I don't know if you have any Wal mart stores there, but if
you do they probably also have the elderly "greeter" at each of the
doors in the store. Greeter at Wal mart is code for untrained, formally
retired, inexpensive security guard. Oh, grandpa and granny security.
They're using little old ladies and old men to guard against
shoplifting. I doubt if granny is going to, or is even capable of
wrestling with a shoplifter who exists with stolen goods.
So sometimes a crook will try to sneak out with a bag of stolen good. Well, more than once the thief has shoved or run from the greeter who asks to see the shoppers receipt before exiting. Occasionally there is a physical confrontation. Last December once such incident happened at a New York Wal mart. The employee, 70-year old Grace Suozzi , asked 26-year old Jacquetta Simmons to see receipts for items she was carrying in store bags. After shoving Grace to the ground and pummeling her with punches, Jacqueeta ran out of the store. But employees and customers quickly surrounded her until police arrived. The happy resolution is that today Jacqueeta was found guilty of assault and was was sentenced to five years in prison. Simmons was convicted under the state's "Granny Law," which gives stiffer penalties for an assault on someone 65 or older.
Wal mart greeters have been assaulted more ways that one can catalogue, and almost all of this violence against granny and grandpa has occurred in the past 2 or three years. It's become a norm to hear of these stories and, as a result, we seem not to notice or care what is happening to society. Might this be a reflection of the coarsening of society, the dishonesty of some and the disrespect toward others? As our technology more and more separates us from direct interaction with others, do other people become less "real" to us? Do we more often see them as apart of the electronics we use, rather than as humans we should love and respect?
I am not blaming bad behavior on the proliferation of frivolous technology that separates us from others. But it sure could be one small factor in why the world in which we live is a little less kind and gentle these days.
So sometimes a crook will try to sneak out with a bag of stolen good. Well, more than once the thief has shoved or run from the greeter who asks to see the shoppers receipt before exiting. Occasionally there is a physical confrontation. Last December once such incident happened at a New York Wal mart. The employee, 70-year old Grace Suozzi , asked 26-year old Jacquetta Simmons to see receipts for items she was carrying in store bags. After shoving Grace to the ground and pummeling her with punches, Jacqueeta ran out of the store. But employees and customers quickly surrounded her until police arrived. The happy resolution is that today Jacqueeta was found guilty of assault and was was sentenced to five years in prison. Simmons was convicted under the state's "Granny Law," which gives stiffer penalties for an assault on someone 65 or older.
Wal mart greeters have been assaulted more ways that one can catalogue, and almost all of this violence against granny and grandpa has occurred in the past 2 or three years. It's become a norm to hear of these stories and, as a result, we seem not to notice or care what is happening to society. Might this be a reflection of the coarsening of society, the dishonesty of some and the disrespect toward others? As our technology more and more separates us from direct interaction with others, do other people become less "real" to us? Do we more often see them as apart of the electronics we use, rather than as humans we should love and respect?
I am not blaming bad behavior on the proliferation of frivolous technology that separates us from others. But it sure could be one small factor in why the world in which we live is a little less kind and gentle these days.
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