The Rent-a-Cop who Ruined My Day…and the men who didn’t defend me!
The Rent-a-Cop who Ruined My Day…and the men who didn’t defend me!
Last week after work but before heading home I had to make a stop at what once was my favorite shopping center in Delaware, Beaver Brook Plaza. This shopping center is on my route when I take 13S, and it had been the perfect one-stop shop for me to get everything that I needed without having to go out of my way.
Over the years, I had spent a lot of money at these three stores, Dollar Tree, supplies for my blog; Beaver Brook Liquors, you know I like my wine, and at Food Lion because they have great grocery store prices. The employees in each of these establishments were always courteous, pleasant and I’m usually greeted with a smile, which is why I hated to…but had to sever ties with them on Friday, the last day of July 2015!
Let me tell you what happened….
I was preparing for a busy weekend, with a Yard Sale scheduled for early Saturday morning and then with friends coming down from New York. My besties were coming for their annual summer weekend visit so I needed to pick up a few things first.
I decided to stop at Beaver Brook Plaza before heading home and my first stop was at Dollar Tree so that I could buy a balloon. It was going to be tied to the mailbox so that Yard Sale seekers would know which street to turn on and stop. #Toni’sTip
As I was standing in line, I was startled by a booming voice yelling at the top of his lungs “HEY, HEY YOU – ARE YOU OVER 18!!”
I and several other customers quickly turned to see what the commotion was all about and we saw a short, elderly security guard following and yelling at a 6’2” teenager; questioning whether or not he should be in the store without an adult accompanying him which is what a paper sign taped to the entrance read.
It not only frightened me but it was also upsetting because I began to think about my own sons and how they would react if somebody yelled at them like that. The “mommy bear” in me got even more upset when he proceeded to follow him out of the store, who at this point was embarrassed, and continued yelling not only at him but at his buddies as they rode their bikes on the sidewalk to get away from this high strung “rent a cop”.
I put the balloon in my car and walked back to the liquor store, a little shaken and as I explained the situation to the owners, another woman inside also said, she too was upset and wanted to pretend to be his mother so that this young man could make his $1.00 purchase. BTW, she was white and the teenagers were black…
Not only didn’t management from the Dollar Tree come out from behind those glass windows to check on the commotion, the owner of the liquor store defended the security guard saying, “they know that they have to be 18 to enter”…remember this “kid” was over 6 feet tall and I’m pretty sure he didn’t need to hold the hand of his mother to purchase a soda and a bag of chips!
I was in the liquor store to buy a case of beer and a case of wine coolers, both in boxes which I couldn’t carry out myself so I asked if they would put them in my trunk if I pulled up front. I also said, “I hope that security guard doesn’t yell at me!” I was assured that it wouldn’t be a problem….but you do know what happened next right?
After paying, I walked to my car, still shaking my head at the “rent a cop” and pulled up in front of the liquor store…and as soon as I stepped out of my vehicle, this man was in my face yelling, “HEY, HEY, YOU CAN’T PARK HERE…THIS IS A FIRE ZONE!!” Now you kinda sorta know me…so you know that I am as peaceful and calm as they come but this man ticked me off!
He was so close in my face that I could feel his breathe and had we been in Florida and I had a gun, it could have been a ‘stand your ground, I feel threatened‘ incident..nevermind that’s a different story for a different day.
Anywho
HOW DARE HE YELL AT ME!
Not only was he yelling at me about parking in the fire zone, which by the way I wasn’t parked, he had the nerve to pull out a piece of paper and shove it in my face showing me that it was against the law. I yelled back at him that I was a customer of the store and was waiting for my items to be loaded into my car…then he yelled back, that I wasn’t his customer and this went back and forth for a few seconds. In the meantime, the owner and another employee of the liquor store came out with my two boxes and loaded them into the trunk and neither one of them said a word!! not one single solitary word…they just loaded my trunk, turned and walked back into their store…AND there were also other men standing around just watching this yelling match.
He finally walked away, but my peace was broken so I went back over to him and asked for his name and telephone number because I was going to report him. I tried to take a picture but my dumb Smartphone’s battery was low and I was shaking like a leaf so I didn’t take note of the company’s name on his uniform, only his name tag, CR Lantz.
I ended up calling him an “asshole” and his response was…”well, I guess there has to be one!” Man oh Manishewitz …I was so mad when I posted this on my Swarm account. I was definitely upset not just because he broke my peace but also because I had to disrespect this elderly man.
I drove out of the fire lane and down to Food Lion where I spent almost an hour shopping and trying to calm my nerves before heading home for a glass of wine!
Finally somewhat calm, cool and collected I went to the register to pay for more than $150 worth of groceries and when the young cashier asked, “how I was doing today”, I told him a bit of what had transpired and his response was, “oh yeah, I know him, he is always harassing people, you’re lucky he didn’t put a big green sticker on your windshield because they are hard to get off!
Then I got mad again…why…because it was obvious that this security guard is well known by these merchants who help pay his salary and they don’t seem to mind that he harasses their customers…which I once was….but will never be again!!!
I guarantee Dollar Tree, Beaver Brook Liquors and Food Lion will never get another penny of my money and I will shop elsewhere even if it means going out of my way, because that “rent a cop” ruined my day and is definitely in the wrong service industry. Mark my words, sooner or later something bad is going to happen to either him or someone else!
What about you, have you ever had someone break your peace and ruin your day?