I was crossing the parking lot to my nearby Giant supermarket when I became aware of a ruckus at the entrance to the store. The word “fuck” seemed to be the primary vehicle of aggression and the drivers were two burly white guys. One had a shaved head, the other a full beard and they were shouting at an elderly Black man to “get the fuck out of here.”
The burly white guys had a Giant logo on their black T-shirts and when they turned their backs, I saw “security” in big letters on the reverse side of their shirts.
The Black man was giving just as good as he got from these imposing security men. He didn’t seem the least bit cowed by the fact that he was being verbally abused by two aggressive employees of Giant foods.
No, the Black man wasn’t fazed but I sure was.
Inside I asked a staffer at the customer service desk why two big men working for the store were at the entrance shouting obscenities at someone. They explained that the man had been inside the store, shouting obscenities and threatening people. That this wasn’t the first time he had come inside and disrupted things. The security guys were trying to “keep him away” until the police arrived.
I’m not a security guy or a physically formidable person, nor do I have the speed or the chops to kick the shit out of someone, or the moxie to act as if I can. But the two security guys with their barrel chests and thick arms had me convinced that for Giant Foods, they would take this older man down so he could wait for the police with his face on the sidewalk.
Aren’t there smarter, less threatening ways to handle an unruly customer? Turning a hose on him, for example?
It’s bad optics. Two burly white guys yelling at a Black man to “get the fuck out of here.” Who can shop amid such tension? How many steps is it to pressing a boot on the back of his neck?
David Wrote This 