Wheat called his wife. They moved their packages to another area with chairs, he sat down, and she resumed shopping. Wheat, a former corrections officer, said because of a back injury and leg problems, he tires easily and cannot keep up with his wife during weekly trips to the mall.

Tripp returned, this time with Columbia police officers. Tripp wanted to take Wheat’s picture, which Wheat refused. He then made a trade — he took pictures of Tripp and the two officers, then allowed his picture to be taken. That’s when Tripp gave him a “Notice to depart and forbid re-entry.”

“I was very upset about this thing,” Wheat said. “I was sitting there not bothering a soul. I might have had my eyes closed, but my wife was off spending money, and you are telling me I can’t sit there and close my eyes?”

Columbia police officers who responded did not make a report, Officer Jill Wieneke said. They were there as a matter of routine to make sure there was no trouble when Wheat was told not to return and to record the order had been issued in case they were called back again, she said.

Nicole Spreck, a spokeswoman for mall operator General Growth Properties, said she was looking into the incident and said there are “differing accounts” of what took place.

“We pride ourselves on being a family-friendly destination. We felt it was necessary to approach the gentleman,” she said, declining to comment further.

Carl Kelly, owner of Kelly Automotive in Moberly, said he was sitting near Wheat when Tripp and the officers approached. He had not seen the first encounter between Tripp and Wheat, he said, but added that he saw nothing in Wheat’s behavior that should have drawn attention.

“I thought, ‘This is crazy,’ ” Kelly said. “I am just sitting here myself. If he was sleeping, he must have just dozed off, but it should be no big deal because he is in there spending money, which is what it is all about.”

Wheat said he spoke with security supervisor John Fields, who offered to rescind the ban but defended the guard’s actions. Wheat said he thought Tripp should be fired, but he said he would accept an apology from Tripp and a promise that guards will receive better training.

“I just don’t want to go through anything like that ever again,” he said.

Reach Rudi Keller at 573-815-1709 or e-mail [email protected].
Copyright 2010 Columbia Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
This article was published on page A1 of the Thursday, December 23, 2010 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune with the headline “Sleepy shopper cries foul over ban from mall.” Click here to Subscribe.

#2

Obvious solution. Return every damn thing they bought there, and tell each store manager exactly why.

#3

That would say something, you make a point.
But will that be at all comprehensible to bright young Managers in their 30s and 40s?
After two decades in retail I’d say they are not capable of grasping the meaning.

Yeah, so I’m a cynical middle aged nerd, what of it? :wink:

#4

Assuming I can actually find somewhere to sit, I have dozed off occasionally whilst Jennifer goes shopping. If I was treated like that I would be livid too.

On the upside, one of the best things Jennifer and I noticed about Malls in the USA is the great classical music many of the better ones play to keep the riff raff out.

That is definitely one thing we could do here that would attract me to them a lot more than they do now.

#5

Well if that would have happened to me I would have had my wife return all the items we purchased at that mall and like Mik tell them why and continue my shopping elsewhere.
Then I would have posted the proceedings and tell all of my friends.
I can see if they were just loafing, but they had been shopping, made purchases.
I’m sure I wont shop there. Thats why I do most of my shopping in local shop far away from the malls. I never liked malls to begin with.

#6

I’m sure the issue here is the mall’s policy to control vagrancy. The problem is the way the security guard handled the matter. A little common sense goes a long way at times like this. Or it could be that management doesn’t allow the guards any discretion about following the exact letter of the rules. Either way, the old saying is very true “It ain’t what ya say, it’s the way what ya say it”. And yes, this gentleman should absolutely raise a big stink over this issue.

Walt

#7
Mik said:
Obvious solution. Return every damn thing they bought there, and tell each store manager exactly why.
I would take them back to the Mall Supervisor's office, and then, while my wife took a movie for publication on YouTube, tell him why you recommend that he take each and every one of those purchases and shove them where the sun don't shine.

I’d then have a thousand flyers printed, and spend a few hours distributing them in the car-park to anybody who looked as though they might just be over 65, or just drowsy…

But, hey, I’m well-known for my political-correctness and easy-going attitude.

tac
www.ovgrs.org
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund

#8
Columbia Tribune said:
a promise that guards will receive better training.
Would someone tell me how it is that a person would [b]Need Training[/b] to see that an old retired dude falling asleep while SWMBO shops is pretty near being a universal constant.

1.) Haven’t you ever seen either real life, or old retired geezers in cartoons?
2.) You weren’t paying attention is school when they were teaching deductive reasoning, were you?
Although that question might be based on a faulty assumption they do teach deductive reasoning in school.

And finally,
Can we say “Power Trip”?

#9

just goes to show ya what happens when you give an idiot a badge and put him in a uniform…:wink:

#10
Ken Brunt said:
just goes to show ya what happens when you give an idiot a badge and put him in a uniform............;)
Sadly Ken, that seems to be position in most of the so called 'civilized' world these days. Forrest mentioned his retail experience - much the same as mine. It seems 'officialdom', big store and mall staff and many others today are 'programmed' and have not opportunity for discretions or latitude. I know that when I visit most supermarkets I realize that could not work in them: I wouldn't make the tea break!!
#11

How would they deal with a sleeping child?
I, for one, would not shop at this Mall again. I guess family friendly means something else to the owner/operator. Oh well, let’s thank the great economy.

#12

We have a local mall, not huge by big city standards but I grew up, in my childhood years, goignt o movies there, eating there at many restaurants and fastfood places and playing in the arcade. Then as I got older, I held no less than 4 jobs at places in that mall. Now it is simply a big building with no restaurants left and two large chain stores. A few small stores in the middle. Otherwise it’s pretty empty. There is NO reason to go ther and recently they banned all children from the mall. I expect that the arcade will close shortly. The cinemas left years ago. A shining example of how many silly management decisions and poorly maintained property can ruin a community gathering place. Used to be when there was a MCD’s in the mall that the coffee groups would meet there first thing in the morning and the “Mall walkers” would do laps un-impeded by shoppers without spending any if much money at all. No longer.

Chas

#13

Anybody that is falling asleep at the mall isn’t SPENDING MONEY!

They won’t have to worry about me. I avoid malls. I haven’t shopped in one for five years. Besides, there’s no G scale shops!