Using Your Badge to Skip Playstation 3 Lines
from the protect-and-serve-yourself dept
Unless you camped out in front of a retail giant or shelled out ridiculous amounts of cash on eBay, you've yet to score a Playstation 3, and will probably have to wait until supply ramps up sometime next year. Launch day line insanity was well discussed, with countless instances of skullduggery kept in check by attentive local authorities. Or not: two police officers in Providence, Rhode Island didn't want to wait in line with unshowered gamers and eBay sharks, so they had their store security buddies bump them to the front of the line on launch day. After customers complained, the two store security officers were let go, and the two cops (one of whom still insists he did nothing wrong) now face disciplinary action. Nobody is above the law when it comes to tickle-me-elmo style holiday retail madness. Besides, this time of year officers should be out arresting kids for opening presents early.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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ThUg LuV
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ummm....
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Re: ummm....
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typical
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running red lights
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I joined the military to serve my country, not to get paid well, so when people can respect that and give us a burger tax free it's pretty cool.
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Who Cares
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Re:
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Cops
"Cops expect discounts and preferential treatment"? You my friend are delusional and anti-police. My gut feeling is you've been afoul of the law more than once. Your entire post is spewed bullshit.
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Fire
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Firefighter == Hard to buy your own lunch
When I am in uniform, it is embarrassingly difficult to buy my own lunch. Especially when you consider that my "real" job as a consultant, business owner, and application developer gives me a higher income by a long way than these people who really just want to say thank you.
The other night we saved a home a few feet from a 3 story barn and woodshop that was fully involved when we got there. The family sleeping in their house that night is really all the thanks I could ask.
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Re: Cops
And then to infer that someone that makes not of bad behavior must be a criminal really does make you look like one of the bad guys. Good cops are on the side of good, not the side of cops. Check yourself or recognize you're not as good as you think you are.
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Yeah, nurses make $80k/yr with a community college education. They can also make money on the side from pocketing pills at the hospital -- police never give a shit about prescription drugs. It's standard practice for 36 hours to be counted as 40. Night shift nurses who aren't in ER's can expect to spend the night reading a paperback.
(But of course, that's if you can stand getting covered in blood and shit, horny patients who molest you, arrogant doctors, and spending shifts with wacko nurses who have extensive mental problems.)
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Re: Re: Cops
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Re: Fire
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Cops by Lieutenant
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numbers
nice of you to assume that your little corner of the world is the only one with a large police force 35,000+
london?
iraq?
new york?
it would make sense for you to be from new york the mentality that newyork is the only city in existance does seem to pervade there
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Re: Re: ummm....
You really should think before you open that ass of a mouth again.
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Re: typical
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IE when i was in high school i failed algebra 1 not because i didnt know the material or cause i failed the tests but because i didnt take notes (which werent graded or handed in) i was actually told i failed "because i didnt have to work as hard as the rest of the class" and instead of recognizing i had a talent for math i failed and got dropped in a remedial class which i ended up teaching after a semester because the football coach that taught the class didnt understand it
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Re: Re: Re: ummm....
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Re:
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I GIVE them the perks.
I don't advocate abuse or expectation, but I think those of you who are clearly just anti-authority should seriously re-evaluate the benefits you enjoy in your society.
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there is a difference but on that note you are contributing to it the more you offer the more the guy down the street runs into the expectation shit if you hit every store on your beat you could never go shopping at that rate
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Re: Re: Re: ummm....
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Re: Re:typical
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Re: Cops
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Re: running red lights
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Re: Fire
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teachers pay
If you as a teacher think you are better off working a different job (or a 2nd job all summer long) then do so. The problem with teaching is that it is very easy to be a teacher and so you are always able to find people to do the job. If teachers started leaving the profession for other jobs then society (similar to the board of directors of a company) would decide if it would rather pay more to retain high quality teachers, or pay less and allow the quality of educaiton to suffer.
Welcome to econ 101: supply & demand. You have a large supply of possible teachers, the pay will be low. Look at mechanics, plumbers, and other trade jobs, they can charge high hourly rates because most people don't want to do that job. Changing the oil in a car, or fixing a leaky pipe are not particully difficult tasks, but not many people want to do them, therefore the supply is limited and the cost goes up.
I agree it's more difficult to be a good teacher and unfortunatley we as a society don't reward good teachers as we should. As a teacher if you go beyond what is required of you and become a good/great teacher, that is you own choice, and you know exactly how you will be compensated because of your union contract. The decision to take the extra effort if yours alone.
(sorry for being off topic of the original post)
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civil discounts
Personally i think a discount is more appropriate than free, not only does it still say 'thanks' to whoever, but its not as obvious to other customers. Stores give discounts to seniors just for being old, so why not give a discount to someone who provides a service?
I have no problem if a store owner wants to offer a discount to a civil worker, however, the civil worker must decide to accept or refuse the discount.
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cops pay
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Re: Re:
Ummm... wouldn't that be when they weren't doing their job?
Look, it's simple. Offer civil service people discounts/free stuff if you think they deserve it. Then fire the cops that harass a place because it doesn't give them stuff. Fire the cops that treat it like a "protection fund" (i.e. extortion).
If a cop runs a red light, get his car number and call it in. Hell, check your local state laws about citizen's arrest. I had a friend actually follow a cop and "pulled him over" (not sure exactly how he managed it) and insisted on getting another officer/superior out there to resolve the matter. It turned out that the cop did illegally run the red-light (no extenuating circumstances) and he got a ticket. And this is in a town that's run through with a horrible "good 'ol boy's network". Go figure.
There is right and wrong on both sides of the arguments here. The bottom line is that Mr. Police early on is right: you can't paint all police with a negative brush. But he's wrong in that you can't paint them all with a good brush either. So bust the ones that fuck up. And do what the law is supposed to do... punish them hard enough that it deters others from repeating the mistake. No slaps on the wrist.
Personal opinion here... but if you are in the position of defending and enforcing the law, and you break that law, you should be punished more, substantially more, than a regular citizen that committed the same crime.
Get rid of the bad cops and you'll have good cops that deserve a free donut.
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Re: Re: Re:
And besides... they are earning their paychecks by doing their jobs.
Being a police officer, soldier, firefighter doesn't make you a hero or a saint. Being a good police officer, soldier, firefighter and defending the people you are supposed to defend... that makes you a person doing your job. Defending people without regard to your own well-being... that makes you a hero.
It's not the badge... it's what you do with it.
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These are the idiots...
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Good God the ignorance
The subject was a PO cut in line to get a PS3. That person deserves to be punished. A cop getting a free cup of coffee, that is up to the shop owner. I mean if he wants to lose 2 cents to keep a cop in his store or familiar with his store that is up to him. I think most business owners are more than willing to give an officer, firefighter and free meal and free cup of coffee. Two reasons, one the officer will remember him and second the officer will become more familiar with the area and the local. This argument of a cop doesn't deserve anything, it ain't up to you, so who cares!!!
Teachers. They are way underpaid, and to those of you say that is what economics would solve. Obviously you just want to sound smart. When teachers are subsidized by the gov't it is already proof that economics are working in this segment. The gov't also sets standards in school's which then again effects the economics and brings in outside factors. Teachers are underpaid, because nobody wants to do it. There is a higher demand for trashman. And to say to the guy in WA state to move, where is he/she going to move that pays teachers well or even fair.
Give a cop a cup of coffee, but not a PS3.
Come on people.
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Re: Re: typical
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Re: Good God the ignorance
At least you recognize that you are unknowledgable.
I agree that it's not up to me if the cop deserves to be offered a free cup of coffee or whatever, but it is up to me if he chooses to except the handout. In many areas there are laws against that type of handout. As a taxpayer, I pay him/her to do a job (enforce laws). Therefore unless the officer issues himself a ticket (or whatever the appropriate penalty is) for accepting the free cup of coffee, then he/she is not doing the job I am paying him to-do.
Moving on to teachers, you say nobody wants to be a teacher, and so they are underpaid. That is complety wrong. When noone is willing to do a job, the price an organization will pay goes up. However with teaching a lot of people can/will do the job, so it would be irresponsible to pay them more. The only way teacher pay will go up is if we as a society are willing to pay a premium for better/more qualified teachers.
Your final comment about giving the cop a cup of coffee but not a PS3 contradicts what you say earlier about it being OK to give something for free to get the cop in the area. Best Buy (or whatever store) received the benefit of having cops onhand for the release of the PS3. I would have no problem with the practice if it were legal, and I do not believe that it crosses into the rehlm of civil disobedience.
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Re: Re: Good God the ignorance
You live in the US???
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Cops
Brew City's comment shows what assholes we have to deal with out there you can understand "how sensitive" a P.O. can be. Regarding his remarks, I probably already had my Masters before he set foot in college.
I won't be revisiting the thread, so fire away. I see a majority of techies love to spew venom from the safety of their keyboards.
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Re: Re: Re: Good God the ignorance
If the law says that a police officer cannot accept gratuity in any form, then no, he cannot accept a free cup of coffee. It's up to his conscience and the interpretation of law as to whether that cup of coffee is a gratuity or just a nice convenience store clerk. But I will say that if it's not gratuity, there had better be someone else walking out of that store with free coffee too. Otherwise, it's a gratuity.
And what does living in America have to do with it?
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Re: running red lights
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Re: (Comment #51)
Wow. What a enthusiastic, yet completely shallow response. Did you not bother reading the posts above yours? If you had, you would have noticed that a few of us weren’t talking about coffee (except as an example) but about abuse of authority. It's not the coffee we have a problem with. It's the expectation of the free coffee just because you wear the badge.
Stop being so dramatic and literal.
As I said in an earlier post, it's not the badge that gives you status as a hero, it's what you do with that badge. Same goes with entitlement. You don't earn my respect for wearing that badge. You earn it by being a good cop.
I'll stop being critical of abusive and corrupt police officers when I stop seeing them.
You can come bitch about my job all you want. But I don't go around to convenience stores saying "Hey, I sell insurance. Give me some coffee."
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So?
Out.
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Re: ThUg LuV
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